The Rise of India - And Local Anti-Indian Bigotry

The past few weeks have seen the convergence of three tectonic forces:  the visit to Long Island of India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as India has emerged on the global stage as a rapidly-rising great power; the continued rise of Indian-Americans in America, with the Democratic nominee for President, Kamala Harris, being of part-Indian descent, and the Republican nominee for Vice President, JD Vance being married to an Indian-American and having children of part-Indian descent; and the ugly targeting of Hindu temples on Long Island - most notably in Huntington - with vandalism and hate speech directed at Indian-Americans.

The three phenomena are related.

Long Island now boasts the largest South Asian population of any region in the United States.  Neighborhoods like New Hyde Park, Hicksville, Plainview and Dix Hills are increasingly dominated by Indian-Americans.  As the children of hard-working and often well-educated immigrants, the first generation of Indian Americans have both ambition and a strong work ethic - the recipe for success in America.

America now has more Indian Americans than Jews, and like the ambitious Jewish immigrants of 100 years ago, who propelled their families into the top of American business, politics and society, the Indian Americans are now following that path. 

This is true across the 40 million strong Indian diaspora, with South Asians having been British Prime Minister (Richi Sunak); Irish Prime Minister (Leo Varadkar); Scottish Prime Minister (Humza Yousaf); and Portugal's Prime Minister (Antonio Costa) - who will become President of the EU in December. 

The rise in the Indian diaspora mirrors the rise of India.  Now the world's largest country, with 1.45 billion people - larger than China, India is vastly the world's largest democracy, and after 25 years of economic growth, now has the world's third largest economy, behind only China and America.

India is now a "rising great power" in the world, increasingly asserting its power and setting its own foreign policy.

All this has caused envy and resentment in some quarters in America.  Last week, the BAPS Hindu Temple in Huntington was vandalized - with the hate message "Death to Hindus" spraypainted on the temple. Local officials were quick to come to the temple and condemn the hateful vandalism - but the test will be in catching, arresting, and prosecution the perpetrator-vandals.  

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine pledged that Suffolk's police will make a priority of tracking-down and arresting the vandals. 

Romaine's words and strong sentiments are very welcome, and we hope he can deliver and strike a real blow against those who would desecrate a house of God.