Media Contact:
Craig Steinburg
csteinberg@RHC-USA.org

President Trump Celebrates Hindu Festival of Lights in the Midst of a Dramatic Shift in U.S. Foreign Policy in South Asia

(Washington, DC)—October 25, 2017—President Trump invited prominent Hindus and Indian-Americans—including UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and National Hindu leaders such as Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, founding Chairman of the Republican Hindu Coalition—to the White House to celebrate this year’s Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights celebrated every year in autumn.

At the unprecedented event, held October 17, President Trump told the guests and literally billions across the world: “Today, I was deeply honored to be joined by so many administration officials and leaders of the Indian-American community to celebrate Diwali…As we do so, we especially remember the people of India, the home of the Hindu faith, who have built the world’s largest democracy. I greatly value my very strong relationship with Prime Minister Modi.”

This celebration in the White House was the culmination of President Trump’s admiration for Hindus. On the campaign trail, President Trump declared at a Hindu rally organized by the RHC on October 15, 2016: “We love Hindus and if elected you would have a true friend in the White House.” Shalli Kumar and his core group at RHC expended vast resources in 2016 to encourage a mass number of Hindu-Americans to support Republican candidates, resulting in what Newt Gingrich called a tectonic switch and one of the greatest political turnarounds in modern political history.

“There is a reason why [then] candidate Trump loves Hindus,” said Kumar. “They are model citizens: More than 4.2 million Hindus live in the U.S. and 67 percent have a Bachelor’s degree; 55 percent have an advance degree. Hindus have the highest per capita income of all groups, give the maximum to charity, take the least from government, have almost zero crime, have strong families, and pay $50 billion per year in taxes. And one out of 10 are businesspeople who create jobs. Who wouldn’t want to reach out to them?”

The day after the event, Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, declared: “It is indeed time to double down on a democratic partner that is still rising, and rising responsibly, for the next 100 years. But above all, the world, and the Indo-Pacific in particular, needs the United States and India to have a strong partnership.”

This support for India is a dramatic shift from President Obama’s relationship with the country. During his administration, he banned Prime Minister Modi–when he was Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in India—from visiting the United States, fought hard to gift eight F-16 fighter jets to the terror breeding state of Pakistan to use against India, and banned the sale of the defense armament and liquefied natural gas to India and let the Haqqani network and the Taliban kill American and Indian soldiers, said Kumar. In contrast, President Trump has put Pakistan on a stern notice: shape up or ship out!

This policy change was highlighted in an October 19^th, 2017, Times of India article: “In major policy shift, U.S. seeks India’s help to Counter China.” And the Official Photo of the Day was a picture of the Diwali celebration in the oval office with the President flanked by Ambassador Nikki Haley and Seema Verma on his right and Shalli Kumar, his daughter Manasvi, and son Vikram on his left.

Earlier this year, President Trump met with Prime Minister Modi at the White House where President Trump, acknowledging the contribution of the Republican Hindu Coalition, told Prime Minister Modi: “During my campaign, I pledged that if elected, India would have a true friend in the White House.  And that is now exactly what you have—a true friend.”

After the meeting, the two leaders issued a joint statement that called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries. They further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot, and other cross-border terrorist attacks perpetrated by Pakistan-based groups.

What a seismic change?

After his brief remarks at the Diwali event from his oval office desk, President Trump proceeded to light the Diya. After the lighting of the Diya, he told the guests about the New Jersey rally he had attended last year where wall-to-wall Hindus came to support him. Kumar suggested that we hold another rally, this time with 50,000 people to which President told the attendees “If there is someone who can pull it off, it is him.”

At the event, Shalabh Kumar said, “Today, we celebrate Diwali, the welcome home of the greatest among men, Lord Rama after killing the evil king who where terrorizing India. Since then, for over 10,000 years, Hindus all over the world pray on this day of Diwali to bring back Ram Rajya, the governance of good, and I had predicted right after your inauguration that you had the potential of bringing Ram Rajya to the United States of America. Despite some hurdles in the Congress, you have done a great job so far; we are so proud of you and the Hindu community is so proud of you.”

President Trump and General Kelly spent the next 30 minutes talking to the Kumar family on a variety of subjects and listened to feedback on how the Trump administration is doing from the perspective of the younger generation concerning US-India-Pakistan-China relations. Vikram Kumar explained to President and General Kelly how his company is able to manufacture electronic products in America even today, and got President Trump to sign an autograph: “Vikram, great work to Make America Great Again.” President Trump also autographed two books for Manasvi: “The Art of the Deal,” writing: “To Manasvi, Thanks for your help,” and the second a hard cover book on “Ab ki Baar Trump Sarkar.” The book is available on www.rhcusa.com or Amazon. The president wrote: “To Manasvi and Pops, you are a great family, best wishes.”