Author: Gokul Kunnath
Publication: Theiapt.com
Date: October 31, 2010
URL: http://theiapt.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=139:usha-urges-president-obama-to-meet-indias-hindu-leaders-visit-golden-temple-and-avoid-humayuns-tomb&catid=43:india-matters&Itemid=58
The US Hindu Alliance sent the following letter
to President Barack Obama suggesting he meet prominent Hindu Religious Leaders,
visit the Golden Temple as planned earlier and avoid a controversial visit
to Humayun's Tomb during his historic trip to India.
TEXT OF THE LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:
Dear Mr. President,
The United States Hindu Alliance, representing
America's 3 million Hindus, is looking forward to your historic visit to India
with great hopes and expectations. Your visit will not only improve US India
bilateral relations but also American relations with the Hindu World. As President
you have fulfilled many things that are dear to the Hindus. The inclusion
of Hindus in the text of your inaugural address, your participation in the
2009 White House Diwali Celebration and your commitment to provide opportunities
to qualified Hindus to serve in the administration are all unprecedented.
During this historic visit, we fervently hope
you will meet the important religious leaders of the Hindus. In his visit
to India, President Bush met the leaders of the Muslim and Christian communities,
ignoring the religious leaders of the largest Hindu population in the world.
We urge you to meet the leaders of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, the apex
body comprising the largest number of religious leaders belonging to the Hindu
World. As you are well aware, India is the birthplace of all Dharmic religious
traditions. Almost one billion people in India are followers of Dharma, mostly
Hindus.
We believe that the venues you choose to visit
and the people you decide to meet will reflect the message you want to send
to Hindus and the world. In this context, we wish to convey our shock and
sadness about your proposed visit to the tomb of Emperor Nasruddin Muhammad
Humayun, who invaded India along with his father Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur
in 1526 and the uncertainties surrounding your highly anticipated visit to
the Holy Golden Temple in Amritsar. As a leader who is ever cognizant of the
importance of symbolism in international relations and public life, we wish
to bring to your attention the reasons for our anxiety.
We are forced to break our silence when the
President of the United States does such an honor to an Islamist of the first
order. Humayun, born and raised in Kabul, accompanied his father Babur on
his military conquest of India. He was part and parcel of the Mughal Empire
which institutionalized persecution against Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists
and Christians. Under his regime, non Muslims were obligated to pay the Jaziya
Tax as well as the Pilgrimage Tax imposed on Hindu Pilgrims visiting holy
places in the Mughal Empire. This is a man who pulled out a sword to kill
the revered second Sikh Guru Angad Dev. Some of the most important temples
belonging to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs were destroyed during the
campaigns of Babur and Humayun, not to mention the countless number of innocent
people killed by them. Your visit to his tomb, therefore, may be seen as an
endorsement of the ideology of radical Muslims. If the aim of your administration
is to send a message to the Muslims of India or the Muslim World at large,
there are scores of alternate Muslim monuments and shrines which are not controversial
and more appropriate for a Presidential visit.
The Juma Masjid of New Delhi, the largest
mosque in India, is one of them. Please be reminded that a visit to Humayun's
tomb will be more celebrated by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Shiite
fundamentalist Clerics in Iran than the Muslims of India or for that matter
the Muslims of Arab Countries. No American President has ever visited this
venue in the past and for good reason. We hope you will do the same.
On the other hand, The Golden Temple in Amritsar
is the holiest center of pilgrimage for one of India's greatest religious
traditions - Sikh Dharma and it was one of the venues in your official itinerary.
The reported cancellation of the visit has caused disappointment through out
the world. The Sikhs have always fought for justice and fairness. When India
was in the grip of ruthless, barbaric forces, the Sikhs sacrificed their lives
to protect the peace loving population of India for centuries. The story of
Sikhs is reminiscent of our own times when the civilized world has united
to fight the terror and barbarism propagated by a few. Among those who have
visited the holy shrine includes the Dalai Lama, Stephen Harper and Queen
Elizabeth. Your visit to the Golden Temple will uphold the high civilizational
values of the American people and help remove any misperceptions about Sikhs
in the western world.
We have welcomed your symbolic gestures and
specific actions in the past. Having witnessed injustices in your own life,
we hope you will hear our request with sympathy and a sense of solidarity.
Thank you and have a wonderful visit.
Yours respectfully,
Gokul Kunnath
President
