The night of 15th October 2016, saw many a people from New Jersey gather at Edison. From where one could hear the thumping beats of Bollywood songs and see the glitter of the 2,000 decked up Indians as they were ushered into the Expo Centre for an event organized by the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC.) Well, obviously it looked like the gala was in full flow when in walked Donald Trump onto the stage and talked about “Hindus and Indians.”
Most of the people were definitely puzzled about his presence but after all it was a strategic move on the part of the RHC and the Presidential Candidate to get in 10 mins of stage time to prove to the world that he isn’t against Indian immigrants – just the wrong kind. Although, we could give him brownie points of the surreptitiously cunning plan that it was, did it really have the impact?
When the crowd was interviewed, it was found that they had mainly come for their favourite Bollywood and Tollywood stars! Goes without saying that a pelvic thrust by Prabhu Deva or a belly dance by Malaika Arora Khan will anytime trump Trump. Other celebrities that attended the event were Shirya Saran, Amisha Patel, Sophie Choudhary, etc. Ram Charan, another noted name in the Telugu film industry was supposed to also perform but had to later back out due to a medical emergency. The show opened with terror-themed skit where two couples were slow waltzing with a U.S., flag backdrop. Then came a bearded men, as the backdrop changed to flames, carrying guns and cackling with maniacal laughter. The dancers cowered as artists dressed as the U.S., police entered the stage to defeated the “terrorists” and end the whole thing with a rendition of “Born in the USA.”
The man behind the mission was Shalabh Kumar, Chairman of the Republican Coalition committee formed in 2015. Shalabh has always been an ardent follower of Trump and has in fact donated $898,800 to his campaign cause. The event was a charity cause touted as “mega Bollywood fund-raising event in the U.S., for victims of terror in America and around the world.” The proceeds are apparently for the benefit of Hindu refugees and Kashmiri Pandits. “I believe that Hindus should have a powerful voice in American politics,” said Kumar, in his speech introducing Trump on Saturday, “We have made great contributions to America as individuals and communities, but now it is time to contribute to the political life of the country in a big way as Hindus.” But even as there were pursuers of Trump inside, there were protesters outside. A group of young people stood on the side of the street chanting “Donald Trump has got to go, hey hey, ho ho.” They held up signs that read “South Asian(s) Dump Trump”, “Hindus believe #weareone” and “#NeverTrump”.
This was bound to be seen, it might have been disturbing if it wasn’t so real. To start off with, many surveys have shown that over 60% of Indian-Americans do not favour Trump or the Republican Party. A further 16% reported that they had no idea of his existence. Possibly these 16% were the people who comprised the audience at the event. Apart from these 16% though, Trump has been the talk of town in almost every part of the world. From his demeaning taunts at women to his extreme radical ideas about Muslim immigrants, Donald Trump has garnered a lot of bad attention. But among all these senseless speeches, it has been still unclear his position towards India after a brief hint in one this April where he imitated an Indian call centre official.
But what is more startling is the kind of branded brain wash that he has been come to be associated with. One of the members of the RHC, Raju, was handing out ridiculous leaflets and was reported to have said that “What have Muslims done in India, everywhere in the world? Every terrorist attack is committed by Muslims. I definitely don’t like Muslims in my country. They are invaders, they are Communists, and they are terrorists.” If this is the kind of Islamophobia that is growing all over the world even before Trump takes the seat of the presidency, it is unquestionably a dark hour for Muslims. Not just Muslims in fact, because the repercussions of this will be felt throughout the globe.
