India Burning - A new avatar of ISIS is taking birth in Hinduism

I urge Moderate Hindus around the world to condemn the new avatar of ISIS in India. Hindu religion is a peaceful religion and its name is being tarnished. They need to speak up, as the radical Hindus are hijacking their religion, they are openly dictating what one eats, wear or believe. Yesterday, a Chief Minister of a state was threatened to be beheaded if he ate beef. Writers were murdered in day light, men and women are being lynched for their beliefs...

What is Prime Minister Modi doing? Is he backing this extreme version of Hinduism? God only knows, he has remained silent over all these incidents. Not a word of condemnation?

Moderate Hindus have to speak up to save the good name of Hinduism.  

   

Indians are consumed by the developments.

A few clips from my responses on facebook:

Yogi, yes, the moderate India is peace loving; moderate Hindus are peace loving; moderate Muslims are peace loving and moderate Christians are peace loving

Right now the radicals among Hindus are bent on destroying that beautiful tradition, and I am urging Moderate Hindus to stop the radicals from branding Hinduism negatively. 

Another clip:

If you cannot present a logical explanations, you tend to resort to, “ blatant lies about India , Indians and specially Hindus.”  You don’t make any sense. 

We have to save India from being run over by the ISIS like radicals, if we don’t, India’s future will be severely affected. Moody’s has already made the call and it is possible that investors may pull out of India, it will create a massive chaos and unemployment. Do you want that to happen? 

Are you telling me the threat to behead Siddaramiah should be ignored?

Are you telling me raping a dead woman is Hinduism?

Are you telling me burning Dalits is Hinduism?

Are you telling me lynching a guy in Dadri is Hinduism?

Are you telling me hacking Kulbargi to death is Hinduism?

Are you telling me messing with the face of Kulkarni is Hinduism?

If you think yes, then you have not understood Hinduism, a religion that teaches non-violence.

What does it take for you to understand that Hindutva and Hinduism are two different things, one is a political radical ideology and other is peaceful religion? Just as Islam and Islamism, Islam and ISIS and other combinations with other faiths. 

 When we see bad things happen, we have to speak up. It is not about Hindus, it is about India which is a collective pride of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Dalits and all other Indians.

Most Indians are capable of discussions but a few are not, tend to be belligerent.  I urge them to stick to a topic and not jump from subject to subject without completing one. If you want to wrap up and get an understanding of the item, you have stick to the central theme of the discussion.  I further request my friends to respond with reason and fact, rather than resorting to calling the other a liar. Please develop the skills to distinguish between Hinduism and Hindutva, Islam and Islamism, Christianity and Neocons – one is a beautiful religion and other is a political ideology bent on subjugating the other.  We are all in this together to create a society where all of us can live in harmony and with least amount of conflicts. Let’s live our life and others live theirs.

More at http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com 

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, India,  foreign policy and building cohesive societies. Mike offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at TheGhousediary.com   

Happy Fathers day - a tribute to my father

 Happy Father's day | The Ghouse Diary.com

On  this father's day, I will be dedicating half an hour to reflect on my father; Mohamed Abdul Rahman.  He is one of my mentors, and an affectionate and caring father who opened many windows of knowledge for me.

If I am a pluralist today, if I respect the otherness of others and have no prejudice towards others, it was his teaching; living by example.  With what happened in Charleston two days ago, McKinney a few weeks ago, Baltimore and St. Louis a few months ago, his stand on equality in thoughts, acts and talks makes a whole lot of sense. 

If you are one of the parents who teach your children to look down on people other than your own kind, you are essentially running a sewer in their body system and messing them up for a life time. It would be difficult for them to live with people who are different than them.  You must turn in yourselves into some educational courses to set yourselves free from prejudices. If it is you, please go to interfaith meetings and  inter cultural events, it will gradually fix you up by removing the sewer line and replacing it with oxygen. 

In the 1950’s and 60’s India was pretty much like the United States, both nations treated their Blacks and Dalits shamelessly. The Dalits, also known as untouchables were not allowed to step in your homes – my father broke all the wrongful norms of the society, not only did they come in our home, they also ate from the same plates as we did, and drank the tea from the same cups. Both of my parents were free when they left this world, they were mukt, got their moksha earned their nirvana and received their salvation with Nijaat.

It was a big no-no at that time,  and many of his friends said unsavory words, but my father stood his ground. I see that streak in me playing it out all the times. Thank you Dad for inculcating the value of treating every human with full dignity, and that is just one of the thousands of things you blessed me with. I love to see all of God's creation treated fairly and justly.

