caravan | Outside the venue, around two dozen people had gathered to protest.
They were neither irate protestors opposing her domestic policies nor
activists angered by her stance on America’s wars. They were people such
as Baljit Kumar, a young Dalit refugee residing in nearby Riverside.
“She supports the people I ran from in India,” Kumar told me. Claiming
that Gabbard’s congressional campaign financing is heavily augmented by
American affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh—the parent
organisation of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party—protestors held
bold red, white and blue signs proclaiming her “Prince$$ of the R$$.”
Since 2015, a handful of articles in online Western media outlets have
speculated about Gabbard’s perceived closeness to the Indian prime
minister, Narendra Modi, and the BJP.
The mood inside the hall was
different. As she concluded her speech, the crowd chanted: “Tulsi!
Tulsi!” The emcee, Jimmy Dore—a comedian who hosts a popular YouTube
show, and is a Gabbard supporter—opened the floor up for questions. As
hands went up all around, he pointed to me. Aware that my prepared
question was about to strike a discordant tone, I removed my hat and
glasses.
“It is getting serious,” Gabbard joked.
“In your
first two terms in office, you met the RSS spokesperson at least three
times,” I said. “You spoke at many RSS events, including two in India.
When did your collaboration with the RSS begin and how much money have
they given you?”
The usually unflappable Gabbard, who speaks with
slow deliberation, grimaced. She paused long enough for an audience
member to shout, “Speak up.” Finally she responded. “I am a soldier, and
I took an oath,” she began. “One oath in my life. That was an oath to
serve and protect this country, to put my life on the line for the
people of this country.”
She grew more emphatic. “We stand for
aloha. We stand for diversity. We stand for peace and bringing people
together around these shared ideals of freedom and opportunity for all
people.” Gesturing to the audience to stand, she continued, “Thank you
everybody for standing with me. It is this kind of attacks that are
rooted in religious bigotry that we must stand together and condemn.
Whether these attacks are being targeted at Hindus, or Buddhists, or
Muslims, or Jews, or atheists, or Catholics, we must stand united and
condemn this hate and bigotry because an attack against one of us is an
attack against all of us.” Again, the crowd chanted, “Tulsi, Tulsi.”
This is typical of how Gabbard responds to questions about the depth
of her relationship with Modi, her association with affiliates of the
Sangh Parivar—the family of organisations working with the RSS—or the
identity of many of her key donors. Such queries are dismissed as signs
of “Hinduphobia.” When an article in The Intercept described
her as “a rising progressive star, despite her support for Hindu
nationalists,” Gabbard lashed out with an opinion piece for Religion News Service, headlined: “Religious bigotry is un-American.” She said her critics were “trying to foment anti-Hindu sentiment.”
Yet, as they say, the devil is in the details.
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