Religious leaders pray for US
S THE faithful gathered for a gala in Washington to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th US president on Friday, conspicuous by his absence was the man who claims to have helped swing about a million votes his way.
But as the ball was going on, billionaire Indian American industrialist Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar’s Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) was engaged in a private 30-minute conversation with Trump at another event.
The coalition leadership had 11 events with Trump during the inauguration week, said Kumar, who donated almost $900 000 (R12.1 million) to his election campaign and paid for a slew of TV ads to ensure their man emerged victorious.
“My daughter, Manasvi Kumar, event organiser of all 11 activities, and son, Vikram Kumar, president of AVG Automation, had a fabulous time with the whole Trump family. Trump introduced the Kumars to a number of his friends and declared that RHC made a big contribution to his success,” Kumar told POST.
While widely criticised in various quarters for his abrasive and divisive style, Trump’s threat to clamp down on immigration and disrespect for minorities has won Kumar over, making him a key member of his panel on Asia-Pacific affairs.
Kumar said Trump had spoken “time and time again about his love for Hindus”.
He added: “He does not have a dislike for immigrants. His wife is an immigrant and has an accent… In accepting an invitation to speak at the October 15 RHC concert, he wrote: “Hindus have made a great contribution to world civilisation and American culture.” I know first-hand his admiration for Hindu culture. His belief system is in line with the 4-F core principles (free enterprise, fiscal discipline, family values and firm foreign policy) of the Republican Hindu Coalition.
“Our president is a very smart man and knows the value of skilled legal immigrants. He knows that immigrants have always played a key role in American growth, economically, scientifically, culturally and spiritually. He is 100% for legal immigrants.”
Kumar said the RHC’s “Ab ki baar Trump Sarkar” (“Next time a Trump government”) campaign was massive and historic.
“Four million Hindu Americans, 60 million non-Hindu Americans, 1.2 billion people worldwide saw the ads multiple times. It was declared by the Federalist (magazine) the best ad of 2016. It trended as the ninth most important news in the world for one day. Result: Net Hindu vote gain of one million-plus across America and 207 000 in battleground states.”
Asked what Trump could offer that his predecessor Barack Obama did not, Kumar said the US would “reverse course from an economic decline to robust economic growth”.
“Our national debt will start to fall. The gross domestic product will grow by 4-5%. Just as the president declared in his inaugural speech, governance will return to being by the people and for the people instead of special interest groups. America will regain respect around the world through bold, decisive action against radical Islamic terrorists.”
For US-India relations, Trump would provide “real action and not just an optical illusion”, he said.
“Trade between the US and India will go up dramatically, from $100 billion a year to $300bn a year by the end of his first term. It will create 1 million new jobs in the US and 7 million in India. The increase in trade will come in the defence, energy and manufacturing sectors.”
Asked about his future role in Trump’s team, Kumar said: “I will serve President Trump in whatever capacity he would like me to, as long as it is consistent with issues I am passionate about.”
Trump has already named two Indian Americans for key posts in his administration.
Pending Senate confirmation, Governor Nimrata “Nikki” Haley will be the next US ambassador to the UN; and Dr Seema Verma was picked to be the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kumar, who was the South Asian Times Person Of the Year in 2016, is the chairman and chief executive of AVG Advanced Technologies and founder and chairman of the National Indian American Public Policy Institute, which took the first high-level US congressional delegation to visit Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2013.
Born and raised in India, he obtained his master’s degree in a record nine months and got busy with inventions, including the first microprocessor-based French fry computer for McDonald’s.
Always thinking big, when planning the 2011 wedding of his son, Vikram, to Miss India Earth 2007, Pooja Chitgopekar, he had nine helicopters fly in a “V” formation to form the head of Vikram’s baraat (groom’s party) that flew over Auckland, New Zealand. UNIVERSAL Hindu and Sikh prayers were offered at the interfaith service in the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday to invoke divine blessings for new President Donald Trump and the nation.
Hindu priest Narayanachar L Digalakote prayed in Sanskrit for the government leaders in the first part of the service when prayers were said for those who govern.
Jesse Singh, the founder of American Sikhs for Trump, recited in Punjabi a prayer said by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh master, in the segment of prayers for the people.
Singh, who was dressed in a suit and wore a dark turban, translated the invocation that was for unity, binding the common bonds of all, and equality.
Expanding on it, he added prayers for the most vulnerable in society and for those who perform the dangerous and dirty jobs for the well-being of all.
“Bless all whose lives closely linked with ours,” he prayed.
Wearing a saffron shawl and religious markings on his forehead, Digalakote recited a shloka or hymn to invoke divine blessings for those who govern, in the first part of the ceremony of prayers for leaders.
Unlike Singh, the Jewish rabbis and the Muslim imam, who provided translations of their prayers and religious texts, the priest, of the Shiva Vishnu Temple in Lanham, a Washington suburb, walked away after his rote recitation, leaving the congregants without an idea of what the prayer was about.
Nicknamed the “White House Priest”, Digalakote participated in Deepavali celebrations at the White House under Barack Obama.
While most of the Christian prayers at the service were focused on Christianity, the Hindu and Sikh prayers were ecumenical, addressed to a common deity.
For the first time for either the Democratic or Republican parties, a Sikh prayer was said at the opening of the second day’s session at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last year.
Harmeet Dhillon, the vice chairperson of the California State Republican Party, opened the second night of the Republican National Convention by reciting the ardaas or prayer.
Trump has reached out to the American Hindu community, addressing a rally held by them last October, where he said he would be their friend in the White House.
After his election, Trump called out to the Hindus in the audience at a “Thank-You” rally in Florida.
Trump’s son Eric visited a Hindu temple in Orlando, Florida, in the final days before the November election and his wife, Lara, visited a temple in Chantilly, Virginia, to celebrate Deepavali. – IANS