Indeed, my father endured criticism and some abuse from his conservative friends; Hindus, Muslims and others at that time.

 My parents told us (me and my siblings) that we are all one family, from Adam and Eve and that we will have differences and have to learn to live with each other. they often quoted the verse from Quran, to respect the otherness of others - Lakum dinakum Wali addin.

My prayers also go to my father figure Mr. Everett Blauvelt, who opened the doors for me to enter the United States.  He was indeed a very caring man and named me Mike. He was a good listener.

I miss them both today. I also appreciate my friends who are father figures to me - Davendra Maini, Bill Matthews and Harbans Lal.

My heart goes out to those who did not have a good relationship with their fathers but, despite that they have survived, and they can give that affection to their off springs and others. Father's day is a difficult day for them, while others are cherishing their fathers, they are struggling with mixed feelings to the feelings of hate. It's not easy, and there is no quick fix to it, other than reflecting on it, and taking the responsibility to your own life. Life is given to each one of us as a trust,  and at least we can live up to it.

Life is all about expressions and completing transactions. Every emotion, thought, action or a change creates a new debt or a favor that needs to be re-balanced. Obviously we cannot reciprocate the favors in full, but we have been able to do that with a thank you in the most simplistic way and that is good enough.

One of the incomplete transactions of my life was not being able to do the things I wanted to do for my father. As a kid I would step in and take over the work from him so he can take rest, an Indian tradition that I cherish. When I moved to Saudi Arabia on an assignment, I sent my first check to him with which he started paying off my loan. With the next check I asked him to buy clothes for the family and wanted him to replace his old black Jacket he wore forever with a new one. He said no, first things first. In the first week of December 1977 my check paid off all my loans, and with the next check I asked him to oblige me, and he said he will. Man, I am feeling a deluge of emotions as I am writing this for the 2^nd time, darn it. my eyes are welled up again.
 

He did not get the check; he passed away a day before receiving it.  He lived up to his own words, "Until my last breath, I will be earning my living and taking care of my family." Darn it, he did it. I was angry for my helplessness, and was happy that the man kept his word. But that created a huge vacuum in my life and I continue to recover my balance by serving the senior friends in whatever little way I can. You can always count on me to drop everything off to attend to a senior's request.

My father is my hero and opened the doors of wisdom to us. Pluralism indeed runs in my family. He taught one of the biggest lessons of my life in social cohesiveness and dealing with extremism that I continue to reflect in my talks, acts and write ups.

During the communal riots in Jabalpur (India) in the early sixties, both Muslims and Hindus were killed in the mayhem. I wish every father in India, America and elsewhere teaches this lesson to his kids. He was crystal clear on his take; He told us the "individuals" are responsible for the bloodshed and not the religions; he would emphasize that you cannot blame the intangible religion and expect justice, we must blame the individuals who caused it and punish them accordingly for disturbing the peace and thus bring a resolution to the conflict by serving justice. He said you cannot annihilate, kill, hang or beat the religion, then why bark at it?
 

My father was a Mayor of the Town of Yelahanka (The town gave birth to Bangalore in 1537) and served the council for many years. He was also the president of the Muslim Association of the town. We grew up with no barriers between us and other human being. 

He treated all of us kids with dignity and I am pleased I got to be disciplined at least once in my life. I guess I replicated that with my children to the point my kids would actually say, Dad, you should have disciplined us. I did not see the need for it. I am fine and they are fine too. I gave them the cold shoulder that my father had given me to straighten me out, and it worked both ways, although my daughter was a tough cookie, she would not budge.
 

I was about ten years old and watched a man fall off his bicycle with his big bag of rice and was struggling to get back on it, and I wasn't going to help him, instead I was laughing at him. I saw my father about 100 feet away and the way he sped towards me, which got me frightened for the first time, I dashed inside the home and a few minutes later after helping the guy,  he came in dashing… I climbed on top of the paddy bags in a corner of the house, I thought he could not get me there, so he goes outside and plucks a long branch off the mulberry tree and gives me a few good ones. "My son will never do that" after that conditioning, I have developed the habit of stopping for everyone who needs help. I dare not watch and not do something about it.

To those who have not had a father or had a negative experience, God has offered guidance through the instrument of forgiveness to release you from the pain. Just do it. I will be happy to be a big brother or even a father figure in the moment of your need. It's an open offer to call me at (214) 325-1916, let’s keep it to 5 minutes.
 

God bless us all, Amen!

