Hindu Sena, a Hindu nationalist group led by Vishnu Gupta, held protests against US Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday in Delhi. They condemned Clinton for attacking and damaging her Republican opponent Donald Trump’s image, and burnt her posters.
This development closely follows Trump’s declaration of the US becoming best friends with India if he comes to power.
Trump pledged that the United States and India would be ‘best friends’ if he is elected and that he would boost intelligence sharing with India in the battle against Islamic militants. He spoke about India as a ‘strategic ally’.
Earlier, the Hindu Sena had gathered in Delhi to urge Lord Hanuman to back Donald Trump in the forthcoming US presidential elections.
About a dozen members of the group took part in the event, against the backdrop of posters of Trump’s face marked with the traditional vermilion dot. The Hindu Sena said they support Trump’s views on “Islamist terrorism”.
At a recent rally organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition, Trump commented:
If I’m elected president, the Indian and Hindu community will have a true friend in the White House, that I can guarantee you. We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism when I’m president. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with India in sharing intelligence and keeping our people safe mutually.
It is interesting to note at this juncture that Hillary Clinton was one of the first prominent American politicians to speak openly against terrorism. In 2011, Clinton had said in the context of Pakistan and its ties with militant groups:
It’s like that old story — you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. Eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard... We asked very specifically for greater cooperation from the Pakistani side to squeeze the Haqqani network and other terrorists because we know that trying to eliminate terrorists and safe havens on one side of the border is not going to work.
(With inputs from The Financial Express and NDTV.)
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