Institutional Hinduphobia on the rise in US: Republican leader’s ‘false God’ remark for Lord Hanuman exposes dangerous normalisation of anti-Hindu hostility in America

There is an insane level of normalisation of Hinduphobia going on in the US. Mocking Hindu gods, Hindus and their Indian roots has become increasingly a new cool among the American socio-political discourse. In a fresh instance of growing anti-Hindu bias, Alexander Duncan, the Republican Senate candidate for Texas, called Lord Hanuman a ‘false god’ and objected to the construction of his statue in the US, saying that America is a ‘Christian’ nation.

In an X post published on 20^th September, Duncan shared a video showcasing the 90-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman installed in the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in the town of Sugar Land, Texas, and wrote, “Why are we allowing a false statue of a false Hindu God to be here in Texas? We are a CHRISTIAN nation!”

Why are we allowing a false statue of a false Hindu God to be here in Texas? We are a CHRISTIAN nation!pic.twitter.com/uAPJegLie0

— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) September 20, 2025

Further justifying his Hinduphobia, Alexander Duncan published posts quoting Biblical verses that essentially direct Bible followers not to indulge in idol worship and assert that worship of God by means of idol is an inappropriate practice.

“I’m just calling it what it is, an IDOL. ‘You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.’ Exodus 20:3-4,” Duncan posted.

“’They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.’ Romans 1:25.” he added.

I'm just calling it what it is, an IDOL.

"You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea." Exodus 20:3-4

"They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they… pic.twitter.com/xGz6oVgGUr

— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) September 22, 2025

Duncan, whose other X posts struggle to garner much attention, received over 43,000 likes on his anti-Hindu post, reflecting the growing support for Hinduphobia. The Republican leader declares that America is a Christian nation, however, the American constitution does not say so. The American constitution separates church from the state. It states the US is a secular nation. Perhaps, Alexander Duncan should ask Donald Trump to amend the constitution, declare the US officially a Christian nation. If today Duncan suggests that the so-called ‘false statues’ of ‘false gods’ should not be allowed in the ‘Christian nation’ of the United States, tomorrow he would demand that all the followers of ‘false gods’ should be expelled from the US.

However, Duncan has also received massive backlash for the post, reflecting his bigoted and anti-Hindu mindset. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), criticised Duncan’s remarks as “anti-Hindu and inflammatory”. The HAF has officially reported the Republican leader’s remarks to his party and sought an internal review of the matter. The Hindu rights group said that Alexander Duncan is violating the Republican Party’s guidelines against discrimination.

“Hello @TexasGOP, will you be disciplining your senate candidate from your party who openly contravenes your own guidelines against discrimination—displaying some pretty sordid anti-Hindu hate—not to mention disrespect for the 1st Amendment’s Establishment Clause?” the HAF said.

Hello @TexasGOP, will you be disciplining your senate candidate from your party who openly contravenes your own guidelines against discrimination—displaying some pretty sordid anti-Hindu hate—not to mention disrespect for the 1st Amendment’s Establishment Clause? https://t.co/5LItlu7Zu2 pic.twitter.com/oqZkZozUBR

— Hindu American Foundation (@HinduAmerican) September 22, 2025

It must be mentioned that the idol of Lord Hanuman is installed inside the privately held premises of the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple after obtaining proper permissions from the authorities.

The “Statue of Unity”, as it is called, is not built illegally or on encroached government land but on a private religious property. Despite this, peaceful and law-abiding Hindus and their religion are being slandered by the Republican candidate.

Not to forget, Donald Trump, the Republican leader and President of the United States, had during his electoral campaign promised to support and protect Hindu rights; however, after coming to power, his own supportive MAGA faction has unleashed incessant anti-Hindu rhetoric laced in sheer religious and racial hatred for the Hindu community and Indic origins.

Institutionalised Hinduphobia: America finds itself bound in the shackles of hatred for the most peaceful and tolerant religious migrant community—Hindus

It is essential to note that Duncan’s anti-Hindu remarks are not isolated but a part of a pattern of MAGA-driven hatred against the statue of the Hindu deity since its unveiling. The Christian supremacists have been labelling the statue a “demonic” monument to a “foreign deity”.

While Hinduphobic attitudes, prejudices and violence targeting Hindus and Hinduism have long simmered beneath the surface of the so-called pluralistic American society, the US has in recent years witnessed an unprecedented normalisation of Hinduphobia.

In 1910, The Detroit Times published a highly derogatory article vilifying the Hindus. The piece titled “Hindoos (Hindus) Continue to Flock to the US” referred to Hindus and Indians as ‘Oriental scum’.  “The dumping place for the scum of the Orient and India is San Francisco,” the article published in 1910 read.

Fast forward to 2025, it seems that the US is pivoting back to the blatant, bigoted and racist mindset against the Hindus. Earlier this year, White and Christian supremacists ignited the H1-B visas debate after Donald Trump nominated American-born Indian Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

What began as an online attack slandering Sriram soon snowballed into a full-fledged campaign against H1-B visas for highly-skilled Indians. This was followed by derision and insults directed at Hindus and Hinduism.

