Episode 59: Suhag Shukla of the HAF

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On this episode, I talked to Suhag Shulka. I appreciate the readers who provided questions since honestly, I didn’t have strong priors. Suhag is a good talker, and I don’t have much personal experience with Hinduism (I’ve never been in a Hindu temple, and the only Hindu religious I’ve seen in real life was at the party of a family friend when I was six and a side room was devoted to prayer and such).

I know that some people have strong opinions on the HAF…my own suspicion after talking to Suhag is that it is in some ways a less political Hindu variant of AIPAC. On the American scene, Hindus are firmly within the Democratic party and the center to Left. This is clear in terms of politicians, but also when you look at survey data as well. But in terms of international affairs, these sorts of alignments are not as clear, and that seems to be where HAF gets in trouble with “social justice” types.

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H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

I liked the podcast. Suhag moves between personal and lawyerly with impressive fluidity.

What I didn’t know was that the NGO Raj was giving us the cold shoulder. I guess I suspected it, but now I do know. Guess we’re in the same boat with the Jews hehe.

crilk
crilk
4 years ago

The Kali Yuga as alt-right meme thing comes from Julius Evola, a dadaist painter who turned to esoteric fascism because he thought dadaism wasn’t shocking enough. Alt-righters like him because his worldview is the epitome of extreme-right politics as an elaborate act of trolling.

Walter Sobchak
Walter Sobchak
4 years ago

“Ex-Miss Michigan joins Trump reelection campaign after being stripped of title” By Sophie Lewis
July 27, 2019
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-miss-michigan-kathy-zhu-joins-trump-reelection-campaign-after-being-losing-crown-and-bring-stripped-of-title/

Kathy Zhu [@PoliticalKathy], a former Miss Michigan pageant winner … was stripped of her title last week after several offensive tweets surfaced. She has joined Trump’s reelection campaign efforts. …

“I am so excited to now be part of the #WomenforTrump Coalition Advisory Board!” Zhu tweeted along with the announcement. “Let’s get Trump re-elected for 2020.”

Zhu is a University of Michigan student, majoring in political science. She is an avid Donald Trump supporter on social media and the vice president of the College Republicans group at her school.

Speaking at a Women for Trump event in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Friday, Zhu claimed that being openly conservative is extremely difficult. “It’s harder, I think, than coming out as, honestly, gay,” she said. …

The 20-year-old received an email last week from the pageant removing her from her position, which she shared on Twitter.

“It has been brought to the attention of Miss World America ‘MWA’ that you social media accounts contain offensive, insensitive and inappropriate content,”

According to screenshots obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the first tweet said, “There is a ‘try a hijab on’ booth at my college campus. So you’re telling me that it’s now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?”

“Did you know that the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks?” the second tweet said. “Fix problems within your own community first before blaming others.” …

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
4 years ago

What’s wrong with hijab, Kathy -:)?
Let’s, once again, “try (i.e. listen) a (Serbian) hijab on” – LM (1973) – 3min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Da4Ax6dqM

Hoju
Hoju
4 years ago

Good interview and guest.

I’m glad you briefly touched on the perceived Islamophilia of the left.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on leftist Islamophilia and the connections between the far right and Hinduism.

H. M. Brough
H. M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Hoju

The far-right refers to Hindus as “street shitters,” they don’t exactly have a positive view of us.

DM
DM
4 years ago

Commenting on the parts I’ve heard till now.

5:30 – The person seems like a confused individual or is trying too hard to find his identity within a particular religion. Seems to have zero idea on karma per say or how to modulate it. His identification as a hindu is at a very tamasik and rajasik sense, which is also okay. Let him enjoy his beef as some muslims also enjoy pork, and don’t pay heed to the “don’t eat pork” part in the Quran.

9:18 – The word Hindu signifies as the religious term denoted to sanatana dharma and their offshoots . No point is going back to the root of the term hindu. Indian muslims/ christians/jews/bahai/sufis/xxxx/yyyy are not hindus (modern definition). Under the modern definition, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs are also not hindus, but panths which follow sanatana dharma system.

18:30 – Caste, jati is the natural occurrence in society. Caste based discrimination is a social problem, correctly put by Suhag. Plus, Suhag also explains varna, jati, guna, regional characteristics etc very well for laymen or idiots.

26:00 – Varnas, Jatis, Intra-castes.Suhag did a good job explaining it, of a mixture habits and mental tendencies giving you a particular Varna. I was actually surprised that she knows all of this. In the context of marriage, gotra comes into calculations. Gotra is extremely old and any break in keeping records by a generation breaks that line of gotra identity.

DM
DM
4 years ago

51:55 – Handled quite well. As she was saying. Few recent examples, so the data is present. While the usual narrative is muslim cow smuggler lynching which is sometimes real and sometimes not, Indian muslims cover a very broad social spectrum.

https://www.opindia.com/2019/07/kirti-stabbed-multiple-times-by-mohammad-munasir-succumbs-to-injuries-in-hospital/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/week-after-attack-advocate-dies-lawyers-block-rajiv-chk-in-protest/articleshow/70387127.cms

https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story/group-affiliated-to-daesh-inspired-by-zakir-naik-ats/articleshow/70354860.cms

https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/crime/youth-murdered-over-public-urination/articleshow/70351920.cms

https://www.opindia.com/2019/07/alwar-dalit-man-beaten-to-death-after-his-bike-hits-a-muslim-woman-family-alleges-mob-lynching-by-umar-sher-and-associates/

https//www.opindia.com/2019/07/hindu-boys-family-forced-out-of-village-for-marrying-muslim-girl-police-advices-boy-to-convert-as-villagers-threaten-to-kill/

https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/story/man-arrested-for-killing-model-girlfriend-in-nagpur-1569013-2019-07-14

https://swarajyamag.com/politics/amethi-miscreants-molest-dalit-woman-threaten-to-make-her-musalmanni-brutally-thrash-husband

https://www.opindia.com/2019/07/uttar-pradesh-muslim-mob-attacks-hindu-temple-damages-the-structure-with-weapons-in-lakhimpur-kheri

https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/bengali-actor-swastika-dutta-files-complaint-over-harassment-by-cab-driver-119071100129_1.html

https://www.opindia.com/2019/07/bulandshahr-shivling-desecrated-irshad-arrested-for-urinating-on-the-idol/

https://www.opindia.com/2019/07/bahraich-muslim-mob-attacks-family-over-argument-injures-six-pelts-stones-at-intervening-police-team

Hoju
Hoju
4 years ago
Reply to  DM

It’s like in the US where a black person killing a white person typically doesn’t make it on the news but a white person killing a black person becomes 24/7 breaking news hate crime alerts from Wolf Blitzer.

Brown Pundits