HinduPACT's HinduVote is conducting a series of voter education webinars leading up to 2024 Presidential and Congressional elections. Join Ajay Shah and Mohinder Gulati discussing American Hindu Agenda 2024 and the hinduvote.org website.
We are live and I want to say, first of all, namaste
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:and thank you for joining.
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:We truly appreciate you
being here with us today.
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:We are going to talk about an important
today, which is the election:
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:People have said that this may be one of
the more consequential elections that we
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:have, this is an election that is going
to, decide America's future in many ways.
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:We are doing a project called Hindu Vote.
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:A voter education project we
have been doing since:
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:But before I get to today's webinar,
let me start with a quick introduction.
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:My name is Ajay Shah.
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:I am the president of World Hindu
Council of America or VHPA, of America.
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:I am also the co convener of HinduPact.
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:Which is Hindu Policy Research
and Advocacy Collective.
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:It is an initiative of World
Hindu Council of America or VHPA.
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:I have been doing advocacy work for most
of my adult life I'm really privileged
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:to have Mohinder Gulati ji here today.
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:Mohinder Gulati ji is, very
accomplished, individual.
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:He is a member of our
core team for Hindu vote.
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:He was in his younger days, an elections
officer in India for two years.
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:So he actually has on the ground
experience in running the election.
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:He recently retired from United Nations,
where he was the chief operating
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:officer of Sustainable Energy for All.
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:He was also an advisor to Sustainable
Development at the World Bank, where
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:he worked At more than 50 countries.
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:We are absolutely privileged that Mohenjo
daro is part of our team and is working
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:with us on this important initiative.
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:So thank you, Mohenjo daro,
and thanks for joining.
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:We truly appreciate it.
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:As I mentioned a little bit earlier,
this is really one of the more
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:consequential elections we are facing.
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:We start looking around and
we said, look the Hindu vote
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:is really an important vote.
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:And why do I say that?
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:Let me show this graphic to you and see
what you have to say about this particular
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:graphic, let's take a look at this.
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:And that screen will show you
evidence as to why I'm making
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:the statement I'm making.
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:This, Mohinderji and everyone else
who is watching, is the graph that
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:we have put together at HinduPact.
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:This is the graph that shows
the importance of Hindu vote.
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:Okay.
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:So if you look at the blue bars
here, this is from:
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:The blue bars are the difference
in the votes that president Biden
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:got and former president Trump got.
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:And this is for battleground
states, which is on the X axis.
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:So Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin,
Nevada, Pennsylvania, Florida,
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:Virginia, Michigan, and North
Carolina, the battleground states.
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:These are the bars that indicate
the differences between the
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:Biden vote and the Trump vote.
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:The purple bar is the number
of Hindus in that state.
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:who are eligible to vote.
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:The, Hindu vote in that
particular battleground state.
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:And you can see here that the Hindu
vote can be a decisive vote in almost
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:all the states except maybe a couple
of them, like Florida and Virginia.
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:The Hindu vote has grown since 2020.
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:In every state, because of
immigration and naturalization.
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:If a candidate pays attention
to this Hindu vote, they can
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:actually win the elections.
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:And mind you, this is not Indian vote.
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:Hindu vote is much larger
than the Indian vote.
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:The Hindu vote includes
people from other countries.
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:who have come to America.
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:For example, the Hindus from Bali,
from Ghana, from Vietnam, from
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:Suriname, from the Caribbeans, from
Pakistan, from Bangladesh, you name it.
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:And there are a lot of people who
have adopted Hindu Dharma have been
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:residents for many generations, or who
have immigrated from some parts of Europe.
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:And even countries like Latin
America and Central America.
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:So Hindu vote is not just of consequence.
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:It is also growing vote and
it's much more diverse vote.
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:So you may say that, well, if the
Hindu vote is this diverse, why would a
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:candidate pay attention to Hindu vote?
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:Why would they not just say, Hey, you
know, I'll just address generic issues.
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:Well, there are certain issues.
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:If the candidates were to address, then
they will get the deciding Hindu vote
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:and will make an impact not just for
the presidential elections, but also
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:for the congressional elections for the
House of Representatives and the Senate.
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:So what are these issues?
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:At HinduPact, we have come up with
The American Hindu agenda for:
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:These are the issues that we think
are of importance to all the Hindus.
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:We have done a lot of research on it,
consulted, other organizations, and we
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:have come up with eight simple issues.
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:The first one is.
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:We would like to see a
legislation to bar Hindu phobia.
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:What do you mean by bar?
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:I mean, of course, we all
understand First Amendment.
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:We're not saying stop free speech.
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:But there are academic departments that
promote, actively promote Hindu hatred.
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:They write, they promote papers
and they're funded by some
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:government grant or the others.
