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Srinivas Preston Kulkarni loses congressional race in Texas

This guy is only half Indian and a Democrat. Where did it say in the link that he was funded by RSS?
 
All my family friends in houston voted for the other guy. This guy is well known in the local community there to be RSS sponsored. Which why you can see how he lost in a blue heavy county.
 
Stewie said:
All my family friends in houston voted for the other guy. This guy is well known in the local community there to be RSS sponsored. Which why you can see how he lost in a blue heavy county.
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"blue heavy county"... hah hah

Screen Shot 2020-11-05 at 11.09.58 AM.jpg
 
Any of you guys live in the area? I have and my entire family lives there.

It is the most racially and ethnic diverse area of houston. Perhaps i should have worded it differently. Firstly it’s not a county, it’s a congressional district. And second, being rich with minorities there doesn’t automatically mean blue. I should have said there is a high percentage of Pakistani/Indians in that area. If this guy was well supported by all minorities, he would have easily won. But he didn’t..

https://abc13.com/who-won-texas-district-22-race-sri-preston-kulkarni-troy-nehls-2020-22nd/7485615/
 
Whether they want to admit it or not, I loved most of my life in the area and I know fully well the dynamics of his campaign and what people think of him.
 
So a guy was running for Orange, in a nation of Red, White, and Blue.

You couldn't make this up.
 
Stewie said:
US media outlets acknowledging why they think he lost in a campaign he should have won based on the demographics of the area.

https://theintercept.com/2020/10/29/sri-kulkarni-congress-indian-politics/
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The Intercept article is an interpretation of the election written by 2 South Asians with their obvious biases. The easy way to judge whether a congressional candidate underperformed or overperformed is to look at the presidential elections held in the same or proximate election year.

"Kulkarni lost the November 6 general election with 46.5% of the vote, in the district's closest race since Olson was first elected." Not only did he outperform Clinton's 2016 performance, but he also ran Olson closer than any other opponent.

I wasn't able to find the 2020 Presidential vote counts for this district, but they will be available soon.

This talk about Sri losing because of RSS ties is not supported by the voting numbers, but by all means, continue with the interpretation you like.
 
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Napa said:
The Intercept article is an interpretation of the election written by 2 South Asians with their obvious biases. The easy way to judge whether a congressional candidate underperformed or overperformed is to look at the presidential elections held in the same or proximate election year.

"Kulkarni lost the November 6 general election with 46.5% of the vote, in the district's closest race since Olson was first elected." Not only did he outperform Clinton's 2016 performance, but he also ran Olson closer than any other opponent.

I wasn't able to find the 2020 Presidential vote counts for this district, but they will be available soon.

This talk about Sri losing because of RSS ties is not supported by the voting numbers, but by all means, continue with the interpretation you like.
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And no one has made that assertion. OP said Srini lost, and he has RSS link. 2 different tidbits shared.
 
Also, the Dems performed horribly in 2020 House races, with them being unable to unseat a SINGLE Republican incumbent ousted.

"In the House, bleary-eyed Democrats were still sorting out the wreckage when they awoke Wednesday with dozens of their members’ races still uncalled and not a single GOP incumbent ousted"

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/04/dems-post-mortem-election-2020-434044

Sri surely would have flipped Texas 22nd were it not for his RSS ties :)))
 
OpED: Sri Preston Kulkarni’s War on Facts

Elections are a time when stretching the truth is the norm rather than the exception, and “fact checking” an imperative for anyone who wants to make an informed decision about their vote. However, nowhere has the narrative collided as head on with the truth as in the campaign of Sri Preston Kulkarni, Democratic candidate for the Texas Congressional District #22. Such is the brazenness of Kulkarni’s lies that multiple groups that have vowed to vote President Trump out of office believe it is in the best interest of the district and the country if Kulkarni loses his second bid for a place in the US House of Representatives, his purported commitment to the Democratic platform notwithstanding.