Thank you,
mike ghouse   
(214) 325-1916

Mike is a speaker, thinker, writer, pluralist,  TV-Radio commentator and a human rights activist committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His info in 63 links at MikeGhouse.net and writings at TheGhouseDiary.com 

TIME - Exclusive Interviews with Narendra Modi: ‘We Are Natural Allies’

Two Interviews with Modi on TIME | www.TheGhouseDiary.com 

I am pleased to share the following two interviews of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with my own comments. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the most difficult persons to understand, I connect with him, and I could have written this interview in his behalf, he speaks the right words in building  a cohesive India.  He has all the ingredients to make a great leader of India. Thanks to the great visionary Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to preserve and pass on a great stable  secular pluralistic democracy to us while other nations are stumbling. Now Modi can take this nation further.

 There is however a major disconnect between his words and actions, and his eerie silence towards negative forces that are tearing the cohesive fabric of India do not match his words. He had it right when he said, focus on prosperity and not religion, but he has not done anything to stop his team from focusing on religion. 

His dream, and the dream of every Indian to see a successful India will be short circuited, if the bus he is riding on has a few tires that have low air pressure causing the whole bus (nation) to slow down and reduce the chances of a safe journey, he has got to take the action.  He cannot ask those tires (Dalits, Muslims, Christians) to fill up themselves to be on par with the other tires of the bus, unless all the passengers come together to uplift the ones in ditches the journey will not be safe, secure and assured.  

If Modi can work on creating an India where no Indian is apprehensive of the fellow Indian, then he will become the second greatest leader in shaping India and I am with him, all I ask of him is to speak up to bring fruition to his own words.

Modi has the unprecedented power; all he has to do is speak up. Tell the Bhagwatis, Sadhvis and the others to shut up or take a hike, it will do it. But will he do it? I hope he does and realize his own dream and the dreams of a 1.27 Billion Indians.

He has to follow it up with the action to implement - that every Indian will have equal access to justice, education, employment, loans, housing, work, health care and retirement, and that every Indian is free to breath, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever the hell he or she wants to. 

Interviews at: http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/time-exclusive-interviews-with-narendra.html


Mike Ghouse prays for Modi to bring his words and actions together. Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism, Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politicsand other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film " Sacred"  and a documentary "Americans together" .  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

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Happy Holi Celebrations

Holi is a Hindu festival of radiance and celebration of spring with colors that nourish one’s joyous moods and complements the function of respective elements in the atmosphere. The essence of Holi is liberation and breaking the barriers between adults and children, family members and friends, and the festivity opens up to each other. 

It is celebrated through out India, and in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, British Guyana, Suriname and other places.   

Although Holi is part of the Hindu tradition, most Indians participate in it, it presents unity of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians and of course, Jains, Zoroastrians, Baha’i, Jews, Buddhist and native traditions

Legend has it, that Lord Krishna is believed to have complained to his mother about his dark complexion while Radha's had a lighter skin. Krishna's mother decided to apply color to Radha's face (Reverse Make up?) The celebrations officially usher in spring, the celebrated season of love.

Several years ago, my son, daughter and I were drenched in Holi colors at the Hindu Temple festivities and were driving home. At a stop light, people in others cars on either side stared at us and looked scared and drove off screeching on the green light... the three of us laughed and looked at each other…  it dawned on us that we looked bloody, green, yellow and mellow.......colors in our hair, face and clothes…

Prasad's daughter, Prasad Thotakura | Jasmina, Mike and Jeff Ghouse

My kids thoroughly enjoyed throwing the colors in liquid and dust forms on me, they loved it. I would also call it friendship festival as it removes inhibitions
.

The picture below reflects that sentiments - all colors coming together to create oneness, thus the phrase Vasudaiva Kutumbukum; the whole world is one family. Similar expressions are a staple in every faith.

Radiant Colors of Holi

Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna which usually falls in the later part of February or March.

Since 1993, I have been writing about every festival on the earth, have done a weekly Radio program called "Festivals of the world" and shared about each festival.  Make it simple enough that most people can get the essence of it. For Hindus there is lot more depth and meaning to it, but for the non-Hindus, this gives them an idea about the festival. It is a part of the Pluralism education, so we all can know each other and appreciate our own uniqueness. Each one of is a model of our own.

Happy Holi and please enjoy the songs;

From the movie Lagaan, Radha Kaisay na Jalay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwe7PwZqpLI

Another one that reflects unity -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NocV6jsegVY

Top ten Holi songs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEkZddiPP7g&feature=related

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, and cohesive societies.www.ProfessionalSpeakerMikeGhouse.com and current articles atwww.TheGhousediary.com

The black people of India - Learn India by Mike Ghouse

I have written extensively about the nature of India’s multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society.

