RSS to unify US Hindus |
A new organisation launched by a group of influential American Hindus, most of them of Indian descent, aspires to emerge as the political platform for all Hindus in the country regardless of their ethnic origin. The American Hindu Coalition (AHC) will be formally inaugurated in May but the group has launched a website and started raising funds online and from selected donors. Though led by Republicans, AHC is a bipartisan platform that will bring together Democrats, independents and anyone who believes in “Hindu enlightenment principles” according to Shekhar Tiwari, chairman of the new organisation. Primary aim of AHC is to represent Hindus in America who are U.S citizens, not all of them from India. Hindu Americans are from all nationalities. Americans who have been in the US for five or ten generations also convert to Hinduism. Tewari says he has learnt from his experience that the notion of `Indian` American does not go well with the American mainstream. For the Hindus to be part of the mainstream of American politics, they have to give up this notion of being `Indian` Americans.
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