119th US Congress welcomes record number of four Hindu lawmakers

Washington: The 119th US Congress, which formally started on Friday, includes four Hindu lawmakers, marking the largest representation of this religious minority to date.

Only 14 lawmakers, all of whom are Democrats, have identified themselves as from non-Christian or non-Jewish faiths.

In addition to four Hindus, four members are Muslims, three are Buddhists and another three are Unitarian Universalists.

The four Indian Americans who belong to the Hindu faith are Suhash Subramaniam, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, and Shri Thanedar.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, the only Indian American woman to be ever elected to the House of Representatives, has mentioned her religion as “unspecified”. Dr Ami Bera, the seniormost of the six Indian American lawmakers, has identified himself as a Unitarian.

While Christianity remains the dominant religion, Jews at six per cent constitute the second largest religious group.

The current Congress has 31 Jews.

After Jews, Hindus and Muslims are the distant third with four members each. The Muslim members of Congress are Andre Carson, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib and Lateefah Simon.

Senator Mazie Hirono, representing Hawaii, and Hank Johnson, representing the fourth Congressional District of Georgia, are Buddhists.

Derem Tram, the House member from the 45th Congressional District of California, is the third Buddhist in the 119th Congress.

According to CQ Roll Call, 98 per cent of Republican lawmakers identify themselves as Christians, while the figure for the Democrats is 75 per cent.

In the 119th Congress, only three of the Republican lawmakers have not declared Christianity as their religious faith, while the number is 66 among the Democrats. As many as 21 Democrats have preferred not to specify their religious faith.