Hindutva or Hindu Supremacism A Threat to Global Peace
Hindutva
Hindu nationalist movement, known as Hindutva — equated to fascism — advocates for Hindu supremacy and seeks to transform India into an ethnoreligious nation known as the Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation), where religious minorities especially Muslims and Christians are oppressed and reduced to second-class citizens.
The movement receives extensive ideological, political, and financial support from Hindutva groups in the United States, the powerful base of Hindu supremacists in the west.
Hindu supremacist Network in America
Hindutva Hate in America
October 2022
Two Hindu professors backed by Hindu rightwing group Hindu American Foundation filed a lawsuit against California State University (CSU) system for making caste a protected category to protect Dalit students coming from India.
September 22, 2022
Hindu American Foundation sued the California Department of Civil Rights in United States District Court in an attempt to attack caste protections in the US. The HAF’s complaint is a fallout from the CRD’s caste discrimination case against tech giant CISCO, on behalf of a Dalit employee who alleged systematic discrimination by two savarna (‘upper caste’) supervisors. In its complaint, the CRD had characterised the caste system as a “strict Hindu social and religious hierarchy.”
September 2022
Location: Long Beach, California
Hindu rightwing groups organised an event featuring Sadhvi Rithambara, a violent Hindu extremist leader and member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group. Ritambhara’s hateful speeches have been described as “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in various Indian states. She played a prominent role in demolishing the historic Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh state. Dozens of protestors gathered outside the venue.
2016
Hindu rightwing groups like Hindu American Foundation, Dharma Civilization Foundation (DCF) and Uberoi Foundation for Religious Studies teamed up in early 2016 to lobby educational policymakers on how Hinduism is portrayed in textbooks for grades six and seven in California. HAF objected to the portrayal of the caste system. The groups objected to the presence of readings about the history of the caste system. They proposed deletion of words such as “Dalit” and “untouchable” claiming that caste did not have its origins in Hinduism.
2005
Often known as the California textbook controversy, when Hindu rightwing groups like, the Vedic Foundation, Hindu Education Foundation and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) suggested many changes in the depiction of ancient Indian history and Hinduism in the text books. But instead of just making corrections to erroneous texts, their proposed changes also reflect their supremacist and chauvinistic political agendas, which seek to equate the history of India with the history of Hinduism, and the living diverse religion of Hinduism with a Brahmanical, Vedic religion frozen in time for thousands of years. Some of the edits suggested were Islamophobic.
August 15, 2022
Location: Anaheim
Hindu supremacists attacked a group of protestors who were protesting against the persecution of religious minorities in India.
May 2021
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey donated $2.5 million for COVID-relief efforts in India to Sewa International, the international service wing of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), a fascist paramilitary group in India.
November 27, 2022
Location: Frisco, Texas
Hindu supremacist group Global Hindu Heritage Foundation organises fundraiser for demolishing churches in India.
October 26 2022
Location: Austin, Texas
The Texas Tribune appointed Sonal Shah as the organization’s chief executive officer. Shah has had close ties with Hindu supremacist groups, especially India-based Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), categorized by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a “religious militant organization”. She was an active member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), the US counterpart of VHP.
March 2022
Location: Houston, Texas
A board member of Hindu American Foundation threatens legal action against a Muslim journalist with Al Jazeera who came under attack after he criticized a call for genocidal violence against Kashmiri Muslims. It was a brazen attempt to silence the journalist.
September 2019
Location: Houston
Members of various Hindu rightwing organizations put together ‘Howdy, Modi’ event for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
February 2, 2023
Location: Middlesex, New Jersey
The inclusion of a bulldozer as a float in a New Jersey town last August during an India Day rally was an act of bias, a joint investigation by the local county’s prosecutor’s office and police department has found.
September, 2022
Location: Middlesex, New Jersey
September, 2022
A man identifying himself as Vivek attended a Teaneck city council meeting, where he went on the stage to deliver an uninterrupted hate speech while referring to Muslims as “terrorists and rapists.” He claimed that Muslims had “enjoyed” 9/11 and immigrated to the United States and India to “destroy” those countries.
September 12, 2022
Location: Teaneck
Teaneck Municipal Democrat Committee passed a resolution seeking an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) into various US based organizations for their linkage with Hindu supremacist organization, the RSS, in India.
