US Polls: Hillary aide, Huma Abedin's Pak origin divides Hindu groups

WASHINGTON: Two Hindu groups in the US are butting heads over Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide who is of India-Pakistan origin, and who has become a lightning rod for controversy in the Presidential campaign.

The Hindu-American Foundation on Friday said it was ''deeply disturbed'' by a video ad produced by the pro-Trump Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) attacking Hillary Clinton, in which Abedin is described as being of ''Pakistani-origin'' who would become White House ''chief of staff'' if the Democrat is elected.

''Condemning anyone simply because of their religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is against the pluralistic ethos of Hinduism and has no place in a democracy,'' Suhag Shukla, Hindu-American Foundation (HAF) executive director, said in a statement. Abedin is American, born in Kalamazoo, Michigan; her mother is originally from Pakistan, and lived in Saudi Arabia for many years with her late father, who was from New Delhi.


Trump supporters and right wing conservatives have long alleged that Abedin has Islamist sympathies and will be a Trojan horse in the Democratic camp, and the many Hindu Republicans appears to have signed on to that view.

Although the RHC ad is directed at Hillary Clinton, calling her ''sympathetic towards Pakistan'' and reminding viewers that Narendra Modi was denied visa when she was Secretary of State (she continued a decision that began during the previous Bush administration), there is an ad hominem reference to Abedin.

The ad, alleging Hillary Clinton takes contributions from Islamist forces, also says Bill Clinton ''wants to give Kashmir to Pakistan'' although the former President was instrumental in getting Pakistan to back down during the Kargil conflict in 1999.

Dubbed Hillary’s ''body woman'' for her close proximity to Clinton, Abedin is currently grounded from the campaign after the FBI reportedly discovered Clinton’s work emails on a laptop she may have shared with her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, a former Democratic Congressman from New York. Weiner’s embarrassing private life, including his serial sexcapades, has also contributed to Abedin’s downfall.

The tabloid press has feasting over ugly rumors of her closeness relationship with Clinton -- including her purported ''sibling rivalry'' with Chelsea because the Clintons regard Huma as a surrogate daughter -- amid reports that Weiner has checked into a sex de-addiction clinic.

On Thursday though, Abedin surfaced in public after five days of sequestration to attend a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton. It remains to be seen if and how she her career will be resurrected if Hillary Clinton wins the Presidential elections.