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:So defund these departments,
defund these universities that
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:actively promote Hindu hate.
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:Okay, let's not use taxpayer
dollars to promote Hindu hate.
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:There might be other, situations
where there are corporations and
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:other places, which are funding
these kinds of research and we want
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:to make sure that is not funded.
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:Now, as all of you have seen, there
are at least a dozen cases over the
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:last two years where Hindu temples
have been vandalized and Mahatma
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:Gandhi statues have been vandalized.
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:This has happened without any attempt
to even find the culprit, much
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:less declare it as a hate crime.
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:What we are asking that the people who get
elected with our votes in Congress or in
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:the White House, support the investigation
to determine the systemic causes for
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:this kind of vandalism across the U.
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:S.
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:It's a very simple demand have
an investigation, find out
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:what are the systemic causes.
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:and punish the perpetrators of that
because this is really a hate crime and
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:it has to be investigated as a hate crime.
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:The next one is immigration.
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:Now, everyone who is probably listening
to this webinar here live or people who
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:are listening on Twitter or YouTube,
they already know this, if you today
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:come to America legally, I'm not talking
about illegal immigration at all come
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:here legally follow all the rules.
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:Come using H1 visa, then go and apply
for permanent residency for green card.
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:Getting permanent residence right
now is over a hundred years because
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:there are country based caps.
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:So there are only so many people
from India who can qualify.
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:What we are saying is that we
are getting highly qualified,
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:highly skilled workers from India.
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:Most of them are Hindus.
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:This artificial barrier is keeping
them from getting, permanent residency.
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:And it actually is hurting America.
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:Because these are exactly the kind of
legal immigrants you want in America.
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:So expedite the green card for them.
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:All you have to do is remove the
country based, caps on the visa.
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:Even worse are their children who come
here legally when they're very young,
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:two years, three years, four years old.
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:When they turn 18, they
don't have green card.
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:Their parents don't have a green card yet.
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:All of a sudden that kid who has
grown up here, who has come to America
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:legally, Is now out of status and the
kid has either goes on student visa
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:or some kind of work visa or has to go
back to a country they've never known.
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:And again, we are only making argument
for kids who are here legally.
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:The next one is supporting the merit
based education and occupation.
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:And this is the one where, there's
a lot of studies now after the, fair
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:admissions versus Harvard case, where
a recent study of hundreds of thousands
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:of students that said that, students
from Indian subcontinent, mostly Hindus,
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:would have had 50 percent better chance
of getting admission at Ivy League
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:schools if the admission process was
fair and if there were no quotas.
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:So the affirmative action policies
were not in place and the numbers were
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:not artificially capped at 17, 18%.
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:Then these students would have had fair
admission, chances and they would have
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:actually 50 percent better odds of getting
into one of these Ivy League schools.
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:We want college educational and
occupational opportunities to be based on
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:merit and not on some artificial quotas.
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:We want the candidates
to actually support.
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:this Supreme Court ruling
and not try and override it.
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:The other one is we want to hold religious
theocracies like Afghanistan, Pakistan,
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:Bangladesh that abuse the minorities, the
Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian
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:minorities to be held accountable.
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:What we mean by that is America
has a lot of soft power, gives
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:a lot of aid to these countries.
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:We want to make sure that These countries
are held accountable, so we don't see a
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:12 year, 13 year old, 14 year old girl
being, kidnapped and converted to Islam,
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:married off to men they don't even know,
who are much older than them, these little
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:girls now become, victims in a sex crime.
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:You have seen recently what has happened
in Bangladesh, where the Mandirs have
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:been vandalized, Hindus have been beaten
on the streets, Hindu businesses and
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:homes have been burnt, Hindus have been
forced to resign from their faculty
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:jobs and police jobs and other places.
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:We want.
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:America to exercise its soft power and
hold these, theocracies accountable.
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:The next one is very simple.
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:There are a lot of statues,
murtis, as we call them.
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:Murtis have been actually stolen
or decapitated and the head stolen.
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:If you go to Cambodia and you go
to India, the murtis are stolen.
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:People are worshipping them.
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:These are especially older murtis.
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:They've been worshipped
for hundreds of years.
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:And next, you know, some morning
people wake up, go to the
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:mandir, the murti is missing.
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:We want to make sure that these artifacts
that are taken, stolen, given to
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:private collectors, gone to, museums,
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:these are sacred murtis.
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:They be returned so that people
can place them back in mandirs.
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:The next one is we want to
make sure that US promotes a
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:multifaceted partnership with.
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:What I mean is America and
India are natural allies.
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:America is our karma bhoomi,
India is our dharma bhoomi,
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:but we both practice democracy.
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:Bharat India has practiced
democracy for thousands of years
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:from the times of Mahajanapadas.
