Meet on Sep. 24, but venue not disclosed by organizer.
If a report is to be believed, the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will address the Indian American Hindu community in New Jersey on September 24(hopefully it will draw more than a dozen supporters plus a 100 or so campaign trail media persons, if it does materialize), at a venue which is yet to be disclosed. Well, that says a lot for the event which is supposedly a month away. Chances are it may not happen too.
What shouldn’t be a mystery why the meet is being touted as being for Hindus, as versus for all Indian Americans, which include Muslims too. Needless to say, Trump is not the poster child amongst that community.
“Trump will be with us for nearly four hours,” Shalabh Kumar, an Illinois businessman whose year-old outfit Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) is hosting the event, told The Hindustan Times.
The event, titled “Humanity united against terror”, is being planned at a venue which can seat 17,500 people, the report said.
The report, however, doesn’t say where those 17,500 people are going to come from; within the US or being flown in from India.
According to Kumar, he met Trump in July, sometime before the Republican party convention in Cleveland, and “he agreed immediately” for the meet.
“He told me India was a great country, he liked Indian people,” Kumar said recounting their conversation, “and he said he found Hindus to be peace-loving people.”
About 2 million Americans identify themselves as Hindus. And while most of them are of Indian descent, others are from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Caribbean and Afghanistan. The number of Indian Americans, however, is estimated to be around 3 million — with only a third of them said to be voters. And of them, most vote Democratic, overwhelmingly, the Times noted.
“But can they find enough Hindu Americans to pack the hall on September 24? Trump does not like empty stands, and his campaign has sought space for 200 TV cameras,” the Times report said.
“Oh there will be plenty of people don’t worry,” said Kumar, “we will be flooded.” He may not find room, however, for all the cameras that the campaign is expecting, the report added.
RHC also plans to parade some Bollywood stars at the show, which was fine with Trump, a one-time owner of beauty pageants — “he said Indian people are beautiful”.
Now, that might be a reason why some people will attend the meet after all, if it does happen. Not to see Trump, but to watch some Bollywood stars.