Many are understandably curious about the reason for so many Democrats turning against a candidate from the party they normally support. To be clear, it is not so much Kulkarni’s campaign narrative, as the conflict between that narrative and the truth. To many voters of District 22, Kulkarni’s campaign ostensibly stands for human rights and religious freedom, and against fascism and nationalism. Unfortunately, and as multiple exposes that are now going viral have demonstrated, Kulkarni’s association with fascist and nationalist elements both in India and the US run deep, and indeed are the key drivers of his candidacy.

Kulkarni is no ordinary immigrant success story, having come from a family with deep connections to India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS is one of the world’s largest militia, and the ideological fountainhead of Hindutva, a fascist and supremacist ideology that seeks to turn India into a Hindu state, where Christians, Muslims and other religious minorities are relegated to the status of second-class citizens with few rights. In the last two decades, front organizations of the RSS in America have fielded multiple candidates for political office, some of whom have gone on to make significant contributions to advancing Hindutva’s agenda in Washington, DC. It is no surprise therefore, that the RSS’s American affiliate, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), are among the primary backers of Kulkarni’s candidacy. The irony of a man who claims to stand against racism, fascism and nationalism, being backed by the same forces that assassinated Mahatma Gandhi is something Kulkarni would prefer voters don’t pay attention to.

However, the connection with RSS is based on more than just mutual benefit. Kulkarni is the nephew of the late Pramod Mahajan, a highly influential Indian politician and minister, who was an RSS veteran and the BJP’s chief strategist. He held several important cabinet positions including Defense, and until his murder in 2006 by another uncle of Sri Kulkarni, Mahajan was considered the “heir apparent” to the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee. Mahajan was among the key organizers of L. K. Advani’s Rath Yatra, a campaign that finally led to the criminal demolition of the Babri Mosque and the subsequent killing of over 3,000 people in sectarian violence across India.

What is striking about Kulkarni’s candidacy is not just these RSS connections that are now falling out of the proverbial closet, but Kulkarni’s silly attempt at feigning ignorance about the RSS, claiming he did not know it was an organization until two years ago. This is rich, coming from a man who claims to have been a career diplomat, and whose next posting before he quit the Foreign Service was going to be in New Delhi. Kulkarni has gone on record to say that Ramesh Bhutada, the Vice-President of HSS, was “like a father,” to him, and his son Rishi Bhutada was among those without whose support the campaign itself might not have been possible.

Another relative of Sri Kulkarni is the well-known Indian politician Gopinath Munde, who married Mahajan’s sister. Munde was a member of Modi’s cabinet before his death in a road accident, and was once in charge of the RSS branches in the city of Pune. Kulkarni’s cousin Poonam Mahajan, currently a member of the Indian Parliament, was once the national President of the BJP “Youth Wing” and the Secretary of the BJP in 2013.

Much to Kulkarni’s discomfiture, his fascist friends are actually flaunting their connection to him, starting with BJP ideologue Subramanian Swamy, hailing Kulkarni’s candidacy as “Hindutva’s hope in Houston.” Yet, Kulkarni wants voters to believe him when he claims ignorance about the RSS.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/SriPKulkarni?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SriPKulkarni</a>: Hindutva’s Hope in Houston — US congressional candidate fielded by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RSS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RSS</a> in America: <a href="https://t.co/DNlG8PeB0e">https://t.co/DNlG8PeB0e</a></p>— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) <a href="https://twitter.com/Swamy39/status/1289793546002640897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The struggle with facts continues, with Kulkarni claiming without proof, a lineage from the famed General Sam Houston. Short on facts are also Kulkarni’s claims of expertise on issues of national security, as he has provided almost no details of his tenure in the Foreign Service. Kulkarni’s complete refusal to acknowledge his campaign’s connections to RSS should also be seen in light of the fact that the RSS’s nationalist and Islamophobic agenda finds a natural ally in the Republican Party, particularly in Donald Trump. It is no surprise therefore, that Prime Minister Modi was welcomed in Houston by President Trump and prominent Republicans at a massive “Howdy Modi” rally in September 2019. The same Rishi Bhutada who helped Kulkarni launch his campaign was one of the main organizers and spokesperson for the event. Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Modi broke protocol in giving President Trump a rousing endorsement for reelection during the latter’s visit to India.

