Being political Hindus in the West #1: Political conundrum for Hindus

In 2022, India left its former colonial masters behind in terms of nominal GDP, and by doing so India became the fifth-largest economy in the world with over $ 3 Trillion. It is projected that between 2027-2032, India will leave behind Germany and Japan and become the 3rd largest economy in the world after the USA and China. This means the Indian economy will be around $10 trillion dollar in the coming decade. With such economic might, India will face several challenges at home and abroad. While the government of India can handle the challenges at home, “Indians” abroad will have to brace for challenging times. Indian diaspora around the world (for good reasons or bad) represents India to the respective countries. Especially the Hindus abroad have to face much tougher criteria of an ideal citizen.

 

 

 

Specifically in the US and the UK where a large number of Hindus, either the NRIs or the people of Hindu heritage but not of Indian nationality, live and prosper. The community will undoubtedly face challenges as an unintended consequence of India’s rise on the global stage. We are already seeing the signs of it from that notorious series of events in Leicester where Hindus and their property were vandalized. We see incidents of racial slurs taking place in the US where usual anti-Hindu slurs get hurled at the victims. The rise of Khalistan supporters and the rise of anti-Hindu sentiment in Canada as a result. These are a few examples that we have noticed yet.

 

 

This is why the Hindu community in the West has to be politically active. This doesn't necessarily mean having more Hindu representatives in different levels of government, judiciary, legislative, bureaucracy, and the media. This also means pressurizing the elected members and government officials in those countries. Hindu society in the USA and the UK is an extremely prosperous society. The Indian community and to be specific the Hindu community is one of the most prosperous communities in the West. The average education, income, and wealth of the Hindu community are higher than that of the white population of the West, specifically in the UK. This gives Hindu society a unique power that no other immigrant community in these countries had in recent history (with the exception of Jews, but of course, that is because of different historical reasons which do not concern us here). Although the Hindu population in these countries is almost insignificant, the Hindu population is concentrated in a few counties and constituencies. This means Hindus voting together as a group can make a candidate win or lose elections. Apart from this, Senators and the house of representatives in the USA require a lot of money for their campaigns to get elected as well as the political parties in the UK. For that, they need money from the Hindus as well. Hindus are one of the richest minorities, if not the richest minority by far in these countries. The Hindus community will have to use its money to protect its own interest abroad.

 

Also Read: Who are Swedish democrats and what does their 'victory' symbolize? 

 

Traditionally, Hindus have voted for the Left-leaning parties in the USA and the UK, The Democratic Party, and the Labour Party respectively. The over 90% leaning of the entire community is steadily getting balanced over the last few election cycles. But irrespective of the domestic politics of these countries, and irrespective of the individual candidates, the Hindu community needs to balance itself with parties on either side of the aisle. The Hindu community will also face a challenge from more numerous Muslim minorities in these countries which although not as prosperous, do have the ‘Ummah’ behind them. This puts Hindus in a tight spot as to which parties to align with. In this series of articles, we will see how the Hindu community has been navigating and will have to navigate itself in the US and UK politics to protect its own interests.