In an article on Republic Day a few years ago, I wrote, “We are a nation of all races, ethnicities, cultures and religions.”

Invariably a smart ass Indian objected that we do not have the black race, and I am saddened that many of us Indians don’t know much about India.  How many of us know our neighbors?

Do we know what our neighbors celebrations like Ramnvami, Paryushan, Ramadan, Gurpurab, Easter, Khordad Sal,  Ashura, Rosh Hashanah, and how many of us know the real teachings of different religions? Have we participated in at least 3 different ones?  Socially, are we really smart? 


India is really a very diverse nation, as I call America and India, are God's own countries, a cosmic representation of the universe.
The Indian Ocean remains virtually untouched by modern civilization.
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-indian-ocean-remain-virtually.html

 

Three years ago, in February 2010, Bo died, she was the last speaker of the Bo language, with her died a language of the world. She belonged to one of the oldest tribes on the earth, nearly 5000 years old tribe. A press release was issued then at http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2010/02/press-release-in-behalf-of-indians-of.html  

THE SIDI PEOPLE - BLACK PEOPLE OF INDIA

There is so much more to us than we have been taught. Our history is great and stretches further back than we have been lead to believe and is not exclusive to Africa. 
PLEASE SHARE THIS VIDEO WITH YOUR CHILDREN since they will not be taught this at school

THE SIDI PEOPLE - OF GUJARATVideo - https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=606738259363319

Declare that India is God’s own country, and is represented by every race, nationality, ethnicity, language, culture and religion. We see God as one, none and many; and in every form; male, female, genderless and non-existent, being and non-being, nameless and with innumerable names, and as Indians, we should not be biased towards any one. Aspire for an India that the world can emulate; a pluralistic democracy where everyone can eat, drink, wear or believe whatever he or she wants to in her pursuit of happiness. 

My Republic Day Message to Obama and Modi

http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2015/01/republic-day-message-to-modi-and-obama.html

Narendra Modi's expensive suit at State Dinner with Obama

Modi's suit is talk of the town. As usual there is criticisim for the cost of the suit - One Million Rupees (~$16,000). Here is the positive aspect of it. 

Courtesy BBC

ABP TV reports,   PM Modi wore the personalised suit for tea with visiting US President Barack Obama. At first glance it appeared to be a black and gold pinstriped suit, but closed inspection revealed that the stripes were actually the Prime Ministers full name. It is estimated the suite cost nearly Rs. I million (approx $16,000).

Being a democracy everything should be questioned, the declarations of American independence has this beautiful sentence in it, "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Indeed, we the governed should always keep the government on their toes.

I am glad Modi spent a lot of money on the suit. This is good for the economy, and good for every Indian. Why shouldn't the PM wear the best?

How do we raise the standards of the nation then? 

Don’t we wear the best in our weddings, jobs interviews?

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:

If we pay Rs 50,000 for cloth, and 50,000 for stitching, you can see the number of jobs it creates if we have 1,000 suits. However, if we pay 500 and 500, the employment drops dramatically, and those who get 500 will have less disposable income to buy things, and that will cut the jobs of what they consume… and that will ultimately cut your salary, why pay you so much? And if that is cut, you buy less, buy smaller home, smaller car, and that will cut the other jobs….

We all should spend, that is how we progress and the wealth multiplies.

The money we make is because people are willing to pay us more for the work we do, a little more than it is worth and that is the fodder for economic growth.

Next time someone (any one in any field) talks about the cost of Modi suit – tell them, how about cutting your salary by tenth?

Richness and spending is good.

The only two evils of richness are; hoarding the money under the pillow, as it does no good, and taking advantage of the workers in their situation, that would be evil.

Being rich must be admired, it is good. They don’t eat the money, they spend it, and that creates jobs. The only people that create jobs for you and me are the ones with money by opening factories, shops, software companies.
 

Everyone’s standard goes up when we let everyone get paid well.

Responsible capitalism is the best thing that has happened. In the United States and India should wholeheartedly emulate it. Then comes sab ka vikas, of course to sustain the vikas, social cohesion is a must – if splintered along religious, caste lines, India will not make it.  That has been my consistent message for over a year now.

