New Delhi (Sputnik) — Anti-Hindu sentiment in America has been growing rapidly according to the latest documented report of the FBI. There has been a 100 percent jump in anti-Hindu hate crimes and a 17 percent increase in anti-Sikh crimes since 2015 in the US.
Citing the FBI report released this week, SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) warned that "hate has become the new normal for our communities" in the United States.
The US also witnessed a 19 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslims during the same period. These surges are on top of the historic spike in hate crimes reported in the FBI's 2015 data marking the highest levels of violence aimed at South Asian communities since 9/11.
"The FBI's hate crimes statistics underline that violence has become a fact of life for our communities. These incidents are just a fraction of the violence our communities experience on a daily basis. According to the FBI's own estimates, for every one hate crime reported, five hate crimes go unreported. Enough is enough — the violence must stop," Suman Raghunathan, the executive director of SAALT, said in a statement.
Since the last US presidential election, SAALT has documented over 205 incidents of hate violence aimed at South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Arab and Middle Eastern Americans, a 58 percent increase from the previous year.
In the last decade, the number of Hindus in America has multiplied at a rapid pace, primarily due to America's immigration policy. According to Pew Research, America's Hindu population has surpassed 2.23 million, an increase of about 1 million or 85.8 percent since 2007. The number of Muslims in the country has also been on the rise.
