‘Anti-Indian hate is exploding’: US lawmaker Raja Krishnamoorthi flags rising anti-Hindu hate online | India News
US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on Wednesday (local time) raised concerns over rising anti-Indian, anti-South Asian and anti-Hindu hate on social media, accusing major technology companies of profiting from online hostility and calling on Congress to hold them accountable.In a post on X, Krishnamoorthi said, “Anti-Indian hate is exploding on social media, and Big Tech is profiting from it. These companies have no incentive to stop the hatred they help spread. Congress must hold them accountable.”He alleged that social media platforms were failing to adequately monitor hateful content, citing an increase of more than 240 per cent in posts promoting anti-South Asian hate.In a video attached to the post, Krishnamoorthi said, “Big Tech is not policing their social media platforms where there’s been an explosion of anti-South Asian, anti-Indian, anti-Hindu hate. I’ll just give you one statistic: the number of X posts, posts on X or tweets, basically touting anti-South Asian hate has increased by more than 240 per cent over a very short period of time.”“And, unfortunately, Big Tech is profiting off of this hate. They have no incentive right now to decrease it. And so we have to at this point, at the federal level, make sure that they face the full consequences of not taking action,” he added.His remarks come amid growing concerns over online hostility towards South Asian communities and follow an attempted shooting at the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois, on October 11.Krishnamoorthi was worshipping at the temple with his family when the alleged attack took place. He subsequently led 105 members of Congress, including every Indian American member of Congress, in urging FBI director Kash Patel to investigate the incident as a potential federal hate crime.According to prosecutors, 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis, a self-identified neo-Nazi, allegedly attempted to shoot a man outside the temple, but his rifle jammed. He fled the scene and later communicated plans to return. A coworker alerted the police, who arrested him that day.Prosecutors allege that Paporakis had authored an eight-page white supremacist manifesto describing violence against people of Indian descent at a Hindu place of worship.In their letter to Patel, the lawmakers wrote, “The alleged combination of targeted racial hatred, a religious setting, and preparations for mass violence demands a comprehensive federal response. We appreciate the FBI’s reported assistance to local investigators and urge the Bureau to ensure that potential hate-crime violations receive explicit attention.”The lawmakers also sought details on whether the FBI was examining possible racial, ethnic and religious bias in the Aurora case, whether online platforms or other individuals had facilitated the alleged plot, and what measures the Bureau was taking to address credible threats against Indian Americans, Hindu Americans and other South Asian communities.The letter further stated, “We believe such messaging risks lending governmental legitimacy to racial and religious stereotyping. Federal agencies should make clear that debates over immigration or public safety never justify collective suspicion of Indian, Sikh, Hindu, or other South Asian communities.”The lawmakers requested a written response to their questions by October 29, to the extent permitted by the ongoing investigation.
Krishnamoorthi flags polarisation in the US
Earlier, on October 20, Krishnamoorthi told news agency ANI that the US was becoming increasingly polarised, alleging that rhetoric from senior government officials was contributing to hostility towards minority communities.“Well, yes, I do think that the America of today is more polarised than ever before,” he said. He added that leaders at the highest levels of government were targeting groups, including Muslims, Indians and gay people, and “villainising people”.Citing a controversial post by the department of homeland security targeting a Sikh man, Krishnamoorthi said, “I mean, the best example of that was the Department of Homeland Security tweet on their official account targeting a quote, unquote, ‘Mr. Singh,’ and saying, you know, ‘self-deport or else. And predictably, one week later, a gentleman named Mr. Singh, a Sikh truck driver, was stabbed 17 times, came within inches of his life.
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“The DHS post, which was later deleted, featured a Transformers-themed cartoon depicting an Indian Sikh man alongside the phrase “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh” and the words “Self deport or find out”.Calling for action against hate crimes, Krishnamoorthi said, “And this is what has to stop. If we’re going to stop this horrible rash of hate, it has to stop at the top.”“And once that happens, I think things become better, although we at all levels of government have to stand together against it,” he added.
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