Indian-origin Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel, recently appointed as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on X shared an article by an Asian weekly in USA, highlighting how his roots in Hinduism shaped his worldview.

The article shared by Patel noted that his upbringing with the principles of Hinduism, “dedication, respect, and the pursuit of knowledge” were the cornerstones of his early years that offered him a perspective on life. 

As per the publication, his parents brought him up with respect for all faiths, noting that it was an extension of ‘universal tolerance’ preached by Swami Vivekananda in his 1839 speech at Chicago Parliament of Religions.

Before this, Patel was in headlines for touching his parents’ feet at the confirmation hearing by the FBI for his role on January 31.

As Patel started his testimony, he introduced his parents seated behind him, and greeted them with, ‘Jai Shri Krishna’. He said that they had travelled from India with his sister Nisha to be with him. He recalled his father fleeing Uganda during Idi Amin’s genocidal rule when “300,000 men, women and children were killed based on their ethnicity, just because they happen to look like me”.

His childhood in New York was ‘the Indian way’ in a “household of my father’s seven siblings, their spouses and at least half a dozen children,” he said. “But we would soon learn the American way,” he added.

(with inputs from syndicated feed)