None of these would have been uncomfortable truths for Kulkarni, had he been running as a Republican. However, Kulkarni’s candidacy as a Democrat flies in the face of facts, and the support he is getting from many of the district’s Democrat voters is more the result of revulsion against President Trump than a proper vetting of Kulkarni’s politics.

If Kulkarni makes it to Capitol Hill, expect stonewalling on issues of human rights and religious freedom by right wing forces around the world. With Kulkarni as their representative, South Asian voters can forget about any accountability for India, for its egregious violations of human rights and religious freedom. In a “letter to the Muslim community,” apparently conscious of the growing disquiet about his candidacy among Muslims, liberals and progressives, Kulkarni brags about having taken a stand on the “violence in Delhi” and the “situation in Kashmir,” as evidence of his commitment to human rights and religious freedom. In truth, both statements by Kulkarni are ritualistic expressions of standing for peace and human rights, while failing to call out the role of ideologically driven violence against religious minorities. The perpetrators of such violence are widely known to be proponents of the same ideology whose affiliates in the US are among his donors. Such statements are actually a disservice to the victims of sectarian violence for they seek to obfuscate the role of Hindu nationalism in driving such persecution.

Kulkarni’s has apparently promised to take a public position against the use of India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to strip citizenship away from India’s Muslim citizens. Absent from Kulkarni’s narrative is any mention of how the CAA and NRC are discriminatory in their essence against people of the Muslim faith, and a clear violation of India’s secular Constitution. Clearly Kulkarni is not on the same page as respected human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. How Kulkarni is expected to be vocal about civil rights in the US, while actively shielding those who are eroding these very rights abroad defies explanation.

Similarly, Kulkarni has issued a statement on the “situation” in Kashmir that does nothing to shine the light on the historic betrayal of the Kashmiri people represented by the revocation of Article 370, and the enormous human suffering caused by the Government of India’s tyrannical curfew and lockdown, imposed long before Covid-19. In this regard, Kulkarni apparently does not want to displease his RSS supporters by condemning the unprecedented human rights catastrophe in Kashmir, something many prominent Democrats have done, in the form of statements and House resolutions. For Kulkarni to call out the role of the India’s Hindu nationalist government in causing such suffering on Kashmir’s civilian population is unthinkable. In fact, Kulkarni is loath to even call out the Indian military’s tyranny in Kashmir, and instead prefers to advise the Indian government “behind closed doors,” through the “ladder of diplomacy.”

The truth about Sri Kulkarni’s campaign is closely tied to the money trail. Kulkarni has accepted in excess of $80,000 from just 10 families linked to RSS affiliates in the United States. Despite repeated demands by voters in his district to return such tainted donations, Kulkarni has instead doubled down, attacking those raising concerns as “nefarious actors,” while claiming he was unaware of the RSS as an organization.

It is possible that Kulkarni is genuine in his advocacy for the environment and his concern about gun violence. However, his janus-faced campaign is being weighed down by its own internal contradictions and his refusal to come clean on important facts that affect his prospective constituents. Among all the lies of the 2020 elections, Kulkarni’s claim that he is against fascism and nationalism must rank among the most brazen.

https://muslimmatters.org/2020/11/03/oped-sri-preston-kulkarnis-war-on-facts/
 
So at least US electorate is smarter than us.
 
Not sure whether this Kulkarni guy's uncle, Pramod Mahajan was heir apparent to AB. But one thing was sure. There hasn't been a more corrupt Indian minister, ever!

Was always a big hole in AB's clean image as PM.
 
Napa said:
The Intercept article is an interpretation of the election written by 2 South Asians with their obvious biases. The easy way to judge whether a congressional candidate underperformed or overperformed is to look at the presidential elections held in the same or proximate election year.

