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Date: January 21, 2006
BANGALORE, India – The Hindu American
Foundation (HAF) took the Hindu Awareness Campaign to India,
addressing a group of 70 youth at a weekend retreat in Bangalore.
Swaminathan Venkataraman, a member of HAF’s
Executive Council, addressed the youth group at the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), in Bangalore on
December 24, 2005. Venkataraman said that the presentation
covered not only the issues facing Hindus in North America,
but also issues that Hindus face in India and which suffer
from lack of advocacy by professional voices.
“While the presentation introduced
the Hindu American Foundation and its work in the Unites States,
it also focused on India-specific issues such as lack of media
coverage on human rights violations against Hindus in South
Asia,” said Venkataraman. “We had a spirited discussion
over the denial of religious liberties by the Government of
India’s control over Hindu temples and interference
in Hindu educational institutions. Such interference is contrary
to the secular ideals of the Indian Constitution and the government
does not similarly interfere in Christian, Muslim, Sikh or
other religious groups’ places of worship or educational
efforts.”
The presentation called on Hindus to develop
a global perspective by being aware of the substantial Hindu
population outside India and the issues faced by them like
denial of access to employment in government agencies, attacks
on their temples and community centers, aggressive proselytism
to convert Hindus to Christianity or Islam, and misrepresentation
of Hindus and Hinduism in educational material like school
textbooks. There are substantial Hindu populations in the
United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji and
the United States and Canada.
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