September 10, 2022
Location: Woodbridge
A local Hindu group attempted to hold an event in a church featuring Sadhvi Rithambara, a violent Hindu extremist leader and member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group. Ritambhara’s hateful speeches have been described as “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in various Indian states. She played a prominent role in demolishing the historic Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh state. The church later revoked permission given the Hindu rightwing group.
August 14, 2022
Location: Edison
Hindu supremacists march with the anti-Muslim symbol of bulldozer during the India independence day parade. In India, bulldozers are used to demolish Muslim homes and livelihoods.
November 2019
At a private event in New York City, Sandeep Chakravorty, India’s consul-general to the city, told Kashmiri Hindus and Indian nationals that India will build settlements modelled after Israel for the return of the Hindu population to Kashmir.
February 3, 2023
Aruna Miller, the new Democratic lieutenant governor of Maryland, is stirring concern in the state due to her decade-long ties to advocates for far-right Hindu nationalist groups.
October 2022
Maryland’s Democratic gubernatorial ticket, Wes Moore and Aruna Miller, held a fundraiser with Trump supporters and people linked to the Hindutva movement.
September 2021
Academic conference Dismantling Global Hindutva in the US addressing Hindu nationalism was targeted by rightwing Hindu groups, which have sent death threats to participants and forced several scholars to withdraw. More than 1 million emails were sent to the presidents, provosts and officials at universities involved in the conference pressuring them to withdraw and dismiss staff who were participating, pointing to an organised campaign by groups in India and the US. The campaign was led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), the Coalition of Hindus in North America (CoHNA), and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) .
May 2021
Hindu rightwing group Hindu American Foundation (HAF) filed a lawsuit in a federal court in , against four Indian diaspora activists—Raju Rajagopal, Sunita Vishwanath, John Prabhudoss, Rasheed Ahmed who were quoted in the Al Jazeera articles criticising Hindu nationalism and Hindu nationalist organizations. Professor Audrey Truschke of Rutgers University was also named as a defendant just because she shared the Aljazeera report on her Twitter.
April 2021
Five U.S.-based Hindu groups received at least $833,000 in loans and grants from the federal COVID relief funds distributed by the United States Small Business Administration.
January 6, 2021
Hindu supremacists holding Indian flag participated in the Capitol Hill insurrection.
2019
Hindu American Foundation (HAF) actively lobbies to promote the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s position on the abrogation of Kashmir’s special status and the passage of the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
August 28 2022
Location: Chicago
Hindu rightwing groups organised an event featuring Sadhvi Rithambara, a violent Hindu extremist leader and member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group. Ritambhara’s hateful speeches have been described as “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in various Indian states. She played a prominent role in demolishing the historic Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh state.
November 27, 2022
Hindu supremacist group Global Hindu Heritage Foundation organises fundraiser for demolishing churches in India.
April 2021
Location: Sugar Grove, Illinois
Vishwa Hindu Parishad-America (VHPA), the US wing of India based Hindu militant group Vishwa Hindu Parishad invited Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati for an event. Yati is know for his genocidal speeches against Muslims.
March 2021
Location: Chicago
A proposed resolution expressing the City Council’s solidarity with Chicago’s South Asian community “regardless of religion and caste” failed amid intense lobbying from local Hindu rightwing groups and the India's consul general.
September 2018
Location: Chicago, Illinois
In September 2018, at the World Hindu Congress organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), a group of young Indians protestoed the presence of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. In response, VHPA went after the protesters with an egregious and baseless lawsuit, seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. The lawsuit is ongoing to this day.
September 3, 2022
Location: Atlanta
Hindu rightwing groups including Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh (HSS), the US offshoot of RSS organised an event featuring Sadhvi Rithambara, a violent Hindu extremist leader and member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group. Ritambhara’s hateful speeches have been described as “the single most powerful instrument for whipping up anti-Muslim violence” in various Indian states. She played a prominent role in demolishing the historic Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh state. Dozens of protestors gathered outside the venue to protest the event.
Latest News
Reports
SAVERA: The Global VHP’s Trail of Violence
Hindu supremacy’s century-long and frequently violent history includes over five decades of patient institution building
SACW announces the release of a report on the Hindu nationalist circuit in the United States 2001-2014
HINDU NATIONALISM IN THE UNITED STATES: A REPORT ON NONPROFIT GROUPS Published by sacw.net, this
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Network In Canada ( NCCM )
DOWNLOAD AND READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: Click Here to Download
