Hindu-Americans Lobby Capitol Hill Amid Rising Anti-Hindu Sentiment

Hosted by the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), the event drew seven members of Congress and 12 staffers from both sides of the aisle. Participants, ranging from veterans like Ruchir Bakshi to student activists from Rutgers University, emphasized that their religious identity serves as a foundation for civic duty rather than a barrier to it. Bakshi noted that the Bhagavad Gita’s teachings on selfless service guided his deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, a sentiment echoed by young delegates navigating campus life.

Lawmakers signaled a growing bipartisan recognition of these concerns. Representative Buddy Carter of Georgia condemned recent attacks on houses of worship, while Democrat Shri Thanedar urged the community to demand greater visibility in science and public policy. However, the day also touched on legislative friction; Representative Zoe Lofgren cautioned that proposed caste-related policies require extreme scrutiny to avoid creating new forms of discrimination. Researchers from the Network Contagion Research Institute presented data suggesting that online hostility toward the community is increasingly fueled by coordinated social media campaigns, prompting the launch of a new transparency dashboard to audit institutional reports on Hindu-American issues.