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:That's about 3, 000, 3, 500 years ago.
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:And we want to make sure that,
and America being one of the more
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:prominent democracies today, come and
work together as equals, as allies
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:and not government instruments like
USCIRF are not used to malign India.
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:And really use those tools
by vested interests to break
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:apart this natural partnership.
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:So we want the candidates who get
our support to actually promise us.
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:They will use these tools,
commissions and agencies that US
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:government has for the good of promo.
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:And by good, I mean promoting this
multifaceted partnership with India.
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:And finally, and I'm sure Maji will
talk a lot more about it, is support
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:legislation that promote environmentally
responsible and sustainable development.
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:In Hindu, derma, we
consider Earth to be dirty.
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:Maa.
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:So we have a lot of respect for, Mother
Earth and through sustainable development,
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:we can promote, responsible development.
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:So I'll stop there and turn
it over to Mohinderji for the
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:next part of this webinar.
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:Mohinderji.
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:Speaker 2: Thank you very much for
this wonderful introduction, Ajayji.
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:I wish to all those viewing
this webinar and those who might
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:view it later on, happy Diwali.
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:It's a little early, but
it's around the corner.
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:So wishing you all a
very, very happy Diwali.
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:I also want to congratulate those
eligible to participate in the
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:voting process on your good fortune.
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:I want to congratulate you for that,
that you are able to participate in
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:a democratic process in a secure,
safe, And dignified environment on
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:not many countries in not many places.
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:People are able to do that.
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:I have not really been an
election officer in India.
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:That was long ago when
we had paper ballots.
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:That sounds like a very, very old
times, but I have also seen these
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:elections in many other countries where
we know how difficult the democratic
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:processes are and how rigged these are.
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:So, you are very fortunate to be
participating in a stable, safe, secure,
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:dignified, democratic process here.
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:And so please do go out, step
out and vote your vote matters.
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:As Ajayji said, and he
showed you that graph.
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:In a system of first past the
post, this is not a system of
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:proportional representation.
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:It's a system of first past the post.
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:In a system of first past the
post, the swing vote matters.
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:And your vote is actually much bigger
than the victory margin in many
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:of the states that Ajayji showed.
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:Therefore, it is not only your moral
obligation to go and participate
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:in the democratic process.
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:Be heard.
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:Raise your voice, be heard, but
also as a responsible citizen,
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:go and vote and participate.
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:On the HinduPact website, you will
see several, very useful tools.
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:And Ajay ji will talk about that
later One is the temple guide.
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:Another is a voter guide one as to
for you as a voter What is it that you
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:can do you should do what is that it
is possible what you are eligible to?
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:And what is legally permissible?
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:What is not legally permissible?
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:What are the tools that you can use?
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:So there's a whole lot of information
and very, very useful, background and
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:the tools available on this website for
you as well as for the Mondays that you
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:can, if it is possible, convert these
Mondays into, voter registration centers
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:into polling centers so that it is not
only that you are creating this facility
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:for increasing the voter participation
of the Hindu community, but also you
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:are demonstrating to the community
around you that you are a responsible,
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:conscientious Citizen who participates
and engages in these processes.
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:So plenty of material are
there Beautifully put together
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:by Ajayji and his team.
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:Please do go and visit and he
will show you this later What is
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:it that you can do as a voter?
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:Register not only yourself, but also
your friends your family your neighbors
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:Encourage them to register for voting and
use the tools available on the website.
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:Get out to vote whether it is mail in
ballots or whether it is early voting or
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:whether it is going on the voting day.
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:Unfortunately, we don't have a holiday
on an election day, which is the case
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:with India and Australia, but not here.
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:So you don't get a day off, but
nevertheless go out, and, get
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:people to step out, to vote.
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:So, Ajayji had talked about the democracy
being 3, 500 year old in India and he has
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:given, shown you some wonderful examples.
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:Which are available on the
website, but I'll share with
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:you one personal experience.
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:I had gone to a very remote
village in Himachal Pradesh.
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:It is called Malana.
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:It is up at about 12, 000 Feet and
in a small village at 12, 000 feet
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:They have a small parliament and
they have a village assembly in
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:the middle of the village There are
11 seats Which are for the elders.
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:So I asked them as to what are these.
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:They said, Oh, these are very, very old.
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:We, every two years, we elect
twelve, eleven members from
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:the village as the elders.
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:And they are the ones who
take all the decisions.
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:Each member of each family then
contributes one person as a local police.
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:And local administration.
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:I mean, you can't get more
grassroots level democracy than that.
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:So these traditions are actually very
old as part of our civilization and
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:as a part of our who to vote for?
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:Ajayji has already talked about it.
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:So I would not go into those.
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:Okay.
