BOSTON—The move to oppose “Hindu American” as the voice of Indians in the United States is gathering momentum as more and more prominent people of Indian origin are joining the movement and condemning the rebranding of Indian Americans.
On Sunday, approximately 60 Individuals and families of Indian origin strongly denounced an effort by a group of Indian Americans to self-identifying themselves as “Hindu Americans.”
“It is time the voices that represent mainstream, secular, Indian Americans speak up and be heard,” said Raj Melville, an Indian-American activist spearheading the opposition to “Hindu American” rebanding. “We need to bring together the Indian diaspora to address the real issues that affect us here in America – Anti-Asian violence, the thousands of H1B children that are aging out of the system and have no recourse, and the challenges the second generation faces living the duality of Indian and American cultures.”
Ramesh Advani, former president of Indian American Forum for Political Education-New England, added: “As I reflect on the challenges facing Indian Americans today, I am reminded of the words of the great sage, Rabindranath Tagore that he spoke in 1921 that is a propos today. Tagore said, “I do not think that it is the spirit of India to reject anything, reject any race, reject any culture. The spirit of India has always proclaimed the ideal of unity. This ideal of unity never rejects anything, any race or any culture. It comprehends all ,and has been the highest aim of our spiritual exertions… and not to keep out anything”. This is the universal teaching of Hinduism that we need to apply today,here in the United States and India.”
On Monday, the following joined the growing number of individuals and families of Indian origin who condemn the rebranding of Indian Americans as “Hindu American”:
Kamesh Aiyer
Anurag Pandit
Ragini Seth
Meera Siddharth
Raji Patel
Ramendra and Ruchi Chauhan
Vinit Nijhawan
Anu Chitrapu
Rama Ramakrishnan
Nirmala and Paramesh Garimella
Vaishali Gade
Razia Mashkoor
Sidhartha Pani, MD
Madhu Misra, MD.
