NASA intern who suffered Hinduphobic attacks expresses love for her culture, thanks people for support

Indian American Pratima Roy had to suffer toxic Hinduphobia after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States of America shared her photograph with her Gods on social media. Consequently, she received widespread support and goodwill from people across the world.

Now, Pratima Roy has penned a post on LinkedIn where she has unapologetically stood by her faith and thanked others for their support. She said, “As an American-born Bengali who practices Hindu, I always strive to preserve my background and culture. This love for my culture is evident in the photo of me that was first shared on a NASA blog in March and recently sparked a lot of conversation about my faith after NASA published a Tweet about the fall internship deadline.”

“I deeply respect everyone’s background – whether it’s race, ethnicity, gender, or religious faith – and I encourage others to be open to celebrating our beautiful differences as well. In the past few days, I’ve experienced an outpouring of positive support from people across the world who have connected with me online as well as my NASA colleagues,” Roy added.

The photograph shared by NASA showed Pratima Roy with Murthis of Hindu Goddesses on her table and the wall plastered with photographs of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Such overt expression of Hindu piety irked quite a few self-professed ‘intellectuals’ who were not happy with the devotion that Roy bears towards her Gods. Such ‘intellectuals’ resorted to questioning her ‘scientific temperament’, which one would assume is more than competent, since she earned the opportunity to intern at NASA.

Source : OpIndia

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Former cricketer Venkatesh Prasad shuts up Hinduphobic Twitter handle for targeting NASA intern

July 14, 2021

Former Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad on Tuesday slammed the official Twitter account of Mission Ambedkar, a forum to spread Ambedkarism internationally, after it made a disapproving remark on a tweet posted by NASA where an Indian American girl was seen sitting on a desk wearing a sweater sporting NASA logo and with Hindu god sculptures and posters in the background.

Prasad quoted the tweet posted by @MissionAmbedkar and shared a screenshot of a report published in TV9 Marathi, in which supporters of Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Ambedkar, were seen offering milk on a Shivalinga and praying for his recovery. He said Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar would be ashamed of the Twitter handle that was using his name and mocking the girl for wearing her religiosity on her sleeves and being an unabashed devotee.

Mocking her for wearing her heart on her sleeves & being a devotee.
On the other hand supporters putting Milk on Shivalinga,praying for recovery of Prakash Ambedkar's health,who is grandson of the great Dr. Ambedkar.
Babasaheb would have been ashamed of this handle using his name https://t.co/jhYrUWNmNp pic.twitter.com/OjSVg5mJgL

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) July 13, 2021

Prasad was responding to a comment made by @MissionAmbedkar, which quoted the NASA tweet and said: “After seeing this we said; Science ka naash kar diya NASA ne.”

However, the comment did not sit well with former cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, who criticised the Twitter account for its Hinduphobic remark and bringing disgrace to Dr Ambedkar by using his name. Prasad has been one of the few celebrities who have not shied away from openly expressing their Hindu roots. He joined the platform on the 8th of April, 2021 and within a matter of three months, he has posted some interesting content on his Twitter page, affirming his Hindu credentials.

Source : OpIndia

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Photo of NASA intern with Hindu Gods on her table sparks Hinduphobic meltdown

July 13, 2021

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States of America created quite the flutter on social media recently after they shared photographs of individuals who had received an opportunity to pursue an internship and the space research agency.

While inviting applications for internship, NASA shared the photograph of Pratima Roy, an Indian American, along with others and it is her image that has caused the flutter. The photograph showed Roy with Murthis of Hindu Goddesses on her table and the wall plastered with photographs of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

Today's the day: applications for fall NASA internships are due!

Are you ready? Visit @NASAInterns and apply at: https://t.co/s69uwyR1LJ pic.twitter.com/CVwFJGYbms

— NASA (@NASA) July 9, 2021

Such overt expression of Hindu piety irked quite a few self-professed ‘intellectuals’ who were not happy with the devotion that Roy bears towards her Gods. Such ‘intellectuals’ resorted to questioning her ‘scientific temperament’, which one would assume is more than competent, since she earned the opportunity to intern at NASA.

Some even accused NASA of destroying ‘Science’.

https://twitter.com/MissionAmbedkar/status/1414079976622546956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1414079976622546956%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2021%2F07%2Fnasa-intern-hinduphobia-attacked-pratima-roy%2F

The more pompous ones questioned why do Hindus need to surround themselves with Gods and Goddesses, which is equivalent to questioning why do fish need to live in water. They even questioned why NASA had decided to choose that particular image. Ashok Swain appears to have deleted his quoted tweet since then.

There are numerous other comments with regards to Roy that make the pulpable Hinduphobia abundantly evident.

The 4th one research subject would be how the bigot Ram was using pushpak viman(mythical plane) to reach cross 7 seas, etc. ? https://t.co/imgXh6OxaY

— Thaiyaan (@thaiyaan) July 11, 2021

NASA is this some joke??? https://t.co/pmYAJYddzp

— Ayyuuusssshhhhh (@Saguraocacti) July 10, 2021

Look at the Indian kid. With all the Lakshmi, Saraswati & what not matas on her desk. But not a pic of #Savitrimai the one who revolutionized women's education. She isn't at fault, her parents, her grandparents are. https://t.co/PprVxMfBds

— 💙💚♥️ (@manishahire) July 10, 2021

The 4th intern will send an email saying "rama built a bridge" and sanghis will use that email to say "nasa accepted rama as real and the blue guy built that bridge". https://t.co/kBuVvd5NeZ

— @nastikman (@ManNastik) July 11, 2021

All of this only serves to demonstrate the pervasive Hinduphobia that persists. It is quite obvious at this point that if the photograph of a Christian woman or a Muslim had been shared by NASA with the religious symbolism of their personal faith, then it would not have attracted such similar reactions.

There has been great discussion recently regarding Hinduphobia and its implication in institutions. Many have denied that such a phenomenon even exists, even though noted individuals such as former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has highlighted the Hinduphobia she encountered during her career.

Ashok Swain, one of the ‘intellectuals’ who had the most problem with the Hindu faith of the NASA intern, is an notorious Hinduphobe who had claimed that ‘Hindu supremacists’ were involved in the Capitol Hill riots with ‘White Supremacists’. The person he claimed was a ‘Hindu supremacist’ was actually a Christian. Also, there is no evidence that the Chrisdtian man was involved in any manner of violence at all.

The argument about ‘rationality’ and ‘scientific temperament’ is moot here since we are speaking of NASA and one certainly has to possess the required scientific skills to earn an internship there. Furthermore, Science and Religion do not share an antagonistic relationship in Hindu faith.

Srinavasan Ramanuja, for instance, one of the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived credit his knowledge to visions from his Goddess. He is known to have famously said, “An equation for me has no meaning, unless it represents a thought of God.” He credited his achievements to Mahalakshmi of Namakkal, a family Goddess.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), an institution that has given the country cause for a lot of pride in recent times, has a long tradition of its chief offering prayers at a Temple before the launch of every significant space mission. K Sivan, the head of ISRO, is himself a devout Hindu, as are a great many of top Indian scientists.

Source : OpIndia