US Republicans on Wednesday launched a Congressional Hindu Caucus to advocate the concerns and issues of the Hindu American community. This came after Democrat Shrinivas Thanedar launched a Congressional Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain American Caucus in September.
A congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives.
The launch event at Capitol Hill on Wednesday was organised by Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, an Indian-American who is the founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition.
Addressing the Indian community at the event, Republican conference chair of US Congress Elise Stefanik said, “Your core values of free enterprise, fiscal discipline, family values and a firm foreign policy not only guide the Hindu American community but our central tenets shared and fought by House Republicans and Republicans across America.”
She also extended support to Israel in its war against Hamas. Stefanik applauded the Hindu American community’s support for Israel and said, “I greatly admire the Hindu American community for supporting our Israeli and Jewish friends in their most dire time of need. The shared values of self-governance and we the people unite Israel, India and the United States of America.”
Meanwhile, Shalabh Kumar said more than 150 members of the US House of Representatives have committed to becoming members of the Congressional Hindu Caucus.
This would make it one of the largest caucuses in the US Congress that would be actively engaged in enacting legislation and passing resolutions important to the Hindu American community, he added.
Elise Stefanik said the Hindu caucus would lead efforts to pursue policies that encourage trade between the US and India, decrease India’s reliance on Russian and Chinese-made defence equipment and increase collaboration in joint quad and bilateral military exercises.
“As partners, the US and India can continue to pursue a strong foreign policy to combat aggression, discourage authoritarian regimes and contain territorial expansions,” she added.
