Vivekananda Kendra’s VP Nivedita Bhide was scheduled to deliver the plenary session speech on 16 August 2023 at the Parliament of World’s Religions in America’s Chicago. However, the organizers abruptly informed her that her session had been cancelled.
Nivedita Bhide, a recipient of the Padmashree award in 2017, has dedicated her life to the ideals of the Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari organization, where she has been serving since 1977 as a ‘Jeevanvrati,’ a lifelong committed worker. Currently, she holds the position of Vice President within the organization. Nivedita Bhide has an impressive literary portfolio, with over 15 published books to her credit. She regularly imparts her wisdom through yoga teachings and spiritual retreats, reaching audiences worldwide.
Furthermore, Nivedita Bhide has presented numerous papers at both national and international conferences and has lectured at prestigious educational institutions globally. She has played an active role as a trustee of the Vivekananda International Foundation since its inception, actively promoting cultural relations. Moreover, since July 2020, she has been a member of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Ms Nivedita Bhide’s interview
Nivedita has spoken about the differential treatment meted out to Hindus in her interview with Citti Media. Kum Nivedita said that the Parliament was started to ensure peaceful coexistence through inter-faith dialogue. This year’s Parliament hosted more than 7000 delegates from more than 95 countries belonging to around 210 different traditions.
“This is a very complicated question for me personally. I was invited as one of its featured luminaries. I was to talk from a Hindu perspective on this year’s topic which was A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights. The Parliament was from 14 to 18 August. It is a huge centre where in each breakout session more than 40 sessions would be conducted. People belonging to different traditions such as Native Americans, Waka from Greece, and others participated. In all these breakout sessions we could feel the striving of various faiths to express themselves and grow to the spiritual dimension rather than getting straitjacketed in religious theology”, Nivedita Ji.
She highlighted that in addition to breakout sessions, the Parliament had plenary sessions where invited speakers delivered their lectures. However, most of the plenary sessions had empty chairs as participants were either visiting the booths or attending breakout sessions due to faulty organization. Additionally, the acoustics were also not good forcing the attendees to leave after some time.
“I received very warm and welcoming communications continuously from the organizers about my participation. I also received an invitation in connection with a session on global ethics. Only 25 speakers were chosen to speak on stage about the global ethics declaration. When I was asked if I would like to be one of the speakers, I accepted the offer because the values they told me were what I believed in, stand for, and have been working for”, Nivedita Ji said speaking of her personal experience.
She elaborated on the values that were to be spoken during the session. She then says that when she was at Delhi Airport en route to Chicago she came across an article by a journalist who objected to Nivedita Ji’s participation in the Parliament labelling her ‘Hindu Nationalist’ and adding that she shares the stage with RSS leaders and Vivekananda Kendra was an RSS organization.
The journalist also brought up the issue of Nivedita Ji receiving the Padma Shri during PM Modi’s reign (whom biased racist Hinduphobic westerns label as Hindu nationalist as if it were some crime to stand true to one’s Dharma and religion). Furthermore, the journalist also labelled her Islamophobic for retweeting certain tweets.
Upon reaching Chicago, she received a call from one of the trustees who asked her whether she was aware that some people were objecting to her participation in the Parliament. On inquiring what the objection was the trustee said that Nivedita Ji had shared the stage with Bharat’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Shri Ajit Doval.
When she emphasized that it was a matter of pride for her to share the stage with the NSA and that she did not find anything wrong with it, the trustee agreed with her viewpoint. The trustee further assured her that none of the trustees were thinking of dropping her as a speaker from the event.
Subsequently, she got an email from one of the organisers saying it was inappropriate of her to ask Nivedita Ji to sign the global ethics declaration. “My commitment to ethics is not because I signed the declaration. I have been working for it and will continue to do so”, Nivedita Ji replied. However, nothing was told to her on 12 and 13 August regarding her session.
On the afternoon of 14 August after the inaugural session, Nivedita Ji happened to interact with one of the trustees who asked her if she knew that her talk at the Parliament had been cancelled. The latter asked for an official communication when another trustee cited her retweets as the reason for dropping her speech.
She says she informed the organizers that she has worked across Bharat including remote areas with Muslim populations as well. The organizers have yet to cite an offensive tweet of hers and they have not even provided a valid reason for cancelling her session despite Nivedita Ji asking for a written communication in this regard. Furthermore, she points when she found a panel discussion on a particular being targeted in Bharat and asked the organizer about it, he replied “That is not religious, it is political”. “In Parliament of World’s Religions what politics was doing, I could not understand”, she says.
“Either the trustees of the Parliament of World’s Religions lack the professionalism to check the background of the speaker or they lack the courage of conviction. When they invited someone to speak as a luminary to speak in the plenary session and only 25 were chosen from about 450 speakers to sign the global ethics declaration then they should’ve done some research or gone through my social media account if they were so sensitive”, Nivedita Ji emphasized.
It must be pointed out here that when Nivedita Ji highlighted that people harbouring hate towards one community were speakers at the Parliament, the trustee replied that no one had objected to their presence and hence they were allowed to speak. “I wrote to one of the trustees stating that the theme of the Parliament was A Call to Conscience but if you look deep down within then you’ll realise that what you did was wrong. You chose to hit a woman while talking about equality between men and women”, Nivedita Ji said.
