Prominent Asian American leaders, many of whom supporters of President elect Obama, have expressed alarm over the inclusion of Sonal Shah in the Obama transition team.
These leaders belonging to high profile groups such as Coalition Against Genocide (www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org), Indian American Coalition for Pluralism and Non Resident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India have been holding informal discussions after disturbing news reports regarding Ms. Shah’s affiliations started appearing in the mainstream media.
There are disturbing news reports that Ms. Shah had close association with VHP that had openly supported the persecution and pogroms against the Christian and Muslim minorities of India. Recently world leaders such as the Pope and President Bush have condemned the pogroms against the Christian Community in the states of Orissa and Karnataka. The moderate leaders of the Indian American community have decided to ask Ms. Shah to clarify her position about VHP and its mother organisation the RSS that was linked to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi who is revered by the President elect Obama.
The Leaders of these pro-democracy and pro-pluralism segments of the Indian Diaspora have vowed to increase their efforts to educate the American politicians and business leaders about the attempts by the Hindu ultra-nationalist Hindutva movement, that is modelled after the Italian Fascist Party of the 1920’s and who profess admiration for Hitler’s genocidal policies, to infiltrate the power centres of the US society by giving big donations and through volunteer work.
The Coalition Against Genocide was instrumental in getting the diplomatic visa of Hindutva supremo Narendra Modi revoked in 2005. According to some news reports Mr. Modi’s supporters may now try to gain influence with the Obama administration to get this ban revoked. But the Coalition leaders such as Dr. Shaik Ubaid and Saeed Patel have expressed confidence that President elect Obama, who have vowed to make Human Rights a cornerstone of his foreign policy as expressed by him in the debate when he was asked about US-Columbian relations, will not rescind the ban on Mr. Modi. President elect Barrack Obama is a principled man and will apply the same standards when it comes to relations with India, said Dr. Ubaid who was the founding national Coordinator of the Coalition Against Genocide.
“We urge the Indian Diaspora leadership to be vigilant so as not to allow those Indian Americans who belong to extremist and ultranationalist outfits to infiltrate the power centre of the American Society, said Saeed Patel who is the national Coordinator of NRI-SAHI. “It is not the fault of the President elect or his inner circle but our failure because we have not moved fast enough to educate them about VHP and its attempts to gain influence in the US,” declared Saeed Patel.