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:This agenda also you have, heard Ajayji,
but when you talk to your candidates,
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:and I don't mean only the presidential
candidate, but there's the congressmen and
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:the senators, or whether it is even for
the, for your local council, when you talk
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:to these candidates, do raise your issues.
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:And these issues, Vajayji has talked
about it, but also the local issues that
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:affect you, whether that is growing Hindu
hate or whether that is vandalization
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:of your temples, whether that is the
curriculum and academy in the school,
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:curriculums, you will see, you'll be
surprised as to how much of ignorance
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:and, and discrimination and hatred
is there in some of the curriculum or
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:some of the local school that you see.
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:So be aware of that, raise your
voice, raise it with them, and then
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:start participating at all levels.
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:That is how your voices will get
heard and how your voices will
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:start mattering more and more.
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:It's not only the numbers, it
is also that, you are only 1
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:percent of the population, but
you pay 6 percent of the taxes.
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:That is financial muscle power that
you have, which you are not using.
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:So we are punching much
below our weight in the U.
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:S.
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:democratic process.
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:You are contributing
so much to the economy.
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:You are contributing so much
to the society that you are.
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:Society builders, you are wealth builders,
and you are punching so much above your
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:weight in terms of economic contribution
that you should also convert that into
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:political weight your voice should matter.
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:Learn about your candidates what are their
issues, what are their agendas, what do
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:they stand for, who is funding them, who
is endorsing them, who is supporting them
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:so that you can see whether, those who are
funding, are inimical to your interest?
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:If they are, then how do you counter that?
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:And, in the community
mobilize your community.
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:When you mobilize your community.
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:You get these candidates to come and talk
to your community, whether that's the
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:Diwali Mela or whether it is Navratri or
whether that is Celebration the temple or
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:whether it is any other community function
invite them and invite them not just for
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:Participating in a festival, but also
have a conversation with them about your
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:issues Those are the times when not only
you as you invite them to participate
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:in the festivals and your celebrations
But also on the sidelines have a meeting
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:with them On what your local and national
level issues are and what your agenda is.
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:So do raise it with them and slowly start
sensitizing, start making them more aware.
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:I'll take a few more minutes just
to talk about the eligibility.
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:Most of you know that you are citizens,
you can vote, but also there are people
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:who may be on permanent residency.
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:They may or may not be aware
of what they are eligible for.
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:For the purpose of voting.
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:You have to be a U.
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:S.
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:citizen.
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:You have to be above 18 years of age.
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:You have to be a resident of the
constituency where you are going to vote.
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:There are some, ID requirements in some
places, in some places they are not.
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:So be aware of what are the requirements
for you to be able to register
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:as a voter and then go and, vote.
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:People on the green card, cannot
vote in federal elections in some
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:areas for the local elections,
depending on where you live.
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:There are some local elections where
they're eligible to vote, but mostly not.
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:However, they can still participate
in the election process.
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:They can donate, and contribute.
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:They can also, volunteer
for election activities.
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:So you can do all of those things,
even as a green card, holder.
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:One thing more which can be a little
confusing for people is the is is the
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:Can you do something on the internet?
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:Because that's this is
the age of internet.
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:Even if you are Not a voter, even if
you are a permanent resident, you can
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:still do quite a lot on the internet.
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:Make sure that you are, this is not
a paid activity and make sure that
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:that this is on the, on the internet.
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:That you are not violating any of the
conditions of use of internet, but
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:you can certainly may do forwards.
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:You can certainly, do , some
campaigning on the internet.
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:You can even use your employer's
computers and internet subject
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:to whatever the conditions are.
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:But.
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:Some places that do that as long as it
is not for advocating for a particular
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:candidate or a particular party.
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:And some of these are common
sense election day checklist.
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:I would not go into it, but all that
I would say is that start getting
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:more active, not just at the time
of election, start getting much
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:more active, politically engaging.
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:Even before that so that then you start
building as Hindus as a community, they
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:start looking at you as a vote that
they want to come and campaign to you.
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:And therefore they start listening to,
they start listening to your issues.
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:Start listening to your voice and that
starts mattering not only for you, but
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:also for the broader Hindu community.
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:So let me just stop there because now
Ajayji will show you as to give you
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:a demonstration of this website as
to how to use it, how to navigate it.
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:Do go out and participate in
the election on 5th or before.
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:And do take your friends and family
and encourage them, have a conversation
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:with them on what are the Hindu issues
and why do they matter and how raising
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:your voice with the candidates will
make a difference, not only for you,
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:but also for your future generations.
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:Become more aware if you need
more information on some of
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:those issues, more details.
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:So that you can have a more informed
conversation with your representatives
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:There is a lot of material available on
the website Website use that material
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:or otherwise you can get in touch
with us to seek more clarification.
