Biden faces backlash over staffer with Hindu nationalist ties
Former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign is facing growing pressure to fire a top aide with Hindu nationalist ties.
Civil rights activists say Amit Jani, who was hired in September 2019 as the campaign’s Asian American and Pacific Islanders national vote director, is unfit to work with the campaign due to his close association with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
“To hire a supporter and friend of Narendra Modi opens the door to embracing anti-Muslim and Hindu nationalist politics,” reads an open letter published March 6 by Equality Lab, a South Asian American advocacy organization. “Progressive Asian Americans and South Asian Americans cannot stand by a candidate with relationships to fascists, here or abroad.”
