The US state of Georgia and its House of Representatives recently passed a resolution condemning Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu bigotry, becoming the first American state to bring forth such a measure.
The resolution, introduced by Representatives Lauren McDonald and Todd Jones from Forsyth County in the suburbs of Atlanta, stated that Hinduism is one of the world’s largest and oldest religions, having over 1.2 billion followers.
“Hinduphobia, as described by the Understanding Hinduphobia Initiative, is “a set of antagonistic, destructive, and derogatory attitudes and behaviours towards Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and Hindus that may manifest as prejudice, fear, or hatred.”
The resolution attempted to build upon a report by Rutgers University published last year that stated that there had been a noticeable increase in anti-Hindu disinformation.
“In July 2022, a report released by Rutgers University titled “Anti-Hindu Disinformation: A Case Study of Hinduphobia on Social Media” detailed how hate messages in social media translate into real life threats for people of the Hindu faith,” read the resolution.
In the Rutgers report, it was noted that “white supremacist and 4chan genocidal Pepe memes about Hindus” were “being shared prolifically within extremist Islamist web networks on messaging service Telegram and elsewhere.”
The resolution added that Hinduphobia and its related instances were being ‘exacerbated’ by some in academia who supported dismantling of Hinduism whilst propagating the belief that the sacred texts and cultural practices within the religion were based on violence and oppression.
The recent spate of attacks on Hindu temples across the world have raised serious question marks over the safety of Hindus. From Canada to Australia, numerous incidents of vandalism of Hindu temples have been recorded since the beginning of the year.
According to the Hindu advocacy group Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), Forsyth County is home to one of the largest Hindu and Indian-American diaspora communities in the state.
“We urged for their help in combating such bigotry which advances hatred and creates the idea that Hindus and people of Indian-origin need special laws and monitoring due to allegations around some inherent propensity to discriminate,” said CoHNA General Secretary Shobha Swamy. (WION)
