US House condemns hatred against Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims
Saturday, 09/03/2019
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
POSITIVE RESOLUTION NEWYORK: In a controversial resolution that initially split the Democrats before being expansively reworded, the US House of Representatives has condemned hate against Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims and other minorities and denounced accusations of dual loyalty.
A key element in the resolution adopted on Thursday is the condemnation of dual loyalty that insinuates doubt about patriotism of sections of citizens that has a resonance for IndianAmericans who sometimes face that accusation for expressing support for India.
While 234 Democrats backed the resolution and one abstained, 173 Republicans voted for it and 23 against it.
The executive director of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), Suhag Shukla, welcoming the resolution pointed out that “our communities have also faced suspicion and bigotry from people on the far-left end of the political spectrum with baseless accusations of dual loyalties to India”.
The resolution was first proposed as a response to repeated anti-Jewish statements by a newly elected Muslim Representative of Somali descent, Ilhan Omar, who had accused supporters of Israel as having “allegiance to a foreign country.” But Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposal to condemn anti-Semitism faced opposition from the left wing of the party as well as the African-American bloc in the House, even though the initial draft did not mention Omar.
Indian-American Senator Kamala Harris said that it would draw attention to Omar and endanger her.
As a compromise to get the vocal dissenters to back the resolution, references to Muslims and African-Americans were added. Rajwand Singh, the senior adviser to the National Sikh Campaign, said: “We welcome the resolution as it hits home for us as we have been victims of hatred and violence because of our identity.”