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:We have people who are more Knowledgeable
about it and can respond More accurately
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:to your questions so that you are
much better informed in engaging in
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:conversation with your, local candidates.
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:Thank you very much for listening to
me and thank you very much, Ajayji.
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:I hand it over back to you and
I'll stop sharing the screen.
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:Speaker: Thank you, Mohinderji.
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:That was incredibly helpful, very
useful, and the way you articulated
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:it made all the difference.
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:So thank you very much.
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:Mohinderji mentioned about
a website that we have.
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:And this is a very unique website and I
am really proud to say that not because
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:we have created this As part of HinduPAC,
but because really if you compare it
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:with a website for any advocacy group,
faith based advocacy group, from any
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:faith, I think our website is head and
shoulder above any other website you'll
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:come across for a similar purpose.
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:And once I show you, You will
know why I'm saying that.
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:And as a Hindu, you're going to be proud
of the fact that you as a Hindu community
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:have a resource that is unparalleled
from anything you would have ever seen.
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:So let me share my screen
and go over the website.
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:So the website is Hindu vote dot o r g.
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:That's h i n d u v o t e dot o r g.
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:And this Hindu vote website
is as multiple aspects to it.
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:I will show you a few of them
without taking up too much time.
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:And then you can explore
the website on your own.
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:So you can see that this
website has multiple components.
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:Mohinderji mentioned tools you
can see the tools for voters.
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:We are right here.
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:I'll quickly show you the tools for
voters that we have, and there's
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:still time to use these tools.
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:So for example, you can see that.
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:Using this website, you can pledge to
register, register to vote, verify your
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:voter registration, you can request
absentee ballots, you can sign up for
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:election reminders, or you can look up
the donors who's donating to a candidate.
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:Really simple for example, if you
want to check the voter registration,
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:you click on this link here.
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:And it gives you a simple link and
it goes to you know, you put your
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:first name, last name, address,
your birth date, email address.
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:We don't hold this information.
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:This goes directly through a third
party to the government to broker, which
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:brokers between the different states.
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:It goes to your state and the
information that we get from the state.
417
:Again the privacy policy, terms
of services, all of that is here.
418
:And you get information back
from the state that shows you if
419
:you're registered to vote or not.
420
:Very important because we want to
make sure that you have registered
421
:and your registration should show up.
422
:So this is, and there are
other tools like that, right?
423
:So I'll not go over all the tools.
424
:Please explore on your own.
425
:Again, it's.
426
:Hindu vote dot org.
427
:We also track a number of bills.
428
:These bills are all here
from the Hindu perspective.
429
:And we also have a legislative report
card which says how many legislators like
430
:people in the House of Representatives
or Senate support a bill that we
431
:support as Hindus or oppose it.
432
:The guide that Mohinderji
showed is voter guide.
433
:It's right here.
434
:We also have the Hindu American agenda.
435
:And there's one more thing,
and I'll show you that.
436
:So, Mohindraji talked about the agenda.
437
:He also briefly kind of flashed on the
screen the candidate questionnaire.
438
:So we converted this
agenda into questionnaire.
439
:And this questionnaire was, as a survey,
was sent to all the candidates for
440
:House of Representatives and the Senate.
441
:So it basically went out to
1, 076 candidates who are
442
:running for various offices.
443
:Republicans, Democrats, Independents
you know, Green Party candidates,
444
:and everyone you can think of.
445
:Okay, so all of them got the
survey and as they fill out, I'll
446
:show you where the answers come.
447
:We also have a unique guide for temples
and non profits, and this is the guide
448
:which tells the mandirs and the non
profit what they can and cannot do
449
:legally during the election, like setting
up the polling booth or setting up
450
:the candidate debates, they can issue
statements, how they could do all that
451
:without jeopardizing their 501c3 status.
452
:So with that, let me first, before I
go to the main website, these are the
453
:standing posters and we have been putting
these informative standing posters on
454
:in various, on several Mandir premises.
455
:So you can see we have now about, I think
we have reached about, 30, 35, 35 or so.
456
:And I think by election, we will
have reached about 50 of these
457
:Mondays where we are putting up the
posters about need to, you know,
458
:why do we need to register to vote?
459
:We also have podcasts available as
part of our conversations over coffee.
460
:But now Without further ado, let me
just show this main website that we have
461
:created that I've been talking about.
462
:So Hindu vote guide to elections 2024.
463
:So you come here and the first
thing you see is you can have
464
:it in many languages by the way.
465
:And, but you can come to this website
and you can enter any zip code or you
466
:can enter an address, any address in us.
467
:And you can search the candidates.
468
:So, for example, I'll
put a zip code:
469
:This is a zip code in San
Diego, for example, right?
470
:I don't need to enter address
because I already have a zip code.
