Usha Vance's presence in the Trump-Vance campaign has energized some Indian Americans, particularly Hindu American conservatives.
FILE - Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and his wife Usha Vance arrive to speak at a campaign rally, July 27, 2024, in St. Cloud, Minn.
Usha Vance is choosing to remain silent about her religion in the run-up to the election and declined to speak with The Associated Press about it. She opted not to answer questions about whether she is a practicing Hindu or if she attends Mass with her Catholic husband, an adult convert to the faith in which their three young children are being raised.
There are deep divisions within some Indian American communities over issues such as taxes, education, relations with India and anti-caste discrimination legislation that gained momentum in Seattle and California. Caste is a division of people based on birth or descent and calls to outlaw related discrimination are growing in the U.S.
“What we’ve seen since the convention is more exclusionary elements within the Republican Party speaking up and against Usha and JD Vance,” Ramakrishnan said. “This, to me, suggests that there is a political price to pay in terms of being open about one’s religious identity that is not Christian. There’s still a long way to go.”
“Hinduism is about finding your own path and getting in touch with your own spirituality,” she said, adding that the definition of a “practicing Hindu” ranges from someone who goes to temple and performs rituals to someone who is a cultural Hindu who observes festivals such as Diwali, or just engages in a spiritual practice such as meditation.
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