The TOI correspondent from Washington: He bowed down to touch his parents’ feet in an Indic mark of respect as he walked in for his confirmation hearing. Introducing them to the Senate panel during his opening statement, he turned around and greeted them with “Jai Shri Krishna” a common invocation among sanatani Gujaratis. He then spoke of the racism he faced, growing up in New Jersey.
Trump nominee Kashyap Patel’s overt references to his Hindu faith during his confirmation hearing for the post of FBI Director left the President’s MAGA base divided on Thursday, with some hardliners worrying about a “foreigner” heading the powerful agency, and others seeing it as a vindication of the movement accepting all faiths rather than a Christian nationalist movement as it is often characterized by liberals.
In a separate confirmation hearing for the post of Director of National Intelligence, Trump nominee Tulsi Gabbard also wore her Vaishnava faith on her sleeve and spoke of the anti-Hindu bigotry she has faced, in another repudiation of MAGA’s purported embrace of ethnocentric Christian nationalism. She also rejected allegations, coming mainly from the left-liberal circles in the US, that she was a “puppet” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Russian leader Vladimir Putin,
The twin events thrilled many Indian-American MAGA supporters, often aligned with the ruling BJP in India, who claimed that “while Democrat Indians like Ro (Khanna) & Pramila (Jayapal) seem embarrassed of their nationality & religion, Republican Hindus are proud & vocal of their faith!” They cited MAGA’s acceptance of the Hindu faith of Trump surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy and vice-president JD Vance’s wife Usha Chilukuri as further evidence that the movement was not insular.
Still, the twin hearings caused some disquiet among MAGA extremists, with one social media troll wondering if “we are allowing Hinduism to take a strong foothold in our USA govt.” Describing both Patel and Gabbard as “pagan idolaters” who have “consciously chosen to reject Christ,” a MAGA activist argued that Trump could have easily chosen other more qualified people.
In course of a feisty hearing, the combative Patel pushed back at Democratic fears that he has an “enemies list” even though he has been pushing for prosecution of members of the so-called “Deep State.” Confronted with his own words in various interviews and podcasts threatening retribution against adversaries, Patel argued that his words are being taken out of context and pledged not to politicize the Bureau or take vindictive action.
If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel will be the first Indian-American, and indeed the first non-white person of foreign-origin, to head the Bureau in its 90-year history. All eight Directors in the Bureau’s history have been white men. FBI Directors typically have a ten-year term often spanning administrations. Similarly, six white men led the Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) before Avril Haines became the first woman to lead the agency in 2021. If confirmed Gabbard would be the second.