Donald Trump to woo Hindu Americans at New Jersey concert on Oct.15

New Delhi [India], Oct. 7 (ANI): In a first, ahead of this year's presidential elections in the United States, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be a keynote speaker at an event organized by the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) representing the collective voice of conservative "Hindu Americans" in New Jersey on October 15.

Projecting Donald Trump as being more of CEO than an out-an-out run of the mill American politician, Shalabh Kumar, the Chairman of the RHC and one of Trump's presidential campaign advisers, told media at the Shangrila Hotel here, that Trump would be spending approximately two hours interacting with about 10,000 Hindu Americans, and added, that till now, the Republican presidential candidate had not addressed any ethnic community, and was doing so to acknowledge the "fantastic" contributions of Hindu Americans to the United States.

Kumar said that on October 15, a charity concert would be organized by the RHC for the benefit of terror victims throughout the world, whether it be in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and or India.

He said that 50 percent of the proceeds earned from the concert would be set aside for Kashmiri Pandits and Bengali Muslims, who have faced huge displacement and deprivation over the last four decades. Asked why this benefit was being provided only to these two communities, and not for instance Pakistani Hindus, he diplomatically said, "If there are other groups, we will certainly help them. We are working with (actor) Anupam Kher and he is involved with help for Kashmiri Pandits."

Kumar said that as chairman of the RHC, there was an awareness of the four million strong Hindu American community in the United States, wherein 67 percent of them were college graduates, over 50 percent had a master's degree, and one in seven was contributing to charity.

He said the RHC was launched in November 2015 and espoused four fundamental principles - (1) Free Enterprise (2) Fiscal Discipline (3) Family Values and (4) Firm Foreign Policy. On the last principle in particular, he said it was the view of the Trump campaign that a war has been declared on the "Free World" by Islamic terrorists, and that there is a strong need of the hour to stand up against this huge threat.

Kumar said that the RHC and the Trump campaign is very happy to hear about the Indian Government's and the army's strong stand against terrorism.

"As far as we are concerned, we encourage this policy (of surgical strikes)," he added.

He said that the New Jersey concert would be graced by both Bollywood and Tollywood actors and actresses, and would include performances by choreographer Prabhu Deva, actors Malaika Arora Khan, Ramcharan, Akhil and Manasvi.

Indirectly critical of the omnipresent Chinese influence across the American landscape, especially in the economic context, Kumar said that the RHC's goal is a mission to have a Indo-American century in the 21st century, rather than a Sino-American century of budget deficits and a trillion dollar debt.

He said there is a need for two of the world's largest democracies to "work together towards providing prosperity for the world", adding that at present the United States was still looking at India as an "ally" of the erstwhile Soviet Union.

He said that there were legislations in favour of India pending in the U.S. Congress, which could be passed should a Trump administration take over after the November 8 presidential elections. Trump, he said, is not anti-immigrant, but more a champion for legal and skill-based immigration.