Parliament of World Religions Chair of the Board of Trustees – Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid

Are all Hindus bad? The Council of World Religions seems to think so – based on their recent decision to reject a Hindu community event celebrated by Hindus from all across the United States, consisting of professors, doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers, lawyers and yoga teachers.

Rejecting a request from a coalition of over three hundred North American Hindu spiritual leaders, organizations, community leaders, and lay people, the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR) refused yesterday to join Hindus in Chicago to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The CPWR originally planned on being a co-sponsor of the celebration set for September 28, 2013, but then withdrew suddenly after receiving a complaint from an online based anti-Hindu group. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) coordinated a letter requesting the CPWR to change course as local organizers worked towards reaching a compromise with CPWR, but the Parliament rejected the final requests late last night, prompting the only two Hindu members of the Parliament Board of Trustees to resign in protest today.

“At HAF, we are saddened that the Parliament, created in the very name of Swami Vivekananda, turned its back on the Hindu community and drew its own fault lines defining politics and religion,” said Suhag Shukla, HAF’s Executive Director. “The CPWR has decided to define political organizations arbitrarily, and must now take a hard look at every organization it has partnered with and that its trustees are associated with or represent.”

Shukla suggested that the CPWR immediately examine the ties Shaik Ubaid–the Muslim activist who claimed credit for forcing the Parliament to dissociate from the Chicago Hindu community in several Muslim media outlets– maintains within the Parliament leadership. Ubaid works closely with the CPWR Chairman of the Board, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, having co-founded a number of organizations and worked together in others.

In a major setback to the Parliament Board of Trustees, the only two Hindu trustees of the Parliament, Professor Anant Rambachan, Chair of the Department of Religion at St. Olaf’s College, and Ms. Anju Bhargava, Founder of Hindu American Seva Charities, resigned immediately after CPWR confirmed its unilateral decision to disengage from the community celebration.

“The decision to withdraw, made without consulting either one of us, has caused hurt and great disappointment across the Hindu world and especially here in the United States,” wrote Rambachan and Bhargava, in a letter released earlier today. “In spite of claiming neutrality, the Board chose to be influenced in its decision by giving credibility to complainants against its participation in the event and by showing no interest in considering or deliberating on the Hindu responses received.”

But while the CPWR boasted of a unanimous approval of its decision to refuse reversal, the resigning trustees also wrote, “We wish to clarify also that we did not participate in the Board meeting on September 24, 2013 when the Board approved its recently released resolution. For us, the heart of the matter is the Board’s unwillingness to consider any form of participation.”

“To completely ignore issues of fairness, transparency, and mutual respect raised by the Hindu community at large and the condescending tone of the announcement should call into question the Parliament’s ability to be a global leader in the interfaith movement,” said Mr. Pawan Deshpande, a member of HAF’s Executive Council. “Nonetheless, the silver lining in all of this is that it has brought together so many Hindus, across a broad spectrum of religious, cultural, and political backgrounds, to voice our collective concern.”

UK Hindus

Figures show high levels of senior and professional employment among the Jewish and Hindu communities, Mail Online has reported quoting United Kingdom Office for National Statistics.

It has also quoted economist Ruth Lea of the Arbuthnot Banking Group saying: “Jews and Hindus are proportionately so much more successful… There doesn’t seem to be any discrimination here. What these figures say is that if you are determined you can make it.”

Majority of Hindus immigrated to the UK from India and were among the poorest immigrants in the western world. However, other studies have also indicated that Hinduism has an extremely strong emphasis on higher education and hard work. Therefore, the Hindu community has grown financially and professionally in nations like Canada, UK, United States and Australia to be role-model immigrants giving back to their new host nation.  Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has applauded the drive, hard work, determination and ambition of United Kingdom (UK) Hindus. Also read ‘Study Shows, Hindus Have Lowest Divorce Rate and Highest Education Level in United States of America‘.

When ‘The Chakra’ surveyed some readers, many Hindus indicated they work hard and choose professions such as engineers and doctors to better society and the world. Many also mentioned that they felt happy being taxed in nations that gave them an opportunity to grow their careers and life. Another highlight from the survey was that they felt education is important in a world where some parts of the world are moving backwards socially and economically.

