WaPo tries to attack former US DNI Tulsi Gabbard and her spiritual teacher in a new Hinduphobic article, refers to SIF as ‘cult’ while ‘exposing’ her known ties to the group

On 21st June, The Washington Post, in what it described as an “exclusive” report, resorted to attacking former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard by delving into a deeply personal aspect of her life: religious background and roots. “Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career,” written by Jon Swaine in a sheer display of anti-Hindu bigotry and xenophobia, which is rather common in the country, purported to “expose” her enduring ties with a Hindu group presented as a “cult.” The piece tried to frame her association with the group as a scandal, implying that it constituted a form of deception or betrayal of public trust. Notably, Gabbard has been very transparent about her connection to her 78-year-old spiritual mentor, Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa, also known as Chris Butler. She has openly acknowledged and discussed the same in public over the years. She was raised within the “Science of Identity Foundation” (SIF) in Hawaii. It is a spiritual organisation founded by Butler that branched off from the broader Hare Krishna movement. Her parents were its prominent members, and her upbringing within that community has long been well-documented. Interestingly, the article was published following Gabbard’s final act before stepping down as the US Director of National Intelligence because her husband was diagnosed with rare bone cancer. She officially released a set of newly declassified information and communications concerning the origins of COVID-19. The 45-year-old disclosed explosive details about Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, Dr Anthony Fauci, and highlighted that “he provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan laboratory, worked with politicised elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the lab-leak origins of the virus, and lied to Congress while under oath in 2024.” WaPo decided to disregard the bombshell revelations that not only affected the lives of millions of Americans but also the entire globe, instead opting to disparage the woman who brought the truth to light. Popular TV personality Meghan McCain similarly pointed out this issue, calling out the article as an “absolute unpatriotic, vile trash attack.” She charged, “They won’t cover her releases on Fauci or bio labs – both things that threaten the safety and well-being of the American people, but spend time and space vomiting this washed-up nonsense anti-Hindu bigoted crap.” What absolute unpatriotic vile trash this attack on @TulsiGabbard is. They wont cover her releases on Fauci or bio labs – both things that threaten the safety and wellbeing of the American people, but spend time and space vomiting this washed up nonsense anti-Hindu bigoted crap. https://t.co/UdOq05JtG3— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) June 21, 2026 The obvious Hinduphobia painted as investigative journalism The Washington Post claimed that “some former members referred to the group as a cult”, and its followers were cut off from the outside world. The accusations have been firmly denied by the organisation. The author then alleged that these people unveiled Butler exercised control over the significant life choices of his adherents and insisted on complete obedience and confidentiality. They also mentioned that he dedicated years to expanding his influence in politics and “suspected” Gabbard’s ascent in Washington was the result of that endeavour. The entire report relies on the statements of Rebecca Saltzburg, a former member of SIF who was involved in Gabbard’s congressional campaigns. A mere suspicion was all that was required, or perhaps not even that, for the narrative to lead the reader on a wild journey of conspiracy theories against Gabbard, attributing her remarkable career to a plot orchestrated by a power-hungry Hindu guru, all without any empirical evidence. The facts which have been publicly accessible for a considerable time were framed as a sinister effort solely to incite hatred towards the Hindu religion. “Had a reclusive guru been secretly trying to steer Gabbard’s actions as a public official? And could that shed light on the improbable arc traced by one of the most unconventional shapeshifters in modern American politics,” Swaine inquired in a conspiratorial fashion, aiming to amplify the hatred towards a politician from the minority community. “If Butler was guiding Gabbard’s political career, the two of them had kept it under wraps,” the article doubled down on this argument, even though it acknowledged that both Butler and Gabbard repeatedly stated that he neither instructed her on whom to vote for nor provided her with political mentorship. However, some assertions hold more value than others due to