Author: K.P. Nayar
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: April 30, 2009
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com//1090430/jsp/nation/story_10896912.jsp
Barack Obama, who created history as the first
US President to acknowledge a Hindu America in his inaugural address on January
20, today received a favourable report card from an unusual source on completion
of his first 100 days in office: from Hindu America.
Among other things, Obama was praised by the
Hindu Collective Initiative of North America for having appointed an Indian
American, Sonal Shah, as head of a new Office of Social Innovation and Civic
Participation in the White House a few days ago.
Shah was appointed by Obama in November 2008
to his presidential transition team to advise on "innovation and civil
society", but was the subject of an intense smear campaign by secularists
in India and the US acting in concert for her association with the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad of America and for rubbing shoulders with Gujarat chief minister
Narendra Modi.
Shah, who headed Google Global Development
Initiatives, the search engine's philanthropic arm, before joining the transition
team, was then asked to lie low and she went back to work for Google as Obama
became President.
Two weeks ago, Shah was brought back into
the Obama team and made head of the White House Office of Social Innovation
and Civic Participation, though her appointment was not announced in public
as is the norm, possibly to avoid a resumption of the campaign against her.
The White House only confirmed her appointment
to reporters who specifically queried about it.
"One of the most significant aspects
of our collective hopes was that his (Obama's) administration will be more
inclusive than previous ones," the Hindu Collective Initiative of North
America said in a press release to mark Obama's 100 days as President.
It noted that at least eight Hindus have joined
the Obama team as salaried presidential appointees so far, though none of
them were employed because of their religious faith.
The Hindu organisation praised Obama for including
a Hindu among the six religious figures who delivered "responsive prayers"
at the National Prayer Service a day after the new President was sworn in.
Uma Mysorekar, the president of the Hindu
Temple Society of North America, a gynaecologist who heads a Ganesha temple
committee in New York, became an object of curious national interest in the
US after her sari-clad presence at the nationally televised prayer service.
Late night comedians suggested that Obama
should become a Hindu in the context of earlier criticism of his association
with a radical Christian pastor in Illinois, the President's home state.
The National Prayer Service is a tradition
in the US that ends the formal swearing-in events, at which prayers, hymns
and blessings are delivered by faith leaders from across the US, but did not
include a Hindu until the Obama presidency.
Obama was also praised for appointing a woman
Hindu priest to the White House Advisory Council of Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships three weeks ago.
Anju Bhargava, the priest, is a high-tech
businesswoman who graduated from Chennai, later obtained her MBA from Rutgers
University and has been associated with, among other institutions, Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government and the Kellogg School of Management.
"Bhargava's appointment affords the Hindu
community a voice on par in the religious and community development landscape
of America," the Hindu Collective said in its report card.