Quoting Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged UK Hindus to do their work with the welfare of the world always in mind. Create higher standards, perform all work carefully guided by compassion and stay away from the fever of ego, Zed adds.

The violent clashes occurred in the Nagla Mal area of Meerut, a city within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP, and is a few hours away from the capital New Delhi. It has been reported that the violence began when groups of local Muslims were upset that a Hindu temple was playing Hindu devotional songs (bhajans) and forced the loudspeaker to be shutoff while beating a few Hindu men in the temple. Police tried to control the violent mob and is looking for the rioters involved. The governing party of Uttar Pradesh during these riots is the Samajwadi party.

Religious violence and riots are not new to Uttar Pradesh and India during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan as it is a sensitive month for many in the Muslim community . In the past few years there have been similar cases where Muslim mobs have vandalized Hindu temples and injured Hindus due to hearing Hindu religious songs on route to a Mosque or if a religious procession is passing a Hindu temple that is playing music.

A few years prior, a major clash in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh took place between Hindus and Muslims. The rioting started on night of 5 April when according to some people, members of the Muslim community removed the decorations on a Hindu temple (it was the Hindu festival of Ram Navami) while another version as reported by some media suggests that riots started after some Muslims objected to the overnight celebration of Ram Navami.

There are a  few other details about this violent riot that took place at a Hindu temple on ‘The Indian Express’  here.

Groceries & tents were distributed to Pakistani Hindu refugee providing food and accommodation relief. These Hindus have been staying at Jodh-pur, Rajasthan area since seven months after fleeing Pakistan in late 2013, after witnessing grave human rights violation ( speech, religion, work etc.) in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They understand Hindu and speak in Sin-dhi. Each family has its own obligation to cook food and manage their day to day requirements like collecting woods for cooking and work for food ( though they can’t work legally because Government of India hasn’t issued BPL cards (which allows to purchase ration grocery) at economic rate and temporary work permit ( which would have helped these Hindu brothers and sisters to work and earn with dignity). The local administration though has provided a shelter to these Pakistani Hindus at a owned by Rajasthan Gov-ernment which relieved them from hassles of moving from one place to an-other. It would have helped them immensely if Rajasthan Govt issues them temporary BPL cards to purchase grocery at discounted rate.

VHPA Donated Grocery to Pak Refugees – Donation Picture

On asking Chetan Ram, the leader of Pakistani Hindu group (Jattha) whether they are receiving help from any other organizations, he says “ Sir, though some individuals and groups donate biscuits, milk and other items, the mag-nitude of ration supplies which VHPA has been donating on a quarterly basis is long lasting ” and offered his deep thanks to organizations like VHPA and VHP India who are trying their best to provide comfort and relief to these Hindu families in distress. VHP Delhi has already adopted Delhi based Pakistani refugees. A You tube link of testimonials are attached below. In December, 2012 VHPA with the help of local VHP Chapter of Jodhpur donated grocery and supplies which got covered in domestic and international media, impact of which motivated and brought more prominent Hindus to help them, for example a prominent Jodhpur based advocate, Mr. Om Prakash Boob had one on one meeting with these Hindu refugees and provided information on Indian labor and wage and contacts for networking with local contractors and work agents who assured pic and drop facility for construction industry sites which is booming in this Marvar (local name of this land), he also assured of any legal help. Mr. Bhawarlal Chowdary, VHP Jodhpur chief contacted multi-ple village heads (Sarpanch in Hindi) (VHP India has presence (units) in more than 88, 000 villages) to help accommodate these Hindu refugees in 3-4 villages, after which village heads agreed to accommodate 10 families.

Since work is available in city and also this Hindu group would like to stay united (close family ties and relation), they would prefer to stay at Jodhpur. Current immediate requirements is shelter in terms of tents for individual families (as inside the big hall the temperature exceed 109 degree Fahrenheit during summer and young couples – family privacy is absent, and one may not know they move to open area in future—a tent is best home for them). Two other Hindu organizations donated a total of nine tents ( used Indian military tents which cost $37 each) providing comfort to nine families. Twenty five more tents are required. There is an open area behind the big hall where tents are being constructed. ETV Rajasthan covered and broadcasted the donation effort during their evening telecast.