"Kulkarni lost the November 6 general election with 46.5% of the vote, in the district's closest race since Olson was first elected." Not only did he outperform Clinton's 2016 performance, but he also ran Olson closer than any other opponent.

I wasn't able to find the 2020 Presidential vote counts for this district, but they will be available soon.

This talk about Sri losing because of RSS ties is not supported by the voting numbers, but by all means, continue with the interpretation you like.
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*SHRUGS*

Where you from? Do you live in the neighborhood? I will tell you this that when it comes to south asians in the area, they are well influenced and united as democrats. They usually always vote together indians and pakistanis. AND the area has seen constant boom in immigrants and minorities over the last decade or so. There are no major differences between the communities till now. It seems to me most vboters of Pakistani origin or Indian Muslims actually consciously opposed and campaigned against him and voted republican. Texas, especially Austin and Houston areas, saw massive democrat wins in this election. They are blue areas. This election was his for the taking.

But at the end of the day, I concede I am just sharing my thoughts on the matter, because its a rather subjective debate as to what caused his loss. I dont think we can ever prove one way or the other.
 
I think the Democratic establishment will or should soon realize that it's a bad idea to run a candidate with hindu fundamentalist ties in a multicultural constituency with a large Muslim community; Muslims in America are educated and well connected, trust me if we ever find out that candidate has shady ties we let the whole community know, whether it's at mosques, community events, facebook groups or even the msa groupchat.
 
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Interesting story (Intercept). I'm not sure whether he lost because the South Asian vote turned against him (led apparently by Muslim voters), or for some other reason.

But there are several nuances. He is claimed as being a complete liberal by his critics (including his opponent) - hardly the criticism one would give a man who's allegedly on the RSS payroll.

The Muslim Matters oped sounds like a straight hatchet job so it's hard to figure how much credibility it has. This just has the feel of a successful political smear job. Just because he is the cousin of someone in the BJP doesn't mean he's a hinduvta mole, ***. His father was a novelist who emigrated to the US in 1968. And as for RSS types funding Sri, well the same guys also funded (as per the article) his previous opponent.

However, ultimately it's all fair in politics, and he lost. Such is as it is.
 
Always wondered why muslims vote as a block in India without much individual thought. Apparently that's just not limited to India. Instead they went with Troy a US war veteran that killed a bunch of muslims in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq. Lol.
 
rhony said:
Always wondered why muslims vote as a block in India without much individual thought. Apparently that's just not limited to India. Instead they went with Troy a US war veteran that killed a bunch of muslims in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq. Lol.
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Troy has done excellent work in handling covid related community efforts as well as hurricane doasaster response. He is actually well liked by all.
 
The real question is who will the Democrats/liberals blame for the rise of the right-wing views among ethnic minorites in USA now? The Russians? Iranians? Chinese? Or Trump's pet hamster?
 
I think there is a difference between having supporters with questionable views, and being a person with questionable views.

Whether you like it or not, RSS and BJP are dominant in India. They have lots of foreign supporters.
It is almost impossible now to get support from Indian community organizations that are not RSS and BJP affiliated or supported. And a basic rule of politics is you try to create blocs of people you can bank on to build support. Any Indian politician would obviously look to get support from their community organizations.

I find it curious that the strategy being pursued by a lot of group is to try to blacklist anybody who gets donations from RSS. I would think that Muslims in particular would be cognizant of that given how advocacy organizations like CAIR are tarred as being extremist, having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood etc. Is this the standard we want to set?

Imagine if a Pakistani politician got support from a community group that holds regressive views on gay people, women, abortions etc. How about if Shia or Ahmadiyya groups try to tie a politician who attends an event at the Pakistani embassy as supporting discrimination and persecution that occurs in Pakistan?

I dont think this is a road immigrant communities should be going down. It will just lead to polarization.

And I say this as someone who hates the RSS and all they stand for.
 
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