HAF is deeply concerned that nearly a month later and after clarifications were made in multiple fora about statements made by one our of staff, that were we believe deliberately misquoted by Sacramento Bee reporter Joe Rubin, California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus Amar Shergill continues to publicly lie about the Hindu American Foundation.
A letter to the California Sikh community being circulated by Shergill on social media (a copy of which is above) characterizes HAF’s law enforcement trainings as urging “widespread Sikh surveillance” and a “warrantless surveillance program” targeting the Sikh community.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
HAF does not call for widespread surveillance of the Sikh community. Alleging that HAF supports a warrantless surveillance program of any community is a lie.
Such mischaracterizations are entirely bad-faith interpretations of HAF’s training materials centered on improving law enforcement understanding of Hindu culture and threats to Hindus and Hindu places of worship, including from pro-Khalistan extremists.
View HAF training materials here.
As for statements by Shergill regarding a HAF staff member’s mention of their place of worship, for the third time, our staff responded to a question by reporter Joe Rubin about references in a past blog by another HAF staff member which mentioned organized crime by Khalistani extremists some years ago. In responding to Rubin, she simply mentioned these past media reports, and never implied that such activity was “currently happening”.
We urge the Sacramento Bee clarify the article in question (In the shadow of a freeway shooting lurks the fear of Sikhs threatened in California), stating that HAF staff had been misquoted on this point.
Rubin’s mischaracterizations have led to even more divisiveness between communities, including non-stop personal attacks on HAF Community Outreach Director Ramya Ramakrishnan, many of which appear extremely coordinated and with violent, racist, and misogynistic overtones. As damaging and hurtful as these attacks have been to HAF and Ramakrishnan personally, they also do nothing to prevent racial profiling or warrantless wiretapping of Sikhs by the US government, let alone assassinations of Sikhs by any so-called “death squads” they fear have been sent by the Government of India.
While we’ve had disagreements with Shergill in the past, this level of shamelessness, cynicism, political grandstanding, and divisiveness is truly unbecoming of a civic leader with his power and influence.
We demand that Amar Shergill retract his letter alleging that HAF has called for widespread surveillance of the Sikh community in the United States and that it has called for warrantless surveillance of Sikhs, and to not make further similar statements about HAF in the future.
As HAF has publicly said, the Hindu and Sikh communities in the US have largely had good relations. We believe that such amity should continue. This is why our Community Outreach Director and one of our managing directors went to one of the biggest Bay Area Gurudwaras in February, prayed and paid their respects first at the Darbar Sahib before proceeding to have a conversation about the attacks on Hindu temples with Sikh leaders.
Bigoted statements by pro-Khalistan activists such as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun telling Hindus to go back to India run directly counter to such good community relations.
One would think such xenophobia ought to be publicly condemned by these Sikh community groups and leaders that want to uphold, as Shergill’s letter states, “the principles of equality and inclusion for all, including our Hindu siblings.”
Similarly, while law enforcement investigations continue, the obvious connection between pro-Khalistan activists and vandalism of Hindu temples in California and New York, the attempted arson of the Indian consulate in San Francisco, the assault on a Hindu American in Taco Bell, and the continued accusation of Hindus, Hindu community groups and advocacy groups as being proxies of the Government of India, must be acknowledged and publicly condemned.
Pro Khalistan messages and vulgar language that desecrate the walls of our sacred places of worship are not acknowledged by these advocacy groups as being hate crimes; and in an astonishing display of gaslighting, even the possibility of involvement of Khalistani activists is explicitly denied in the media by some Sikh community spokespersons.
HAF hopes proper and thorough law enforcement investigations of these incidents will be made without further delays.
As HAF has asserted previously: Public advocacy both for and against the creation of a state of Khalistan is protected under US law as free speech, as is holding symbolic votes on the subject and rallies. What is unequivocally against the law is vandalizing Hindu temples, destroying statues of Mahatma Gandhi, attacking consulates, and assaulting individuals in support of such a cause. Our priority is stopping such attacks and to make sure local, state, and federal authorities deliver justice.
As these investigations continue, HAF will continue to advocate for the rights and safety of the Hindu American community, including alerting law enforcement on threats we are currently facing from a small number of belligerent Khalistan activists.
We urge the community to report incidents of anti-Hindu bias to law enforcement promptly and also share with us letters and other social media messages that spread falsehoods about the important advocacy work HAF is doing.