Swami Vivekananda ji said “By serving human beings we are serving the highest expression of God on this earth “ Contact Rahul Chandra—VHPA chandraarahuul( at )gmail.com or call 001—(713) 429 4037 for more information on how to donate aid in terms of grocery, tents, medical check ups etc. FYI.. Approx. cost ~ $200 or INR 10000 to support food for 204 people for 30 days and $40 for providing a tent (with accessories and fixings) which will shelter one family.

New Tents vs Old Huts at Pakistan Refugee camp

Hindu American Foundation

By Kavita Pallod

When the parents of two young Hindu American boys contacted community leaders for help in getting answers from school authorities about the incessant bullying their children were facing at their Humble district school, the Hindu community rallied quickly to support the family and help find solutions to prevent such suffering from occurring in the future. The young boys were shoved, called names, and threatened for months on end in spite of the children’s parents filing complaints and meeting with school officials.  One was beaten up, and then held down while a gang of boys partially shaved off his eyebrow.  The other was taunted as “a terrorist.”  After a social studies lesson developed independently by their teacher suggested that pollution in the Ganges River, a river considered holy by Hindus, resulted in birth defects, classmates doubled their efforts in teasing both boys further, taunting them about having birth defects because they were Hindu.

After being alerted to the situation, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) immediately began working with the Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH) to write a coalition letter to the Humble Independent School District (Humble ISD) — some 17 Houston-based Hindu and Indian organizations joined the cause. This began a dialogue between the district’s leadership and the Hindu American community. The Hindu community attended the school board meeting to express their concerns about the situation and found the Board receptive to their grievances. However, the superintendent of Humble ISD chose not to have a separate meeting with HAF and HGH representatives to address the situation.

“We learned some valuable lessons through the process of engaging Humble ISD,” said Dev Mahajan, Chairman, Advisory Board, HGH.  “We learned the importance of knowing the formal complaint process, how language, tone, and timing play a really important role in getting results, and perhaps the most important lesson – the need for our community to come together and organize formally to advocate for our needs in the way Jewish organizations have through Jewish Federations in local communities across the nation.”

HAF and HGH also engaged the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to talk with Humble ISD. What was initially to be an intimate face to face conversation, became a fruitful meeting of nine leaders from the Houston Hindu community and ADL staff and leadership.

The ADL has a number of programs and resources targeted at helping schools combat bullying, including an initiative called No Place for Hate. ADL worked with Humble ISD as they agreed to adopt the No Place for Hate program to begin training their teachers. An administrator from Humble ISD attended ADL’s No Place for Hate Summer Institute for Educators, where they were asked to attend a session that encouraged schools to create a coalition of students, faculty members, and parents/family. The session also encouraged schools to sign the ADL’s Resolution of Respect and implement anti-bias activities to demonstrate and create an appreciation of and respect for diversity. Humble ISD implemented the educational programs, and in 2013, thirty schools earned the No Place for Hate designation by fully applying the ADL’s No Place for Hate Initiative.

HAF also created a short guide to empower parents in Humble ISD to understanding the grievance procedures in the district. It will be hosted on the Hindus of Greater Houston website. HAF is creating similar guides for other school districts in the Houston area as well.  HAF will also continue to work with the ADL to ensure that the training resources provided to teachers include ways to recognize anti-Hindu bullying specifically.

“Complaint and appeals procedures can be difficult to find in the volumes and volumes of district policies,” said Rishi Bhutada, member of HAF’s Board of Directors.  “Our hope is to make it easier for both parents and students to recognize what a bullying situation may look like by providing hypotheticals, what their rights are, and most importantly, what to do, step by step, should they find their child in a bullying situation.”

Despite this progress, the victims of the bullying have not found peace and security at school, and they have chosen to be home schooled. The parents of the victims did not receive the assurances from the school district that they needed to feel safe in sending their children back to school.

This initiative by HAF to address anti-Hindu bullying is part of a larger focus on education which centers on textbook reform.

“While we may not have been able to intervene early enough to assist in a resolution for the case that served as a wake-up call for all of us to come together,” continued Mahajan, “we now have had the chance to recognize what we can accomplish collectively so that there never is another instance where a student is bullied, parents’ complaints are ignored, and the school does not immediately and effectively address the situation.”

-Kavita Pallod is an Executive Council member of the Hindu American Foundation.

