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To the Editor:
The September 2nd edition of India New England News carried a disturbing article titled “Indian Americans seek to rebrand themselves as Hindu Americans“. The article tries to position Hindu Americans as the voice of Indians in the US and disparages the term “Indian American” by associating it with people who do not support US policy. We the undersigned strongly denounce this positioning as explained in the attached statement to India New England News:
We are proud to be Indian Americans. We were born a few years after the Independence of India. As the country rebuilt after Independence we were proud to live in India, proud to work towards the causes of national integration, proud of the diversity that was India. Our differences made us vibrant and stronger. And as for God and religion, both were everywhere. At exam time and at other moments of crisis, we visited temples, gurudwaras, dargahs and churches. Why exclude any? We didn’t know if one had a more direct channel to the powers that could ensure success.The history of the subcontinent is one of multiculturalism. It was the birthplace of multiple religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and others that have spread around the world. In turn the subcontinent adopted religions and cultures that were founded elsewhere. India had one of the earliest Christian communities since the first century AD. The history of Jews in India dates back to antiquity. Islam spread in Indian communities along the Arab coastal trade routes in Gujarat and along the Malabar Coast shortly after the religion emerged in the Arabian Peninsula. Parsees migrated to India primarily through the 8th-10th Centuries. All these diverse cultures and religions have contributed in their own ways in building the nation that is India. India therefore based its constitution on the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity including the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship. It was developed to bring diverse peoples together as a nation.Trying to pass off Hindu Americans as the voice of Indians in the United States, marginalizes millions of Indians, who are not of this faith, that are contributing to the economy here and in India. By opening the doors of stratification by religion, it opens the doors to further division e.g. by caste, by region, by language. Where does it end?Are those from all these religions not proud to call themselves Indians? We believe they are. And by extension for those of us who have adopted the US as home, we are now proud to be called Indian Americans.While the stances of the Indian Administration may not align with US policies all the time and that discomforts some Americans, India has historically been a nation that has maintained an independent, non-aligned stance and leveraged its economic and geographic advantage strategically. Indian Americans, no less than Jewish Americans, don’t have to be apologetic for the policies or actions of the government in their country of origin. As Indian Americans, our interests and focus should be on the issues facing Indians here in the US and how to better represent them. By pushing Hindu Americans as an alternative voice does not address the issue but creates further division among the relatively small Indian diaspora.We are stronger together. Let us not divide by religion. Rita Advani, Ramesh Advani, Raj Melville, Shiamin Melville,Saroj and Vinesh AhoojaQamar AlamSayed Ali and Sayeeda KhanAnsari familyThomas ArulZarin BaribeauLoubaina BuxamusaBhaskar ChakravortiUsha and Ashish ChatterjeeAshish and Arathi CowlagiRajiv and Priti DayalSamir DesaiVinay DharodSanjay GowdaAnisha and Ravi Kacker.Matt familyMemon familyIsmail Memon and familyMelvyn MenezesVijay NalamadaGaugarin and Madavi OliverRakesh PandeyAvanti PanditSahdev and Carolyn PasseyAlex and Santha PhillipsRashida and Anjum PuthawalaYaqoob Puthawala and FamilyHaseeb RahmanGita RaoRuni and Dev RatnamSyed Ali RizviGanapathi SankaranAlok SharmaNalini and Raj SharmaNilesh ShethImran and Fatima SiddiquiNishat SiddiquiQamar Siddiqui and familyGeeta SinghAmeeta and Vivek SoniSangeeta and Pradip TandonDinesh TannaSangeeta and Tilak VermaAnupam and Neelam Wali.
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