Shashi Tharoor opens a line of attack on Indian Americans

Hindu Americans tend to be more sympathetic to India than any other Indian expat groups. For that reason, they are often accused of ‘dual loyalty’ and slapped with the ‘Hindutva’ moniker, which is used asa smokescreen to penalise Hindus who violate the dogmas and orthodoxies of the left-liberal consensus.

- AVATANS KUMAR

Over the past few months, the Indian diaspora, unexpectedly and largely uncharitably, has come under some harsh criticism from Indian politicians, political analysts, and social media warriors. Prominentamong them was Shashi Tharoor, a member of India’s opposition Indian National Congress (Congress) Party, Mr Tharoor is a member of the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, in the southern state ofKerala. Mr'Tharoor took to social media and newspaper op-eds to chide the members of the Indian diaspora in the US for not doing enough to help India in the wake of US President Donald Trump's “a series of policy assaults on India.” The “silence” of the Indian diaspora is “puz~

zling,” Mr Tharoor writes in an oped in one of India’s prominent English-language dailies. He goes on to quote aresponse from the office of one of the female congressional members of Indian ancestry (easy guess who that could be), saying “her office hadnotreceiveda single call” of protest from her constituents against what he calls the ‘Trump administration's “assault on India.”

Tostate that Mr Tharoor's line of argument is deeply flawed, inaccurate, and partisan will be an understatement. Mr Tharoor’s charges of “assault on India” are also ablatantmischaracterization of the issue at hand.

Assomeone who has lived and studied in the US for several years and worked at the United Nations (as Under-Secretary-General), MrTha-roor cannot claim ignorance of US rules on lobbying for a foreign government. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) requires persons or organizations to register with the US Department of Justice and disclose their relationships, activities, and related financial compensation.

Those interested ina clinical rebuttal of Mr Tharoor’s oped should read my friend Suhag Shukla, Esq.’sarticle. Ms Shukda is the Executive Director and a co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, a nonpartisan Hinduadvocacy group in the