personal biases and the overarching objective to undermine the larger Hindu community by specifically targeting certain individuals. Butler’s father was dubbed a “radical left-wing physician,” an ideology which is otherwise lauded in mainstream media, yet apparently not when it contradicts their agenda. WaPo mentioned that a party named “Independents for Godly Government” surfaced, comprising Butler’s followers who participated in the elections after he urged that “inept politicians should be removed from their seats” and replaced by “saintly persons,” nearly whining about their gasping audacity to contest the election, of course, due to their belief system. Swaine then outlined Gabbard’s outstanding ascent in politics and recounted, “She took the oath of office on the Bhagavad-Gita and has said she was proud to be the first Hindu American member of Congress,” to underscore her allegiance to her faith. Afterwards, he discovered an email address “@nineisles.com” while searching for a company that purchased a home in Oklahoma from her in 2012. This landed him another opportunity to reinforce his conspiracy theory about the malevolent “Hindu guru” and his disciple in Washington. “Nine Islands in Hindi is Navadvipa, a city in India’s West Bengal region that serves as a pilgrimage site for Hare Krishna devotees,” the piece read. SIF pushes back against the deliberate effort to damage its image SIF President Jeannie Bishop told the author, “I cannot imagine WaPo’s readers would be interested in yet another uncredible, bigoted attack on the DNI’s faith,” in response to his letter regarding his “findings.” Swaine’s submission that 2 people professed to be willing to end their lives for Butler to project him as a leader of an extremist “cult” was also dismissed, as she pointed out that this comment was made much prior to his involvement with the Hare Krishna movement. “Hinduphobia, anti-Hindu religious bigotry, that’s all this is. When a Hindu public figure has a spiritual teacher or shares views with a Hindu religious figure, that alone is somehow evidence of sinister control,” lashed out another SIF representative and dubbed Saltzburg as a “malicious liar” who wanted to extort money from the organisation and threatened to cause “reputational damage” if it did not comply. “It fundamentally changes the lens that we should be looking at these allegations through and evaluating them, I think,” he added. It is noteworthy that Saltzburg had been arrested near Austin over interference with child custody. She demanded $250,000 from one of Butler’s senior disciples “to cover damages to my children and me.” She insisted that he had requested her “to protect the runaway, but then changed his story after the police got involved, leaving her to face a felony charge with a potential two-year jail sentence and a hefty fine.” However, Butler had declined to interact with her and told her to go to the senior disciple. “From the moment Saltzburg told me that she had been arrested in the teenage-runaway case and that she had fallen out with SIF leaders, I anticipated that SIF might attack her credibility. It did, but not in the way I had expected,” the article stressed that she was under attack for her criticism of the group, without taking into account that her position might be influenced by a personal agenda. Most importantly, Swaine’s source had not been entirely truthful with him and acted clean while hiding the grave allegation against her. Sunil Khemaney, identified as Butler’s right-hand man as if they were operating a criminal gang rather than a spiritual place, also denounced the campaign to attack Gabbara and Butler. He observed, “The vast majority of these materials from more than a decade ago came from me and other advisers, including her father, State Senator Mike Gabbard. I worked with her on media, speeches, and policy messaging over many years. One or two may have come from Butler, specifically regarding the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita, Hinduism and the Vedic guru system.” He added, “There is no evidence supporting the claim that this body of work can be attributed to Butler. File names, shorthand, and selective excerpts do not establish authorship.” Gabbard’s chief of staff also characterised the report as “allegations tied to a failed $250,000 extortion attempt by a disgruntled former volunteer seeking personal profit, not truth. The attacks on her faith and loyalty are not only false. They are a blatant example of anti-Hindu bigotry.” Swaine constructed the entire piece on a strongly contested premise around how Gabbard was guided by Butler, and the messages she received were from him in order to shape her political life. However, she modified her political stand over time, including in relation to her views on “homosexuality” which oppose those of SIF. Meanwhile, the article consistently exemplified the pervasive penetration of Hinduphobia