Voting based on religion, race, or gender is simply un-America -  Tulsi Gabbard   

 To advocate voting for or against someone based on religion, race, or gender is simply un-American,” Said Tulsi Gabbard. The four-term US lawmaker,  the 37-year-old, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard  hit back at critics who accuse the Democratic presidential hopeful of being a “Hindu nationalist”

“My meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s democratically elected leader, have been highlighted as ‘proof’ of this and portrayed as somehow being out of the ordinary or somehow suspect, even though President (Barack) Obama, Secretary (Hillary) Clinton, President (Donald) Trump and many of my colleagues in Congress have met with and worked with him,”

“I am proud to be the first Hindu-American to have been elected to Congress.-

“To question my commitment to my country, while not questioning non-Hindu leaders, creates a double standard that can only be rooted in one thing: ‘religious bigotry’. I am Hindu and they are not,” Gabbard said.

“My meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s democratically elected leader, have been highlighted as ‘proof’ of this and portrayed as somehow being out of the ordinary or somehow suspect, even though President (Barack) Obama, Secretary (Hillary) Clinton, President (Donald) Trump and many of my colleagues in Congress have met with and worked with him,” Gabbard said.

“I am proud to be the first Hindu-American to have been elected to Congress, and now, the first Hindu-American to run for president”.

“Some have instead fomented suspicion, fear and religious bigotry about not only me but also my supporters”.

She referred to the attack against her in the past by political opponents.

“Religious bigotry and attempt to foment fear of Hindus and other minority religions persist. During my 2012 and 2014 elections, my Republican opponent stated publicly that a Hindu should not be allowed to serve in the US Congress and that Hinduism is incompatible with the US Constitution,”

 In the 2016 race for Congress, her Republican opponent said repeatedly that a vote for her was a vote for the devil because of her religion.

“Republicans like Ben Carson said in 2016 that a Muslim-American would be unqualified to serve as president. Democratic Senators have recently grilled and opposed Republican judicial nominees because of their connection to Catholicism,”

These actions and attitudes not only undermine the Constitution, but also incite fear and force people into the shadows because of their religion.

Gabbard said after her 2012 election, she made a personal decision to take “my congressional oath of office on the supreme yoga/Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna’s teachings have provided wisdom and spiritual solace to me throughout my life, including when I was serving our country in the Middle East during the Iraq war.”

“Those who are trying to foment anti-Hindu sentiment expose the dark underbelly of religious bigotry in politics and must be called out. To advocate voting for or against someone based on religion, race, or gender is simply un-American,” she said.

 Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would be running for the White House in 2020

she had last September refused to be the chairperson of the World Hindu Congress in Chicago, citing her differences with its organisers who were seen close to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Parliamentary  democracy is blocking developments -  Justice Katju

Parliamentary democracy is not suited to India as it  relies on caste and communal vote banks. Castism and communism are feudal forces.  Instead of destroying these forces, parliamentary democracy  entrenches them .

BJP is dividing people on  communal lines.  Other parties are doing it on the basis of caste.  The basic concept of India is under the attack of the BJP in the past four and a half years.

India is a heterogenous country and to hold it together all religions, regional and ethnic should equally be respected.  Otherwise the country cannot survive, it would break into pieces.  BJP was raising issues like Ram Mandir for diverting the attention of the people from real  topics such as unemployment and mal-nutrition.

China has no parliamentary democracy.  They have five or six  time ahead of us.  They don’t have to bother about Ram mandir or protection of cow.  In fact  parliamentary democracy is blocking the development of the country