471
:Otherwise, I enter the address
and it maps to the same thing.
472
:And then I click on search.
473
:When I click on search here.
474
:I see all the candidates for House
of Representatives, for the U.
475
:S.
476
:Senate, and some other information
like tools and videos and articles
477
:and all of the other stuff.
478
:So now I say, well, you
know, this is interesting.
479
:I have a Republican, I have
a Republican and a Democrat.
480
:Republican in this case is Peter
Bono, Democratic Scott Peters
481
:Democratic Senate candidate is
Adam Schiff, and the Republican
482
:Senate candidate is Steve Garvey.
483
:Well, let me find out a little
bit more about Adam Schiff.
484
:Right.
485
:Just want to know about him.
486
:So I click about on Adam Schiff.
487
:Now, remember the goal is of this
website is to help a decision.
488
:We don't endorse a candidate.
489
:We want you to be informed.
490
:So you make a decision as to whether the
candidate is worthy of your vote or not.
491
:Okay, so we look at, there's a
brief bio, social media handles.
492
:And once you keep going down,
you say, okay, well, who is
493
:giving money to this candidate?
494
:How much has the candidate raised?
495
:Remember, this is as of the reporting
date that is available, that is
496
:available on federal elect site.
497
:And this might be a little older for
Adam Schiff because he was in the house.
498
:We have to, you know, we'll make sure
this connected to a Senate campaign.
499
:We get to hear more about
this Senate candidacy.
500
:So you'll see for all the candidates.
501
:You'll see some contribution they
have received, loans, everything
502
:else, again, it's directly from the
Federal Election Commission website.
503
:We also have listed the political action
committees for example, Americans for
504
:Hindus Hindu American political action
committee, IPAC americans for Hindus,
505
:have they endorsed this candidate or not?
506
:Are they supporting, have they funded it?
507
:If Adam Schiff was funded by them,
you would actually see an amount here.
508
:Since he has not received the
money or endorsement, you don't
509
:see any amount of funding here.
510
:And you can see MGAGE is a Muslim
Political Action Committee.
511
:MPAC is again, Muslim
Public Affairs Committee.
512
:BAPS has its own public affairs, Sam.
513
:We want to give you a neutral
view of who is supporting or
514
:not supporting the candidate.
515
:Okay, so that is where is the
candidate getting money from?
516
:The second is a really, really unique
way of representing a candidate.
517
:What we have here is all the
relationships that Adam Schiff has.
518
:So, for example, Adam Schiff As you
can see here is a Democrat if there
519
:was substantial amount, we would
have listed major donors, we would
520
:have listed the name if that was in
public domain and available as current
521
:information, then we can see the issues
that are important to Adam Schiff.
522
:So for example, he has talked about racism
and reflections on racism in America.
523
:And there's a source, you can
click on it, you can explore it.
524
:That is a speech that he has given
at the House of Representatives.
525
:He has talked about racial
bias in healthcare, right?
526
:These are the issues that
are important to him.
527
:He has also talked about
Israel and anti Semitism.
528
:So you can see the source
where he has talked about that.
529
:He has also talked about
the Russian interference.
530
:And, the title of the news item
was the quiet anger of Adam Schiff.
531
:And he talks about Russian
interference and then his key writings.
532
:There's some key writings here
telephone metadata from Reform
533
:Act that he talked about the
domestic phone records and all that.
534
:He talked about the Freedom of Press
Act that he has written about which
535
:is the Daniel Pearl Foundation Freedom
of the Press Act that was passed.
536
:And then he has issued a
statement of support for Israel
537
:as official house statement.
538
:That is his key writing.
539
:So you can now you can look at his record
and you can say, is this candidates?
540
:Does this candidates
values, writings, thoughts?
541
:caucus membership.
542
:Does it align with your thinking?
543
:Does it align with the
Hindu interest or not?
544
:Right.
545
:And the questionnaire that we
talked about a little earlier,
546
:this is the questionnaire.
547
:This questionnaire aligns
with the Hindu agenda.
548
:So you can see that we'd ask about the
candidates vision and why, what they want
549
:to do, why they want to run for election.
550
:There are three questions about that.
551
:Very simple.
552
:Then the Hindu hatred question and the
Mandir vandalism question is combined
553
:into a single question and that is To
counter the growing hate instances do
554
:you support this House Resolution 1131
that was proposed by Shri Thanedar
555
:in condemning Hindu phobia, anti
Hindu bigotry and other purposes?
556
:So we want to know if a candidate Whether
it's Adam Schiff or his opponent or any
557
:candidate running for Congress, House
or Senate, what is their response?
558
:They've all been sent this custom link,
and they click on the link and they
559
:respond to this simple question that
should take no more than five minutes to
560
:respond to, if they have thought about
these issues, then it automatically
561
:gets populated on this website.