And this anti-Indian and anti-Hindu campaign has paid off well for the bigots who partook in it as Donald Trump has backtracked from his earlier stance supporting H1-B visa and skilled immigration, and imposed a $1,00,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions submitted by aliens outside the US. While this rule applies only to new applications, the MAGA faction saw it as a victory for its anti-Indian and anti-Hindu smear campaign. And victories, small or big, only embolden the bigots.

The American Christian supremacists are unable to tolerate a skilled and affluent minority of Hindu Indian Americans working hard, paying their taxes on time, and contributing significantly to the American economy simply because they are Hindus. Such is the irony that while Islamists are taking over city after city in the US, Christian supremacists view inherently tolerant Hindus as some sort of existential threat.

This lot cannot tolerate a statue of a Hindu deity installed in a temple premises and openly declares the religious beliefs of Hindus as ‘false’ and ‘demonic’, but gloats while sharing information on how Christian missionaries and Pentecostal frauds are converting non-Christians to Christianity in the distant ‘heathen’ lands through deceit, propaganda and coercion.

India is a Hindu-majority country, and yet there are around 30 to 40 thousand churches in the country. Should the Indian government declare Jesus a ‘foreign’ and ‘false’ God and raze down all these churches? The American nationalists would start crying hoarse that religious freedom is dead in India. Christians are not safe, and whatnot, if that happened.

Earlier, Donald Trump’s Trade Adviser, Peter Navarro, who Trump has unleashed as his attack dog to vilify India over its Russian oil purchases, resorted to slandering the Brahmin community. In an interview with Fox News, Navarro invoked caste and accused the Brahmins of India of “profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.”

So, you know, look, Modi’s a great leader… But I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping…when he’s the leader of the biggest democracy in the world. I would just simply say to the Indian people. Please, understand what’s going on here. You’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop…” Navarro said.

The Anti-Hindu lobby in the US has been actively running a sinister campaign to push a caste discrimination narrative aimed at undermining and villainising the Hindu community in the US, particularly the Brahmins. Many universities, including Harvard University, Colby College, Brown University, and California State University, have even added caste to their non-discrimination policy. In 2023, the California State Senate in the US passed legislation (SB-403) that banned caste-based discrimination in the State, although it was later vetoed. Not to forget the 2019 CISCO caste discrimination case, which was widely used to vilify the Hindu community as casteist and incompatible with American values. This case was dismissed after no wrongdoing was found.

In 2021, the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in New Jersey was raided by the American authorities after a lawsuit alleging forced labour and caste discrimination was filed. The American legacy media targeted the Hindu temple and its authorities; however, this too turned out to be a case of all propaganda, not facts, intended to malign the reputation of Hindus in America. The US authorities recently closed the investigation in this case as none of the allegations were found to be true.

In 2024, the anti-Hindu lobby opposed House Resolution 113, which condemned Hinduphobia in the US.

In recent years, hate crimes against Indian Americans have also been on the rise. According to the FBI’s 2020 data, hate crimes against Indian Americans are up by 500 per cent.

Besides, politics and social media, even the American media and academia perpetuate anti-Hindu bias through selective outrage and erasure. OpIndia has on numerous occasions reported how newspapers like the New York Times, among others, have also been complicit in spinning and amplifying anti-Hindu narratives.

OpIndia earlier reported how DEI programs have been normalising hatred against Brahmins in the US. In their attempts to foment the same hate Nazis had for Jews, several DEI programs were creating prejudices against Hindus, particularly the so-called “upper-caste” Hindus like Brahmins, who are already at the receiving end of hate campaigns of the anti-Hindu elements.

The vandalism of Hindu temples in the US has become a new normal in the US. In September 2024, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Sacramento, California, was desecrated with anti-Hindu and anti-India graffiti. This act of vandalism came just days after a similar incident occurred at the BAPS Mandir on Long Island, New York. While Khalistani terrorists have been the frequent perpetrators of these anti-Hindu crimes, now the Christian supremacists are also intensifying opposition to Hindu symbols, statues and temples.

It was reported last year that in California, anti-Hindu incidents ranked second only to antisemitism, with 23.3% of religious hate calls tied to Hinduphobia. In July 2025, a video of a White American berating an Indian man with “Why are you in my country? I don’t like you guys here. There are too many of you guys here. Indians! You guys are flooding all the white countries. I am tired of it. Americans are sick of this sh**. I want you to go back to India…”

There has been a rising tide of racism and religious hatred against the Hindus in the US. While not all crimes against Indian Americans are driven by religious hatred, the online hate against Hindus has also contributed to this. It must not be forgotten that even the H1-B visas debate began with ‘Indians are taking over our jobs’, but soon turned into blatant Hinduphobia.

Today’s calls for ‘sending back’ Hindus to India, and removing Hindu idols and temples, will eventually descend to calling for the killing, even genocide, of Hindus. It must be remembered that dehumanising rhetoric always precedes genocides. Even though Jews were not dumped into concentration camps overnight, the hate was propagated gradually; what was initially a minuscule fringe soon became a mainstream thought and eventually a policy of expulsions, segregation, and then the Holocaust. It may sound like an exaggeration, however, from the H1-B visa issue coming down to Hindu hate in the US to Bangladesh’s anti-government ‘student protests’ ending in killings and rape of Hindus and destruction of Hindu temples.