Many people have criticized Servant of God Pope Pius XII for meeting, in his official capacity, with officials of National Socialist Germany, as the Pope is also the head of a state. This comes in spite of his strong and consistent criticisms of eugenist philosophies and National Socialism such as in his encyclical (which he wrote with Pius XI) Mit Brennender Sorge.
What does one say then, when Trump stands alongside Indian President and BJP leader Narendra Modi and declares before a crowd of thousands that “America loves India” according to the New York Times?
America loves India. America respects India,” Mr. Trump said. “And America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.”
The “Namaste Trump” rally, a daylong affair featuring popular singers, dancers and pounding music, took place under a blazing sun in the city’s Motera Stadium, which India calls the largest of its kind in the world. It was an unabashed homage to Mr. Trump, whose name and image appeared in dozens of banners and billboards throughout the stadium.
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Mr. Trump has shown little public concern for actions by Mr. Modi that have drawn international condemnation, including abruptly revoking the statehood of predominantly Muslim Kashmir and backing a law establishing a religious test for new migrants that critics call evidence of plans to turn India into a Hindu-centric state whose 200 million Muslims would be second-class citizens. (source)
This is not to say there is anything wrong with loving India, or wanting the best for India, but to put things into their proper context.
Modi is the leader of the BJP, which is essentially the unofficial political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal (BD), which are two highly racist, dangerous movements in India that associate with the “Hindutva” ideology that seeks for the forced conversion, mass expulsion, or mass execution of all Muslims and Christians and the transformation of India into a “pure Hindu ethnostate” and to revive repulsive practices such as cow worship, the punishments for eating beef, and suttee (human sacrifice).
Ted, Walid, and I have been adamant that India is not only a place to watch for serious Christian persecution in the future, but that Indian Christians need to get out of India as soon as possible for their own good because once violence starts, it will be too late to help them.
People in India look at Trump’s support of “nationalism” and see it as support of not only the BJP, but the whole Hindutva ideology, its racism, and eugenic ambitions. This is why he has so much support at the rally- because there are a lot of people in India who want this, and the fact that the leader of the most powerful nation on earth is supporting their party and leader by his implied statements and actions in their mind emboldens their cause.
Servant of God Pius XII is still harshly attacked and criticized for simply appearing in a photo, let alone his history of standing up against the same philosophy, albeit in a European context, of what the Hindutva ideology is today in India. Yet when people today look at Trump, standing with Modi, and making the statements he does, anybody who would attempt to compare him to a similar context would call a critic of Trump possibly a “hater of America” or a “liberal” while ignoring the historical paradigm that Trump is giving legitimacy to the very ideology that Servant of God Pius XII fought against but is criticized for.