562
:If they have not responded to, then it
will just say, waiting for the responses.
563
:And then there are affirmative action,
what do you think about affirmative
564
:action, about the immigration policy,
about international human rights, about
565
:the foreign policy again, it mirrors
exactly the Hindu American, American Hindu
566
:agenda is reflected in this questionnaire.
567
:And then there are some more, And that
is what the candidate we think that
568
:these are important questions for our
community to know about for example
569
:what the candidate thinks about the gun
control issue and about the abortion.
570
:Again, we are passing no judgment on it.
571
:We just want to know what
the candidate position is.
572
:And then here are the, remember I told
you that the, we track the voting records
573
:or who is who is sponsoring a particular
legislation or a bill or resolution.
574
:And we are, we follow that and we
say, okay, does this, candidate's
575
:position in alignment with the
position that we as Hindu PAC on
576
:behalf of the Hindu community hold.
577
:And if there's no position
taken, then you'd see an A.
578
:But in case of Adam Schiff, if you go
down with the Hate Crime Commission Act
579
:of 2023, we think it should be supported.
580
:Adam Schiff has supported it.
581
:So we give them a thumbs up.
582
:If there are cases where we don't support
it, we'll give them a thumbs down.
583
:And there's one more part of this website.
584
:Now, this is important part of the survey.
585
:This is we want to know here
what you think about a candidate
586
:as a voter in his constituency.
587
:Has he been involved with the Hindu Hindu
American community in his constituency?
588
:Do you think he appreciates
the Hindu American community?
589
:If you don't know, you
can just say neutral.
590
:I'm just randomly picking, right?
591
:Because he's not my senate candidate.
592
:So I don't know really
whether what he is doing.
593
:I'm just demonstrating
a website at this stage.
594
:Do you believe that he would be a strong
advocate for US India relationship?
595
:I don't know.
596
:I would just say, yeah, sure.
597
:Why not?
598
:Do you believe that this candidate
is aware and appreciates of the
599
:growing level of hate being directed
at the American Hindu community?
600
:We saw that he supported one legislation.
601
:We'll just say strongly agree.
602
:And does he promote merit based
educational opportunities?
603
:If you don't think he
agrees, then you can say no.
604
:Again, I'm just demonstrating a website.
605
:I don't know what his position
is on any of these things.
606
:So this is how we vote.
607
:And then, you know, You can then if there
are enough number of survey responses to
608
:make it statistically significant, then
you would see the survey responses here.
609
:The idea is that you want to know
what your fellow Hindus are thinking
610
:about this particular candidate.
611
:And that is yet another way
of judging the candidate.
612
:So we have five different
ways of judging a candidate.
613
:You judge the candidate based on the,
what voters in his or her district
614
:saying or state saying about the
candidate from the Hindu perspective.
615
:What are the bills or resolutions that
the candidates supporting, whether
616
:they're in agreement with the position
that we as Hindu Pact have taken.
617
:We have here a response to
the questionnaire that we
618
:sent, all the relationships.
619
:and the speeches that the
candidate has given and all the
620
:political action committees and
funding that candidate gets.
621
:So these are the ways that we evaluate
a candidate using this website.
622
:Again, very unique, haven't
seen this and any other faith
623
:based website at all so far.
624
:Now, let me go back and
show you one final thing.
625
:I'll remember I had mentioned earlier
that we actually track the candidates
626
:and we We have a legislative report card.
627
:So let me show you what that looks like.
628
:These are the bills that we track.
629
:A quick demo on what we are tracking.
630
:So all the bills at what
stage the bills are in.
631
:Hindu vote website is absolutely critical
for all the Hindus because they can
632
:see what is going on without going
through, all the news items and fumbling
633
:through all the sources to find out
what is important of Hindus in Congress.
634
:You can just go to this one page and
you can see all the bills in House and
635
:Senate that are being tracked by HinduPAC.
636
:To make things even simpler, we
also have a legislative report card.
637
:So every two years we update this and
we say, okay, you know, how are the,
638
:in the past and this current Congress,
what are the bills that are important?
639
:Same bills that we showed
earlier in the bill tracker.
640
:Now we have all the candidates.
641
:who have opined on these
bills one way or the other.
642
:And we can show you who are supporting
Hindu causes with a thumbs up and
643
:who are supporting, not supporting
the Hindu causes with thumbs down.
644
:Now these are politicians, so
you can see some of them have
645
:a thumbs up and thumbs down.
646
:So now we leave it to you whether,
you know, to weigh the pros
647
:and cons if they're one thumbs
up and one thumbs down, right?
648
:But this is how we, we have 160
candidates all scored over here.
649
:Okay.
