Hindu Sena Prays in New Delhi for Donald Trump Win, Believes He Can Save Humanity

The Hindu Sena is known for its radical approaches and widespread violence against the country’s Muslim minority

[Photo Credit: Hindustan Times/Getty Images]

Just three weeks ago at a campaign rally in Delaware, presumptive Republic nominee Donald Trump recounted a story of calling his American credit card company, only to find that the call center employee was an Indian, based in India. “How the hell does that work?” asked Trump. Though this time, to unleash yet another attack on American outsourcing, Trump used a uniquely derisive rhetoric—his own mockery of the Indian employee’s accent. We know his caricature is not solely confined to the call center employee in Trump’s story, but also reflects a parody of Indian people in general—the people who make up the world’s second most populous nation. Interestingly enough, direct subjects of his mockery—members of the Hindu Sena, a Hindu nationalist political organization—have publicly relayed their support for Trump’s nomination.

In a video released by Reuters, the right-wing Indian group can be seen holding a spiritual ceremony in the streets of the country’s capital, New Delhi, asking various Hindu idols to carry Trump to victory during elections this November. Lighting ritual fires and marking a poster of Trump with a tilaka on his forehead, the Hindu Sena has not only paid its respects to Trump but has deified him alongside Hindu gods and goddesses. As boldly stated by Vishnu Gupta, President of the Hindu Sena, “Going by the statements of Donald Trump, we think that he will be the lone protector of mankind.”

Although individually removed from American election politics and processes, it is not surprising that the Hindu Sena has lent passionate support to the Republican candidate. Trump’s repeated, rousing comments on combatting Islamic extremism via “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”—comments from Trump’s December press release that he has now retracted to be “only a suggestion”—are ideologies that align well with India’s Hindu nationalist efforts.

The Hindu Sena is known for its radical approaches and widespread violence against the country’s Muslim minority. For example, an incident in October 2015 involved the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq, a Muslim man from Bisara village in Uttar Pradesh, who was suspected to have slaughtered a calf for later consumption. Upon the priest from a local Hindu temple announcing his suspicion over the loudspeaker, Hindu village members proceeded to attack Akhlaq and his son with bricks and allegedly molested his daughter. Uproar traveled all the way to members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs. The BJP, however, has chosen to remain silent on the issue, as with various other analogous crimes, beyond initially calling the lynching an “accident.”

In March, Quartz intriguingly exhibited the commonalities, both hidden and overt, between “Hindutva icon” Modi and billionaire Trump’s propagandist rules and marketing ingenuities. It is further remarkable to note the parallel “anti-national” versus “national” debates the two leaders are quick to strike and center in their campaigns. Yet only time can tell what Trump’s victory would mean for India-US relations.