Hinduphobia is deeply entrenched in the Western psyche, be it America, Europe, Australia or any of the so-called ‘first world’ developed countries. From their leaders and academicians to common citizens, a majority of the population is Hinduphobic. CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America) highlighted how far-right American activists are using the recent unfortunate incident of the Baltimore Bridge collapse to spread Hinduphobia.
The tragedy is being weaponised to paint the entire community in a bad light because the crew was all-Bharatiya. Far-right activist Lauren Witzke’s post implied that “Hindus would bring down America”, with no evidence whatsoever to suggest that her allegations are true. These Hinduphobes are merely voicing their hate using the tragedy as a facade. Their Hinduphobia comes through in the use of derogatory and hateful terms like ‘Pajeets.’
“Hindus simply cannot be. We need to be wrongly blamed and targeted for all sorts of atrocities and tragedies – whether in America or elsewhere. This type of hate speech can have serious consequences for Hindus, including physical violence”, CoHNA said. They also urged Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Aruna Miller to take note of such attempts to spread hatred against the Hindu and Bharatiya American communities and take steps to protect the communities from harm.
(Featured Image Source: Business Today)