Mike Ghouse for India
http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com

Godse; a new God is in the making in India

One of the most beautiful aspects of Hinduism is that it sees God in everything.  The creator and created are not two different things, but one and the same, as a result "respecting the otherness of others" becomes a way of life.  Indeed, that is how we at the Foundation for Pluralism have defined Pluralism - i.e., respecting the otherness of others for genuine co-existence.  God is about love and not hate. The Hindu greeting Namaste invokes the God in each other to come together to talk and act goodness.

However, when it comes to abuse and misuse, Hinduism is no exception, it is a business for the self appointed guardians of the religion. They are obviously looking for gains to be had and have hijacked the pristine Hindu faith, just as the self appointed guardians of other religions have done it.  They have mangled up the pristine religion whose purpose was to bring peace within an individual and with what surrounds him/her; people and the universe.


Now "Hindu Mahasabha"  a Hindu group within the family of political Hinduism called Sangh Parivar has decided to install the statues of the newly created God, Godse in temples across India. Godse is the killer of Mahatma Gandhi. Is that going too far? Let me be clear; its political Hinduism and it does not represent Hindus of the world. 

It is time for Moderate Hindus to speak up**(note below).

A Bollywood film called "Oh My God" - depicts a scene towards the end, where the men in God-Business were installing a statue of the hero as the new God of the helpless, assuming he was dead in the hospital. But the hero wakes up and runs to where they were having the installation ceremony and destroys the own God Statue of him, pulling the masks off the men who were going to mint money with the newly created God, ready to do business. A similar message was given in the film "PK" where people can be easily misled and duped.

Obviously, every religion has a majority that understands the beauty of its  faith, and goes about doing good to fellow beings and mind their own faith and family. However, there is a small group within each faith that is intolerant and hell bent on annihilating the other. They don't believe in dialogue, and instead resort to the primal instincts of animals, who settle their disputes by locking in their horns, tearing up the other with their fangs or bloodying the opponent with their paws.

We desperately need a Swami Vivekananda's avatar to teach the ideals of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum; meaning the whole world in one family.  Ironically, we also need a Jesus to teach these stray men what love means, what love they neighbor means. 

Thank God, except the Naxalites in India,  the other minorities like Dalits, Muslims and Christians have not gone haywire and resorted to extremism despite the provocations and pressures on them to obey.  

I am not sure, if the majority of Hindus are ready for a New God, a God who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Godse is God to them because he saved the nation by killing Gandhi who was inclusive of Muslims, Dalits, Christians and others.

Hindu Mahasabha did not come into being to teach and preserve the values of Hinduism, but was founded to hate the other, particularly Christians and Muslims.  If they learn to love fellow humans including Christians and Muslims, then the organization will cease, as it will have no purpose to exist anymore. 

I have always stood up for Hinduism against misunderstandings about it and will continue to do that, as I have done with all other faiths including Paganism and Atheism,  that is the right thing to do. I strongly believe in the idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum expressed in Dharmic faiths, and the idea of the whole world is one big family born from the same couple taught in the Abrahamic faiths.  All of us need to genuinely believe and practice it.  http://standingupforothers.blogspot.com/2012/04/standing-with-hindus.html 

The way forward is to respect the otherness of others, accept the God given uniqueness of each one of the inhabitants of the land. Let every one eat, drink, wear, worship or believe whatever the hell they want to believe in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. If we can do that, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Mike Ghouse is committed to a cohesive India, where all Indians can live without the fear of the others and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

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Hindu Mahasabha to install Godse statue in temples

Updated: Jan 29, 2015 07:24 PM 

http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/hindu-mahasabha-to-install-godse-statue-in-temple-premises-across-india/article6835093.ece/?secid=2780

Save India from becoming an ISIS Nation

If Hindu Radicals have their way, no one will be a Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Jew, Buddhist or the other - they want to convert 100% of Indians to be Hindus. They'll adopt coercion and all other methods to achieve their goals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a record of not saying anything to his radical men and let them do the intended damage, and then he will speak. I was his supporter and I am not sure about his integrity any more, he is letting his own dream wrecked by his men, was that the intention?

His Promoters like Ashutosh Varshney, Madhu Kishwar are walking away and I am with them. 

All the major stories are in this link http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2015/01/ghar-wapasi-articles-radical-hindus.html and more links are on the right panel at www.MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com 

Mike Ghouse
Picture courtesy - Dainik Bhaskar

Congratulations to Dr. Vivek Murthy, the new Surgeon General of the United States of America.

It's a great moment of  pride for us, the Indian Americans. Dr. Murthy is one of our own, who has earned the highest honor of becoming the Surgeon General of the United States.

