Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday condemned the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, vowed to strengthen ties with India and described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his good friend.

While extending Diwali greetings, the Republican presidential candidate said Bangladesh remained in a state of total chaos and alleged that his Democratic rival, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden had ignored Hindus across the world and in America.

“I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media site.

This is the first time Trump has spoken on the turmoil that has gripped Bangladesh after students’ protests brought down the Sheikh Hasina government and forced the Prime Minister to flee the country on August 5.

Hundreds of Hindus were killed in July-August in Bangladesh and continue to be targeted.

“It would have never happened on my watch. Kamala and Joe have ignored Hindus across the world and in America. They have been a disaster from Israel to Ukraine to our own Southern Border, but we will Make America Strong Again and bring back Peace through Strength,” Trump posted.

“We will also protect Hindu Americans against the anti-religion agenda of the radical left. We will fight for your freedom. Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister Modi,” he added.

“Kamala Harris will destroy your small businesses with more regulations and higher taxes. By contrast, I cut taxes, cut regulations, unleashed American energy, and built the greatest economy in history. We will do it again, bigger and better than ever before and we will Make America Great Again,” Trump went on.

“Also, Happy Diwali to All. I hope the Festival of Lights leads to the Victory of Good over Evil,” said the former President, who is in a close fight with Harris for the November 5 presidential election.

Hindu-American groups applauded Trump for his pledge to protect the rights of Hindus. Some of them underlined that Democrats were losing the support of Indian-Americans while the Republicans were gaining it.

Utsav Sanduja, founder and chairman of Hindus for America First, told PTI in an interview that the community was grateful to “President Trump”.

“I’m very grateful to President Trump, eternally grateful and eternally appreciative. It sucks that Kamala Harris hasn’t said anything about this issue. I think that there’s going to be a big change in this election coming from this,” Sanduja said.

HinduAction, another US-based outfit, also thanked Trump.

“As you rightly pointed out, the situation of the Hindus in Bangladesh is precarious. Below is a summary head with regularly updated data on the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh,” it said.

“Thank you President Trump for showing moral clarity and unequivocally condemning anti-Hindu pogroms in Bangladesh,” said Indian-American Nathan Punwani.

“Trump is a great man and a great leader; full credit goes to him for wishing all the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs a very blessed Diwali. I think Trump really, really cares about these communities. He really understands what’s going on in Bangladesh. He sees the ongoing persecution of Hindus. He is concerned about religious minorities that are suffering right now in that country,” Sanduja said.

“He has done such agreat favour to millions of Americans who are concerned about human rights issues. To deliver on Diwali, such an auspicious day, such a magnificent thing. I’d like to say that many of us in the Hindu community played a small part in persuading President Trump’s team, talking about this, giving briefings and putting papers together,” he added.

“We are seeing that 60 per cent of Indian Americans are supporting Kamala Harris. In the last election, I think 68 per cent supported Biden. There’s a dip in support for the Democratic presidential candidate. Trump, last time around, had 22 per cent of the Indian American community. Now he’s at 32 per cent. This is according to Carnegie Endowment’s latest survey on Indian American attitudes,” Sanduja said.

“With this statement, it’s going to open up the eyes of more Indian Americans, Hindu Americans and so on. They’re going to give President Trump the vote.”