U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat, is the first Hindu woman to run for the U.S. presidential election in 2020. Even before Gabbard announced her intentions to run this year, a well-oiled machine consisting of various stakeholders began to attack her. Unfortunately, some of the main attacks were coming from within her own Democratic Party.

Gabbard has been brave in calling out the perpetrators. Last year she rightfully rebuked the New York Times and CNN for their smear campaigns, given the personal nature of their attacks. A politician has to have thick skin, but such negative campaigning without any good reason solely meant to keep her suppressed and marginalized in the election is not going unnoticed. Tusli has consistently referred to attacks against her as Hinduphobic.

For example, Gabbard responded to a tweet (below),

“Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is very real. I've experienced it directly in each of my campaigns for Congress and in this presidential race. Here's just one example of what Hindus face every day in our country. Sadly, our political leaders & media not only tolerate it, but foment it.”

@TulsiGabbard·Mar 5

https://twitter.com/tulsigabbard/status/1235633239936638983

Instantly, unrelated headlines such as the following went up politicizing the issue stating that “Tulsi Gabbard’s Tweet about Anti-Hinduism In the West is Stoking Anti-Muslim Sentiment in India.”

Tulsi is currently calling out Democratic counterparts - Biden and Sanders - demanding that the Democratic party allow her on stage for the debate taking place in Arizona. The mainstream disregard for her as a candidate is not just Hinduphobia but also blatant marginalization. The most ironic part of her situation is that the Democratic party touts’ principles of equality and fairness while failing to practice what they preach to potential voters about a fair election.

Priti Patel, a Conservative British politician and the Secretary of State for the Home Department and Member of Parliament is constantly being attacked for what is known as EU-scepticism. Euroscepticism basically means that someone does not buy into the idea of European Union membership believing that the EU is not reformable. Patel, like Gabbard is always under attack by the same group of people who take her comments out of context, constantly keeping her on the defensive. Negative headlines and narratives such as “Priti Patel blocks rescue of British ISIS children,” and “Priti Patel accused of bullying civil servants” are created to appeal to the emotions of the reader. What about the bullying and harm these headlines create on the psyche of those constantly being bullied by the corrupt in charge of the media? Patel’s husband had to recently step into the limelight to dilute these odd attacks on his wife.

Patel is from the Conservative Party and Gabbard from the Democratic Party. Besides being two powerful women on separate ideological spectrum, what do Gabbard and Patel have in common? They are both Hindu. Hinduphobia is not a new term or a phenomenon. In fact, phobia means the fear of something. This term is too benign -- as in fear of insects, or fear of heights. The attacks are not just a fear of Hindus. Hatred of something is -misia derived from Greek and the attacks show Hindumisia - as aptly suggested by a Hindu female activist. Hindumisia = hatred for Hindus. The attacks show sheer hatred and poison towards Hindus and this hatred is becoming increasingly visible in the media against Hindus who hold public offices. Does the anti-Hindu mafia suffer from inferiority and therefore feel the need to constantly attack the “other”? The narrative is always being twisted into something which was never said or implied by those being attacked and then the twisted narrative is blasted by bought-out media outlets.

Hindumisia has become all-pervasive in society; media organizations, lobby groups, academic institutions, bureaucracies and institutions around the world. Even the United Nations has shown bias against India, viewing any internal issue or conflict within India from a communal (religious) and a very much biased lens. “Otherizing” and demonizing Hindus is similar to how the Japanese were demonized during World War II before a total war broke out. India, a bastion of plurality and liberal values in the East is constantly under attack. Why? Because how dare pagans still exist, ….errrr thrive? This is part of an ongoing war between totalitarianism (read: fake liberal) versus true liberal ideologies.

The good news for Gabbard and Patel is that in the age of Social Media, the unfair attacks are being unveiled; non-Hindus too are finally seeing the obvious and hate-filled machinery which is behind these attacks. One simply has to open up the (fake?) news or (corrupt?) Social Media platforms to figure out the real, unmasked enemy. Why are Social Justice Warriors not calling out these micro- and macro-aggressions against Hindus? The incessant bullying? The outright misogyny?

Will the anti-Hindu mafia succeed in continuously discouraging public servants like Gabbard and Patel from holding office? Discourage other Hindu Americans and Britons to run for public positions? Dear Reader, if you were in their shoes, how would you feel about being constantly attacked without legitimate reason? Would you feel safe in your day-to-day life? Also, what would you do to fight the corrupt, global nexus of hatred if you were a Tulsi or a Priti? Lastly, if you are blessed to be a parent and were raising a future Tulsi or a Priti, would you encourage them to seek a career in public service?

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