Over 100 organizations have signed a declaration expressing concern over what they label the “alarming rise of Hindu supremacy” in the US. Hindu supremacy has become a favorite phrase for anti-Hindu propagandists and any attempt to raise awareness about issues affecting Hindus is dubbed Hindu supremacy.
These “civil rights groups” have reportedly expressed concern about the rising wave of Hindutva or Hindu Nationalism in the US. According to them, the Hindu right “now finds itself in a deepening alliance with various facets of the American far-right”.
“We the undersigned organizations and individuals, express our acute concern about the alarming rise of Hindu supremacy, also known as Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, in the United States. This political ideology, which was first articulated in the early 20th century with direct inspiration from Nazism, Fascism and other ideologies of racial subjugation, now finds itself in a deepening alliance with various facets of the American far-right. Hindu supremacy poses a growing threat to our core values of democracy, pluralism, and justice, both in India and here in the United States”, says the declaration.
The language used is typical of the anti-Hindu woke lobby; the standard tactic of equating Hindu nationalism with Nazism, never mind that it’s communism with its penchant for violence and dictatorship that comes closest to Nazism and not Hinduism. The presumption that political Hinduism is dangerous is highly misguided because woke leftists do not apply the same lens to evaluating political Islam or political Christianity. When Islamic organizations lobby for the rights of Muslims, it’s the most natural thing to do.
But if Hindu organizations raise the rights of Hindus politically, that’s supposed to be divisive and violent. With so many radical Islamic terrorist organizations across the globe having orchestrated all sorts of terror attacks killing millions of innocent people, one can still not associate the word “terrorism” with Islam. Then you will be bigoted and Islamophobic. But despite there being no evidence of a single “Hindutva terror group” operating from anywhere, one can casually throw around phrases like “saffron terror” and “Hindutva terror”. That’s cool because Hindus anyway have no right to be offended. Their sole purpose of existence is to make sure that no one else gets offended, even if that comes at the cost of their values, their civilization, and sometimes even at the cost of their life.
The declaration was released by Savera, a rabid anti-Hindu organization that calls itself an interfaith, multiracial, anti-caste coalition of Indian American and partner civil rights groups. The tagline of Savera is “United Against Supremacy”. Their definition of supremacy forcefully clubs Hindu nationalism or political expression of Hindu Dharma with white supremacy. This is a new trend in woke politics – Hindu nationalism is forcefully equated with exploitative systems across the world including slavery, white supremacy, etc. Thus, Hindus become oppressive and violent without having committed any violence or oppression. This sounds like the biggest joke of the century. But that’s how woke circles operate.
They use language as an instrument to create fictitious perceptions and sell blatant lies. Thus, a whole intellectual and academic discourse is created within the Humanities and Social Sciences where Hindu nationalists are akin to white supremacists and the so-called caste system practiced by Hindus is the origin of all forms of discrimination pervading the world. Never mind if this doesn’t make any logical sense and it can’t be proved factually.
It’s within the same framework that this anti-Hindu resolution operates. It targets the Hindu community of the US by preemptively labeling them as right-wingers and Hindutva supremacists to prevent them from raising their voices on Hindu issues. Hindus are a minuscule minority in the US forming less than 1 percent of the total population in the country. Therefore, like every other minority, Hindus have every right to be politically vocal about their interests. Organizations like the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), Hindu American Foundation (HAF ), etc. are extremely active in the US . These organizations representing the rights of Hindus not just in the US but Hindu diaspora across the world have made significant advances in protecting the rights of Hindus.
The Hindu rights groups in the US achieved a major victory in 2023 when California’s anti-caste discrimination Bill was vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom saying that laws to ban caste-based discrimination already existed in the state. The US had a spate of such bills introduced in different cities and states of the country, the ostensible purpose of which was to ban caste discrimination, but the real purpose was to racially profile and malign the Hindu community of the US. Seattle became the first city in the US to pass such a bill ostensibly banning caste discrimination. Hindu rights groups argued that if such bills started getting passed in different US states, Hindus would face vigilance and harassment in everything from education to jobs, and their private life would become a subject of intense scrutiny. Moreover, since no evidence of caste discrimination in the US society existed whatsoever, such laws would invariably result in stereotyping of the US Hindu community and their social ostracization.