in America and its institutions, as Gabbard and Butler are used to train a gun on their faith in an utterly reprehensible manner. The privileged Christian faces of American politics In the United States, there is a tendency to categorise anything that does not align with Christianity or Abrahamic religions as taboo or cult and the WaPo report against Gabbard and Butler is an element of this phenomenon. High-profile televangelist, Pastor Paula White-Cain, was appointed “as a Special Government Employee and Senior Advisor of the newly created White House Faith Office” last year. White has been a spiritual advisor to President Donald Trump for 2 decades. She even went so far as to draw a comparison between him and Jesus Christ, which sparked massive backlash. She had been called as a “100% a false teacher” by her Christian critics as she was involved in cash scams. She had promised “seven supernatural blessings,” including the assignment of a personal angel for $1,000. She also sold “resurrection seeds” for $1,144 in 2016, contending that God had given her the price. Este sub-normal, es el presidente del mayor imperio, -en decadencia- pero todavía el mayor. Trump vio a la pastora evangélica telepredicadora Paula White en televisión y la contrató. Ahora la nombró asesora especial de la Iniciativa de Fe y Oportunidades en la casa blanca. pic.twitter.com/HzwEdYqv5E— Andrés (@dresyordan) June 21, 2026 White and her then-husband founded “Without Walls International Church” which faced similar rows and accusations of misuse of funds, including expenditures on a private jet. She is also notorious for her strange on-stage antics and making controversial remarks on race and immigration during her addresses. Nevertheless, none of her actions is used to throw dirt on her former religious organisation or declare her as a “cult” figure. No questions are raised regarding her influence on Trump, considering their close and prolonged relationship, especially after her induction into his administration. These despicable attacks appear to be exclusively reserved for Hinduism in the United States. She is a benchmark, not an outlier, as there are others with similarly dubious track records who do not endure such hostility just because they are Christians. Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma church minister who created “Pastors for Trump”, was forced to withdraw from a runoff for a US House seat from Oklahoma following the disclosure of an extramarital affair. He was endorsed and lauded as a “MAGA (Make America Great Again)” warrior by the president. However, his candidacy for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District crumbled after the Daily Mail released romantic texts he had sent to Caitlin Simmons Key. She is a former Miss Oklahoma USA who served as a campaign fundraiser. Daily Wire contributor and Republican strategist Carly Bird dubbed Lahmeyer as “an absolute narcissistic sleaze.” She added, “He stayed in the race knowing he had an affair because he thought he could get away with it, denied it, finally dropped out (after he lost), then gave an interview to Daily Mail US.” Jackson Lahmeyer (he deleted his account) is an absolute narcissistic sleaze. He stayed in the race knowing he had an affair because he thought he could get away with it, denied it, finally dropped out (after he lost) then GAVE AN INTERVIEW to @Daily_MailUS. Gross. https://t.co/pfUABq87dT pic.twitter.com/uaCPlre2Ll— Carly Bird (@CarlyABird) June 18, 2026 Lahmeyer admitted that he “had an affair with my wife” and kissed the woman. According to him, the two did “not have sex during this election.” However, he later confessed to having sex with her in 2022 and stated that he had cheated on his spouse after initially rejecting the allegations. However, his serious transgression did not merit the designation of a “cult” leader, nor did it place his organisation under scrutiny from the country’s press. This pattern is distinctly observable in all cases where there is no reference to faith or the group when the accused adheres to the preferred religion. Otherwise, even a well-established fact is depicted as a dark and nefarious conspiracy, as demonstrated in the WaPo article. Conclusion WaPo, irrespective of the truth in its claims, sought to belittle a particular faith while launching a politically charged attack on Gabbard, and it was justifiably slammed for this. However, this will not result in any change, as anti-Hindu discrimination has been ingrained in American society, from the White House to the offices of newspapers. This is why Vice President JD Vance candidly hoped for the proselytisation of his Hindu wife to satisfy his MAGA fanbase and why Swaine deemed it necessary to drag the religion while addressing the politics of a former American official. This is the reason behind labelling Hindu groups as cults, while such terminology is never applied to Christian outfits.