“We at Vivekananda Kendra are only against the exclusivist approach of religions in keeping with Swami Vivekananda’s teachings.”, she says while adding that those who malign Hindutva don’t want Hindus to stand for the interest of Hindu Dharma and the rights of fellow Hindus. Nivedita Ji also highlighted that standing up for Hindu rights does not mean one is against other religious denominations.
Nivedita Ji expressed the possibility of politics dictating the opposition of Hindutva which is nothing but Hinduness. On this occasion, she highlighted a breakout session titled “The need to restrain Hindu nationalism and American nationalism”. During her interaction with a religious leader from the US, the latter said that in some sessions politics had taken over religion.
On the question of educating Hindus about Hindutva, Nivedita Ji said that it was necessary because the education system does not teach the correct history of Bharat and no lessons are given regarding Bharat’s culture and Hindu Dharma in the name of secularism.
“Hindu society is not a monotheist society where there is a centralized authority which will educate Hindus. It is a diverse society having various faiths and traditions. It is very open. The education system does not clarify topics like why Hindu Dharma cannot be compared to monotheistic religions, what are the principles that make it so open and accepting etc. There is no well-organized system within Hindu society that clarifies these things. So Hindus who are educated from schools and colleges are confused about their roots unless the family has properly inculcated those values”, Nivedita Ji highlighted.
She appreciated the organizers for providing a platform for people from different faith groups to interact with one another through the breakout sessions in particular but wanted them to be more truthful in providing a platform for different views without being afraid of criticism. Nivedita Ji signed off by saying that organizers would be able to ensure inter-faith dialogue only when there is freedom to criticize as well as freedom to respond to criticism.
The vicious campaign by leftists and Islamists
On 14 August 2023, organizers of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago abruptly cancelled Nivedita Raghuram Bhide’s scheduled plenary session speech. The event, held irregularly in different cities worldwide, had the theme ‘A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights’. Unfortunately, the organizers succumbed to pressure from leftist and Islamist groups, ultimately denying Bhide her freedom to speak at the event.
The cancellation followed a social media post by Audrey Truschke, a faculty member at Rutgers University, who labelled Nivedita a “Hindu nationalist” and accused her of spreading disinformation demonizing Indian Muslims under Hindu nationalist leadership. The Indian American Muslim Organization (IAMC), an event sponsor, also actively worked to remove Nivedita Bhide, distributing pamphlets criticizing Bharat’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The IAMC has alleged links with banned terror organizations and a history of lobbying against Bharat.
An article by Azad Essa in Middle East Eye (MEE) further fueled the campaign against the VP of Swami Vivekananda Kendra, claiming she promoted right-wing Hindu nationalist rhetoric that targeted prominent Indian activists and Muslims as victims. Essa, posing as a journalist, works for Middle East Eye, owned by individuals associated with organizations like Al Jazeera and Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by several countries for its violations of human rights.
In summary, the cancellation of Nivedita Bhide’s speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions resulted from pressure exerted by leftist and Islamist groups, fueled by accusations of Hindu nationalism and Islamophobia, and amplified through social media and biased media outlets like Middle East Eye. This incident highlights the growing trend of intellectual intolerance and the suppression of diverse viewpoints in Western countries.
It is tragic, to say the least, that in the same parliament where Swami Vivekananda spoke about Hindu Dharma more than a century ago, his disciple Nivedita Bhide was denied the chance to speak. This incident proves yet again that so-called champions of free speech often stifle the rights of others and are intolerant of divergent viewpoints.
Hindu organizations targeted at Parliament of World’s religions
HinduPost had earlier reported how Hindu organizations and religious leaders were uniquely targeted at the latest Parliament of the World’s Religions. Ms Nivedita was not the only one who was on the radar of Islamist organizations like IAMC.
Hindu American Foundation (HAF) highlighted the boorish behaviour of IAMC and pointed out that the IAMC booth contained misleading information. Not only did IAMC contain fraudulent and wrong information on their booth, but their volunteers were also selectively filming Hindu speakers to single them out and target them as ‘extremists’ thereby creating a dangerous situation for them.
Unfortunately, there was controversy when Nivedita Bhide, a speaker from a Bharatiya organization Vivekananda Kendra, was removed from the lineup days before the conference. Her social media statements and associations with a nationalist ideology in Bharat were used as excuses to stop her from speaking. It must be noted that Bhide was deliberately targeted by ‘activists’. The organizers also did not address the concerns raised by Hindu groups about this decision.
Despite the conference theme of defending freedom and human rights, some Hindu attendees felt that they were being unfairly singled out for their ancestral homeland’s problems. Some expressed frustration that Hindu voices were being silenced or cancelled.
“The parliament is open to people of all religions, spiritual paths and ethical convictions, consistent with the values of respectful dialogue. We seek to promote harmony and partnerships amongst the world’s religions and spiritual communities on issues that humanity faces today”, the parliament’s organizers insisted. However, by allowing one religious denomination to be singled out by bigots were they being true to their stated objective?
Overall, some Hindu participants believe that the legacy of Swami Vivekananda, which is about unity and understanding, is being overshadowed by political controversies at the conference. They feel that the event should focus on faith, spirituality, and bringing people together, rather than getting tangled in political issues.
(Featured Image Source: OpIndia)