As hate crimes against Hindus have seen an alarming rise in western countries, Hindu organizations in the US have also been lobbying for the recognition of Hinduphobia. Unlike Islamophobia which has even been recognized by the UN, Hinduphobia is still termed as a conspiracy of the Hindu nationalists, thus the system further perpetuates anti-Hindu bias by refusing to even recognize the threats faced by Hindus.
Owing to the efforts of Hindu rights groups in the US, Georgia became the first US state to pass a resolution condemning Hinduphobia. Also, the US states of Florida and Georgia declared November as “Hindu Heritage Month”. Academic Hinduphobia is at its peak in the US with the likes of Harvard encouraging studies vilifying Hindu Dharma and demonizing and stereotyping Hindus in the name of academic research on “Hinduism”. US-based Hindu organizations have been taking on these challenges as well.
It is precisely to attack and eventually dismantle the strong Hindu rights ecosystem of the US that such a resolution has been signed. It’s a standard tactic of the woke lobby to proactively vilify and demonize their opponent to discredit the issues being raised by them. By calling the Hindus of the US Hindutva fanatics and having close links with the Hindu nationalists of Bharat, the so-called resolution furthers the much used and abused conspiracy theory of US Hindu organizations working at the behest of the “Hindu nationalist Modi government “. With the Bharatiya elections around the corner, this theory will be peddled even more. The intent is to exert pressure on US Hindu organizations and somehow make a dent in their popularity by shaming them and calling them Hindu supremacists, Islamophobes, etc. The real intent of such a resolution is thus to lend legitimacy to the oppression of Hindus globally and silencing any attempt by the Hindu diaspora to raise their voice on Hindu issues.
It’s a desperate and frustrated attempt by the anti-Hindu woke lobby; not that it will make any difference to the functioning of Hindu organizations in the US. Anyways, it’s an informal resolution passed by these groups amongst themselves devoid of any legal character. But such propaganda aims to step up anti-Hindu rhetoric globally to eventually pressure the policymakers to ignore Hindu issues and interests in framing laws and policies.
“Hindu supremacist organizations may hide behind a façade of multiculturalism and diversity, but in practice they have worked to break bonds of solidarity between communities and legitimize far-right politics within communities of color – including by attacking civil rights groups; collaborating with far-right demagogues; spreading anti-Muslim disinformation; opposing affirmative action and caste protections for marginalized communities; and working to curb free speech and academic freedom”, says the resolution further.
Look at how cleverly language has been used to discredit every single Hindu issue – if Hindus raise their voice against the Islamists demonizing Hindu Dharma and spreading terrorism, they are seen as “spreading anti-Muslim disinformation”. If Hindus criticize the woke lobby’s weaponization of caste, they are seen as “opposing affirmative action and caste protections for marginalized communities”. It’s akin to pronouncing someone guilty without evidence and trial and then publicly releasing a list of their alleged crimes. That’s precisely how the anti-Hindu woke lobby operates and understanding their strategy is key to countering them.
The organization Savera that released the declaration recently released a report titled “The Global VHP’s Trail of Violence”. I haven’t read the report but going through the list of contents itself, one can see how the so-called report attempts to vilify political expression of Hindu Dharma by implicating the VHP in the Babri Masjid Demolition, 2002 Gujarat riots, 2020 Delhi riots, etc. It’s incredible how anyone and everyone can publish fancy reports calling Hindu organizations violent despite there being no evidence whatsoever of any Hindu organization undertaking anything remotely akin to a terror attack. One will have to think a million times before writing a report on something like “The Global Islam’s Trail of Violence” but anything and everything is allowed when it comes to Hindu Dharma.
Again, one hasn’t come across a single article in the mainstream Bharatiya media critiquing this rabid Hinduphobic resolution passed by these 100 + organizations. This point has been made by me in several articles, yet it’s worthwhile emphasizing it again why does the mainstream Bharatiya media go on regurgitating the western or the woke viewpoint? Why don’t we see much critical analysis of such issues in our mainstream media? Woke propaganda works only because it is rarely questioned from within Bharat. Once our mainstream media starts taking the anti-Hindu wokeists to task, the propaganda will lose its sheen.
Perhaps it would be apt to end with an X post by noted author Rajiv Malhotra on the issue of this anti-Hindu resolution.
“Serious! Breaking India Forces accelerating coordinated assaults against India’s sovereignty. Exactly as we have been predicting. I wish Indians incl GOI would not trivialize the threats. Why do Indian billionaires support such groups?”, he says.