The Church Of England

A Hindu community leader Rajan Zed has urged General Synod of Church of England to endorse introduction of women bishops in its debate and vote on the issue on Monday in University of York (United Kingdom).

It would be a “step in the right direction”, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed in a statement in Nevada (USA) today.

Rajan Zed suggested the Church to empower the women bishops with exactly equal roles as men bishops and without any limits or conditions. As women were equal partners in the society, they should be equal partners in Church also. Women could disseminate God’s message as skillfully as men and deserved equal and full participation and access in religion, Zed added.

Quoting Hindu scriptures, Zed says: Where women are honored, there the gods are pleased.

Women now reportedly make up about a third of the Church’s priests. Monday’s Synod agenda includes “Women in the episcopate – new legislative proposals”.

The General Synod, currently meeting July 5-9 in York, is the national assembly of the Church of England (headquartered in London whose tagline is “A Christian presence in every community”), which is recognized by law as the official church of England. About 1.7 million people take part in a Church of England service each month, about 12 million people visit its cathedrals annually and it has over 19,500 licensed ministers. Her Majesty the Queen is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, while Most Reverend Justin Welby is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

WHEF North America – Dallas

(CHAKRA) The first World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) North American conference took place in the Southern USA financial hub Dallas, Texas. Tt was the first conference of its kind where Hindu entrepreneurs across different business domains came together at one platform to network, share and collaborate in making Hindu society prosperous. Prominent businessman and venture capitalists from Texas were present at the conference. The event was hosted by the World Hindu Foundation – North America.

World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) is dedicated towards making society prosperous. It envisions amity and unanimity among business community, industry, academic and political organizations at local and international levels. that domain. It leverages a networking model among Hindu entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, financiers, technocrats and academics to promote information, resources and intellectual property sharing which leads to the increase in wealth among the Hindu community on a worldwide scale. For example at this conference when one prospective entrepreneur suggested a business plan about Hindu Media at the WHEF conference, he received instant support for the request of high end servers and networks from another businessman who deals in a similar industry.

The Dallas based World Hindu Foundation team joined via virtual meeting and provided key inputs on integrating Canadian based businessman with the World Hindu Economic Forum. WHEF looks forward to expanding and integrating more and more Hindu entrepreneurs in the North American Regional chapter into its global fold and plans to conduct more conferences within the USA and Canada in near future.

To join World Hindu Economic Forum and get updates on regional, national and international conferences and events please visit http://www.wheforum.org/. If you would like to know more about the American chapter you can contact rahul |at| worldhindufoundation.org and to know about the Canadian chapter you can contact sachin |at| worldhindufoundation.org.

The report provided detailed accounts of human rights violations in the areas of: violence against women, forced conversions, mass violence, temple destruction, socio-political ostracization, economic and political marginalization, and discriminatory laws in nine countries and one state in India.

HAF’s latest report marked a departure from previous years and featured a new and revamped format, categorizing countries based on the extent of their human rights violations, while including expanded coverage of Hindu refugee populations from Bhutan and Pakistan.

“This year’s report represents an evolution of HAF’s human rights work and a new focus on providing direct humanitarian assistance to Hindus displaced from their countries of origin,” said Kalra, who visited Pakistani Hindu refugee camps in Jodhpur, India earlier this year. “While advocating on larger systemic human rights issues is vital, it is equally important to address the basic needs of these refugee populations.”

Kalra was joined at the briefing by Professor Ved Nanda, a world-renowned expert on international law and the Thompson G. Marsh Professor of Law at the University of Denver, and Professor Sachi Dastidar, Distinguished Service Professor in the Politics, Economics and Law Department at State University of New York, Old Westbury and an expert on the plight of Hindu and other non-Muslim minorities in Bangladesh.

During his talk, Professor Nanda noted the growing importance of human rights within the international legal framework and praised HAF for its commitment to consistently raising these issues with U.S. policy makers. Similarly, Professor Dastidar provided an overview of violence against minorities in Bangladesh and the country’s slide from secular democracy to one with increasing extremism and intolerance. In addition to Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Malaysia, and Pakistan garnered the greatest censure from the Foundation and were labeled as Egregious Violators for engaging in or allowing rampant and systematic violations to take place against their minority Hindu populations.