Vivek Hallegere Murthy is the 19th Surgeon General of the United States of America. Murthy is co-founder of Doctors for America and succeeded Acting Surgeon General Boris D.

It was not an easy appointment; he was opposed by the Republicans for his stance on Gun control and national health care. But the strength of his qualifications and strong support from President Obama got him the job of the highest Medical Post in America.    Thanks to the Senate Majority leader Harry Reid in getting the Senate to approve the nomination with a 53 to 46 vote. We have to work the 43 Republican Senators who opposed the nomination.

This gives us three high profile Indians in American politics – 2 State Governors Bobby Jindal and Niki Haley, and the Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. We have several more and hope someone will compile the list.

The American Association of Physicians from India has also worked hard in lobbying for his nomination. Our own Sante Chary, who works with the Association as a consultant has made several rounds in the Senate. Sante also received the Pluralist Award in the 16th Annual Thanksgiving Celebrations for "connecting the international leaders" by America Together Foundation.  
Congratulations Dr. Murthy.

I will be visiting Washington DC frequently to conduct workshops and teach Pluralism, and as a social scientist, that would be my contribution to the fabric of America, and a commitment to build a cohesive America where no American has to live with apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other. 

Mike Ghouse
www.TheGhouseDiary.com
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From different sources

Vivek Hallegere Murthy was born to a Kannada (ವಿವೇಕ ಮೂರ್ತಿ) speaking family; his parents are originally from Karnataka, India. He was born in Huddersfield, England, but his family relocated to Miami, Florida when he was three years old.[4] Murthy completed his early education in Miami, graduating as valedictorian fromMiami Palmetto Senior High School in 1994.[5] He then attended college atHarvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in three years with a bachelors degree in Biochemical Sciences.[5] Murthy received an MDfrom Yale School of Medicine and an MBA in Health Care Management fromYale School of Management in 2003, where he was a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow.[6][7] He completed his residency in Internal Medicine in 2006 from Brigham and Women's Hospital.[8]

Career

Murthy is the Surgeon General of the United States. Before his confirmation, he was a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and a Hospitalist Attending Physician and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.[9] He is also a founder and president of Doctors for America, a group of 15,000 physicians and medical students supporting comprehensive health reform.[10][11] He has managed staff and hundreds of volunteers, developed and executed strategic plans and national and local initiatives around coverage and prevention. He has also directed fundraising, managed budgets, built a broad array of partnerships with community-based organizations across the country. In 2011, Murthy was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve on the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[9] The group advises the National Prevention Council on developing strategies and partnerships to advance the nation's health.[12]

He is co-founder and chairman of TrialNetworks, a cloud-based Clinical Trial Optimization System for pharmaceutical andbiotechnology trials that improves the quality and efficiency of clinical trials to bring new drugs to market faster and more safely.[13][14] He founded the company as Epernicus in 2008 to originally be a collaborative networking web platform for scientists to boost research productivity.[15]

He created and served as President and then Chairman of VISIONS, a non-profit organization focused on HIV/AIDS education in the US and India. During his 8 year tenure as head of the organization, VISIONS established 10 chapters with hundreds of volunteers in both countries and impacted over 45,000 youth through direct education programs. He managed volunteers spread across two countries, directed fundraising and program evaluation efforts, and oversaw partnerships.

Murthy has also led and managed medical care teams at Brigham and Women's Hospital for over a decade. He has trained hundreds of medical students and residents and has cared for thousands of patients as an internal medicine physician. He also continues to practice medicine.

Surgeon General of the United States[edit]

In November 2013, Murthy was nominated by President Obama for the post of United States Surgeon General. His nomination met some initial resistance in the Senate by both Democrats and Republicans. The most opposition came from the National Rifle Association regarding previous comments Dr. Murthy made citing gun violence as a threat to public health.[16] However, Murthy said in his confirmation hearings he would not use the office of Surgeon General as a bully pulpit for gun control.[17][18]

Murthy's nomination received broad support from over 100 medical and public health organizations in the U.S., including the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association.[19] He also received the endorsements of two former Surgeons General, Dr. David Satcher and Dr. Regina Benjamin. However, another former Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmonaopposed the appointment based on the lack of Dr. Murthy's experience in public health and medicine in general.

Nonetheless, Murthy's appointment as Surgeon General was approved on December 15, 2014, in a 51-43 vote.[20]Following his confirmation, Murthy was automatically commissioned as a Vice Admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, of which the Surgeon General is the day to day head.