The Caravan – August 2019

35

allinthefamily· reportage

AUGUST 2019

Barack Obama was elected president, in Novem-
ber 2008, he announced a transition team for his
new administration. Among its members was the
economist Sonal Shah—the daughter of Ramesh
Shah and a former governing-council member
of the VHPA. Within days, news of her Sangh
links spread across the world. The news channel
France24, for instance, published the headline,
“‘Obama’s Indian’ slammed with extremist ac-
cusations.” Shah initially denied any association
with the VHPA, but later acknowledged and for-
mally renounced it. “I would not have associated”
with the VHPA, she said, had she foreseen the
VHP’s role in the 2002 violence or anticipated that
the VHPA “could possibly stand by silently in the
face of its Indian counterpart’s complicity.”
Her father felt no such compulsion to disassoci-
ate. Just two years later, Ramesh Shah joined Sha-
rad Amin, Vijay Pallod, Ramesh Bhutada and other
Sangh activists from Houston to attend the Vish-
wa Sangh Shibir in Pune. At the inaugural session,
flanked by other Sangh executives, the VHP chief
Ashok Singhal sat centre stage, beneath garlanded
pictures of KB Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar, the
RSS's founding fathers.

The American Sangh leaders returned to Hous-

ton in January 2011. Undaunted by the setbacks

of the previous years, they began preparations

to support the BJP’s electoral goals from abroad.

Then, in May, a 30-year-old Tulsi Gabbard an-

nounced her candidacy for the US Congress.

three

tulsi gabbard was born on 12 april 1981 to

Mike and Carol, in the US territory of American

Samoa. She was the fourth of five children. The

family moved to Hawaii in 1983. “I’m guessing

they moved to be closer to Chris Butler,” Sina,

Mike’s elder sister, told me. Butler is the founder

of the Science of Identity Foundation—a contro-

versial Hare Krishna splinter sect, in which Tulsi

grew up.

“Tulsi was very quiet and sort of shy,” Sina

recalled. “Reticent. Lovely.” She liked gardening

and reading. However, Sina said, “The only books

that I remember seeing in the house were Hare

Krishna books. It was kind of a tight ship in terms

of the children’s exposure to information and

below: On 2

February 2019 Tulsi

Gabbard announced

her candidacy for

president. Her

parents, Carol and

Mike (right), were

present by her side.

marco garcia / ap