“It’s critical that human rights concerns are not ignored in light of our larger geopolitical interests in these countries,” said Suhag Shukla, Esq., HAF’s Executive Director and Legal Counsel. “We cannot achieve our national security objectives in South and Southeast Asia without addressing the lack of religious freedom and fundamental civil liberties that exists in the region.”

Other countries or regions covered in the report included Bhutan, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and Sri Lanka, which were labelled as Countries of Serious Concern for committing severe human rights violations against their Hindu minority, but not rising to the level of Egregious Violators. And the last category, Monitored Countries, encompassed those nations with a history of violations against the Hindu community, such as Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago, but where conditions had improved in recent years. The one exception was Saudi Arabia, which only has a small population of Hindu migrant workers and lacks available data on violations against Hindus to appropriately assess the situation.

The Foundation also featured its new documentary film on Pakistani Hindu refugees at the press briefing, entitled “Victims of History: The Untold Story of Pakistani Hindus in India.”

FBI logo

Hindu Americans welcomed the FBI Advisory Policy Board’s (APB) recommendation that the FBI collect and report data regarding anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh, and anti-Arab hate crimes as part of its annual national data collection program mandated by the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 (HCSA).

Over the past several months, Hindu Americans and supporters of the community lit up their Congressional leaders’ phone lines in a nationwide campaign to encourage support for this initiative. The final decision to add the categories was taken just yesterday by the Advisory Policy Board, a subsidiary of the Department of Justice.

“We hope Director Robert Mueller approves the APB recommendation quickly so that they may be implemented without further delay,” said Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF Director and Senior Human Rights Fellow. “Law-enforcement agencies will now be better able to track and assess trends in hate crimes against these communities and, most importantly, provide better protection.”

HAF previously submitted comments to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, specifically focusing on the importance of creating an anti-Hindu hate crime category and its significance for tracking hate crimes against Hindu American institutions and individuals. The primary impetus for the proposal’s inclusion of an anti-Hindu hate crime category, HAF’s legal team said, may have been its comprehensive submission of written on the record testimony to a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism,” spearheaded by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), in order to shed light on the impact of hate crimes on the Hindu American community.

“We thank Members of Congress and organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who supported the call for broadening the tracking of hate crimes to accurately reflect the targeting of Hindu Americans and the FBI’s Advisory Board for making the right call,” said Suhag Shukla, Esq., HAF’s Executive Director and Legal Counsel. “The Advisory Board’s decision was particularly significant given the recent tragic death of Sunando Sen, a Hindu man who was pushed in front of a subway train in New York.”

Hundreds participated in the Bhumi-Pujan ceremony of this upcoming Temple (also known as Sarv Dev Mandir and Community Center) on a six-acre plot, which started with Shree Ganesh Rath Yatra (procession) and included Ganesh Pujan, Kalash Pujan, Navgrah Pujan, Havan, Khanan, earth worship and Aarti. Temple cost might go up to $2.5 million, reports suggest.

Meanwhile, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, applauded efforts of Temple leaders and area community to realize this Hindu temple complex.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to the coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this temple complex would focus in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism, we should focus on inner search and realization of Self.

According to reports, management expects an “interim temple and community center” be up and running by this fall. Next phase will include 40,000 square feet temple and community center, where Lord Ganesha will be the main deity, besides 5-7 other altars with idols of (yet to be determined) Mahavir, Buddha, Venkateshvar, Krishna, Ram, Hanuman, Durga, etc. It will include prayer hall, center for cultural activities and social events, library and resource center, and kids’ play area. Besides a venue for worship; it will also celebrate festivals, organize religious and cultural classes for children and various activities for seniors. Avinash Gupta is the Chairman.

In Hinduism, Lord Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.

Female majority Township of Toms River, chartered in 1767 and then burned in 1782, is home to many beaches and second largest Halloween parade in the world and has been ranked 14th-safest city in USA. Thomas F. Kelaher and Paul J. Shives are Mayor and Business Administrator respectively of Toms River; while prominent people associated with it include jazz singer Chris Connor, Ultimate Fighting Champion Frank Edgar, baseball players Todd Frazier and Al Leiter, actors Brian Geraghty and Piper Perabo, and soccer player Chris Konopka.