Texas Hindus have split reaction over ‘offensive’ Republican political ad

Republicans in Texas have apologised for a political advertisement which asked Hindu voters: “Would you worship a donkey or an elephant? The choice is yours.”

Despite the apology, Hindu groups in the state appear to have had differing reactions.

The advertisement was considered offensive by some in the South Asian American community of Fort Bend County, located southwest of Houston, which makes up approximately 20 per cent of the area's population, but not others.

The county's Republican Chairman Jacey Jetton, issued a statement in which he said the advertisement for the upcoming 2018 midterm elections was placed in time for Ganesh Chathurthi, which marks the Hindu deity’s birthday, as a means of “celebration” of the holiday and was not intended to cause offence.

The graphic in the ad featured a drawing of Ganesh along with descriptions of his features and their purpose and appeared in The India Herald, a local newspaper for the South Asian community. It is unclear if the newspaper went through an approval process for the ad placement.

The tagline below the drawing read "Would you worship a donkey or an elephant? The choice is yours”, implying voters of the Hindu faith should side with the GOP, whose symbol is the elephant over Democrats, whose symbol is the donkey.

Mr Jetton wrote: “This ad was created with input from those of Hindu faith so that we could properly pay respect to the sacred festival. This highlights the difficulty in outreach that can be positive for one group but not for another in the same community. We offer our sincerest apologies to anyone that was offended by the ad. Obviously, that was not the intent.”

It was not immediately clear who in the Hindu community in Fort Bend County the party had consulted, or if those people had seen the final ad.

Mr Jetton has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

However, The India Herald’s editor Seshadri Kumar told The Independent he was at least one of the members of the community the chairman consulted.

Mr Kumar said he “did not find the ad offensive and thought it was a positive message”.

He added: “One sentence in the ad, 'Whether you would worship an elephant or donkey' turned out of be controversial. It is the consensus among Hindu organisations that the ad is not offensive to Hindus, though a part of the ad is not in good taste."

Mr Kumar did not elaborate on which “organisations” he was talking about but indicated the main group voicing opposition, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), did not do so until the ad had been public online and in print for six days.

In his estimation, HAF’s statement to “set the controversy in motion” has more to do with politics rather than an offence to a shared faith, bringing up a debate in the US as both Republicans and Democrats vie for votes from the growing demographic group. HAF, Mr Kumar thought, “aligns itself with the Democratic Party on social issues and is at odds with conservative Hindus...The debate is between Hindus who support Democrats and Hindus who support Republicans”.

HAF board member Rishi Bhutada said in a statement "equating Hindus’ veneration of the Lord Ganesha with choosing a political party based on its animal symbol — is problematic and offensive”.

Mr Bhutada told The Independent he first saw the image of the ad via a text message and was not able to determine the provenance of it until later, hence the response six days after its original publication by The India Herald.

A resident of Fort Bend County, Mr Bhutada said he “surveyed a number of Hindus locally before deciding to proceed with a public statement - Democrats, independents, and Republicans. Almost all of them found the ad either offensive or in poor taste”.

In response to Mr Kumar’s claim the group is affiliated with the Democratic Party, Mr Bhutada cited the HAF’s principles listed on their website in which it states the group “is politically agnostic and non-partisan, meaning we are informed, but do not favour or endorse any one political party or its positions”.

In a revised statement, the HAF said it “does accept” the county GOP’s apology, but added that whether the local Republican party may make a “similar mistake in the future...remains an open question”.

Sri Preston Kulkarni, a Democrat running for US Congress to represent the district including Fort Bend County, posted the ad on his Facebook page.

He wrote: “Equating Hindus' worship of Ganesh with a political party's symbol is wrong and promotes inaccurate stereotypes about the Hindu-American community. No party should use a religious icon in an attack ad."

Mr Kulkarni told the Huffington Post he was shocked by the ad. "Imagine if this was about the Jewish religion or the Christian religion,” he said.

“Is that any way to talk about somebody’s faith? Asking Hindus to vote Republican by comparing a religious figure to the GOP’s mascot? In America, we don’t worship political parties.”

Mr Kulkarni also asked his opponent in the race, Republican candidate and incumbent House member Pete Olson to condemn the ad as well.

“The Republican Party’s apology was a step, but they need to do more to prove that they do not stand for such divisive rhetoric,” Mr Kulkarni said.