650
:So with that done, I go back to
this website and I want to show
651
:you a couple of other things.
652
:These are some really two of
our leaders Deepak Karthik is
653
:leading the Hindu vote initiative.
654
:And she's the executive
director for Hindu vote.
655
:Deepthi Mahajan is the co convener
of HinduPact, a Hindu policy
656
:research and advocacy collective.
657
:Deepa and Deepti have done
a lot of show appearances.
658
:They were in the Shree Iyer show,
which is a very popular show on
659
:Vibhuti Jha's show called Jaipur
Dialogues and various others.
660
:So please, check them out.
661
:The links are on our website.
662
:We do a podcast.
663
:We just released them
yesterday, three of them.
664
:So check out the podcast.
665
:You'll see the link to the
podcast on our website as well.
666
:Okay.
667
:With that Mohinderji, that is
pretty much what I had to cover.
668
:I'll turn it over to you
to see if other comments.
669
:Speaker 2: Now, thank
you very much Ajayji.
670
:Even I learned quite a
bit in your presentation.
671
:Navigating through the website all the
all the wonderful work that has been done.
672
:I can tell you that this level of
information, this level of awareness,
673
:this level of that created, it is
not common to see this level of, the
674
:information and the tools being made
available to the voters anywhere.
675
:I have seen it in many other countries
where I've worked from the World Bank
676
:and the United Nations, this level
of voter education, voter awareness,
677
:the level of information that you
are putting at the tips of their
678
:fingers to be able to make an informed
choice and a conscious decision.
679
:That is very rare.
680
:So, heartiest congratulations to you and
your team for having done this great work.
681
:You're part of our team.
682
:I'm a newbie.
683
:So you have inducted me recently.
684
:So I'm still learning my way
through more and more impressed.
685
:As I see, I'm getting
more and more impressed.
686
:One appeal that I would like to make
to the Hindu community here in the US
687
:is do make better use of your mans to
create awareness in the Hindu community
688
:about the public policy choices.
689
:We are not talking about
the partisan politics.
690
:We are not talking about party politics.
691
:We are not talking about
electoral politics.
692
:We are talking about public policies.
693
:And the Mondays should be at the
vanguard of creating awareness.
694
:In the Hindu community or the temple
communities on what are the public
695
:policies, how they affect you, what are
the pros and cons of those, and what is it
696
:that you can do about it, what you need to
do about it and what you can do about it.
697
:So become much better, much
more informed citizen about
698
:the policies that affect you.
699
:And the Mandirs should play that
role because that is one place
700
:where everybody gets together.
701
:And also for the Mandir executives,
They also should inform themselves
702
:that being a 501c3 or religious based
does not mean that you will not speak
703
:up for the concerns of your community.
704
:You should be the anchor You should be
the leader of raising the concerns of
705
:your community for the welfare of your
community so that is the only appeal that
706
:I would make and not a self promotion,
but I would just like to say that I'm
707
:a president of the Global Hindu Temple
Network America and Managing trustee of
708
:Global Hindu Temple Network in India And
that is what we are trying to do through
709
:Global Hindu Temple Network that is The
temples should become the, not only the
710
:places of religious worship, but also
places of social consciousness and re
711
:energization of the Hindu communities
everywhere should become center of
712
:social activities, cultural activities,
religious activities economic activities,
713
:but bring more social cohesion and
public policy awareness, not only for
714
:yourself, but also for your community.
715
:younger generation for your children
and younger generation and bring them
716
:to the temple, become aware of the
public policies that will affect their
717
:future and become much more proactive.
718
:So, again, happy Diwali and wish
you all a wonderful election day
719
:and a wonderful election results.
720
:Speaker: Thank you.
721
:Thank you, Mohinderji.
722
:And I'll close with one final appeal.
723
:All this take a resources
and a lot of funds.
724
:So my appeal to the community would
be that please go to hindupac.
725
:org slash donation.
726
:And just go to our website, click
on donation button on hinduvote.
727
:org, click on donation button anywhere,
any of the websites, so hindupac.
728
:org or hinduvote.
729
:org, click on the donation button
and help us as much as you can,
730
:because none of this is done on cheap.
731
:It does take a lot of resources, to
develop a sophisticated website like this,
732
:we would appreciate the community support
in enhancing support and maintaining this
733
:website and really create a professional
grade, resource for our community.
734
:We are a 501c3.
735
:All the donations are
absolutely tax deductible.
736
:And again, we are not
endorsing any candidates.
737
:We are just providing tools for voter
to evaluate the candidates who will vote
738
:in, alignment with the Hindu community.
739
:So with I will everyone happy Diwali and
happy election thank you for Namaste.
740
:Speaker 2: Namaste to everyone.
741
:Speaker: is you know