Amid a sea of rebel members of a pro-Donald Trump mob waving American Confederate flags and flags supporting the President of the United States in the attack on the United States Capitol, there was the presence of one that stood out: a man waving the Indian tricolor.
The man has been identified as Vincent Xavier Palathingal, a Virginia resident who has his roots in Kochi, Kerala, and had previously been chosen by Trump to be a member of the President’s Export Council.
News18 caught up with the 54-year-old man, who said he was not part of the violence that followed when the mob stormed the Capitol, resulting in the deaths of five people. He claimed he was there only for a “peaceful protest” against “voter fraud,” a claim that Trump has been pushing since his defeat in November but has been thrown out of US courts for lack of evidence.
When asked why he was holding the Indian flag during the January 6 protests, Vincent said it was to show that Trump supporters were not racist and that the protest rally was not a racist movement. “I couldn’t hold an Indian flag and walk if it was a racist movement,” he told News18.
He said there were about 10 Indians in the group of Trump loyalists, and five of them were from Kerala.
“Whenever I have been to a Trump rally, I have seen people of Vietnamese, Korean and even Pakistani origin, carrying their flags. This is also to show that such demonstrations are not a racist movement, ”he added.
@ShashiTharoor @ varungandhi80 Patriots Americans, of Vietnamese, Indian, Korean and Iranian origin, and of so many other nations and races, who believe that massive electoral fraud has occurred joined the demonstration yesterday in solidarity with Trump. Peaceful protesters exercising our rights! pic.twitter.com/aeTojoVxQh
– Vincent Xavier (@VincentPXavier) January 8, 2021
The businessman, who spent 25 years in India before moving to the United States, also tried to downplay the scale of violence witnessed in the Capitol, the seat of the US government, in unprecedented scenarios.
He claimed that of the one million people who gathered outside Congress to protest, only “between 10 and 15 daring people, scaled the walls as ‘Spider-Man’ and created violence … Finally, the violence created by about 50 people destroyed the purpose of our rally. “
He also pushed for the unfounded theory that members of the left-wing group Antifa were among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol, implying that they were posing as Trump supporters.
“They appear to be trained professional thugs. They were from our side or the other side who tried to infiltrate our side.
“There is no clarity on his identity. However, if you see the way they climbed the walls etc, it looks like they were very well trained. Only people in the military can do it. They seem to be thugs from Antifa, BLM (Black Lives Matter) who support the Democratic Party that infiltrated our side. They were the ones who opened the door, it was not the police… ”, he said.
The BBC has reported that there has been no evidence of any Antifa members among the mob, but photos of the attack showed people associated with a variety of far-right and far-right groups and supporters of fringe online conspiracy theories being have seen on shows. Trump manifests earlier.
But Vincent claimed it was these “50 people who created the ruckus,” while Trump loyalists peacefully chanted slogans and the national anthem.
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