Suraj Yengde is a known Hinduphobe whom American academicians and their leftist allies have promoted. He was recently ‘awarded’ by Indian Express Group’s Marathi edition Loksatta, headed by Girish Kuber, who was himself accused of plagiarism. It is hardly surprising that Loksatta chose Yengde for the award, considering its anti-Hindu history. What was surprising, though, was the presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal in view of the fact that Loksatta is virulently anti-Modi.

The introduction clip hails him as a ‘saviour’ and presents him as one who is ‘fighting’ for the rights of depressed castes. It also praises him for his ‘contributions’ and his ‘struggles.’ It must be mentioned that Yengde is a columnist with The Indian Express.

Suraj Yengde’s Hinduphobic views and associations

Yengde had partnered with the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF), a Khalistani organisation founded by self-proclaimed Khalistanis. He had shared a $25000 grant received from Canada’s federal research funding agency, SSHRC. The fund was shared for a project on ‘Caste in Canada: The Unheard Stories of Dalit Canadians.’ “Suraj Yengde, the PJF collaborator, is a Harvard alumnus and regularly appears on foreign platforms and in the media to peddle atrocity literature. Given his collaboration with PJF, it cannot be denied that he could be a cultivated asset to tarnish India’s reputation,” noted OpIndia.

Suraj Yengde authored columns for The Indian Express, including titles like ‘Accusations of Dalit patriarchy are now deployed to suppress Dalit identity assertions’ and ‘The Hathras incident reaffirms that caste solidarity surpasses all else’. Additional columns include ‘Contemporary Brahminism represents a distorted interpretation of Buddha’s teachings.’ In essence, he has brought in non-existent ‘Brahminism’ to tarnish Hindu Dharma, which assets like him are expected to do by their handlers and funders.

His views are not just extremely Hinduphobic but also ill-informed. He repeats the usual tropes of ‘Brahmanism’, ‘Aryan deity killing Dalits’, and other similar things. Most of Suraj Yengde’s speeches are puerile reproductions of jingoistic and imagined atrocities committed by imaginary Aryans upon the aborigines of Bharat’s geography, just like people before him but in an artificially constructed accent and afro hairdo.

Suraj Yengde is a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School who identifies as an Afro-Dalit. He wants ‘Dalits’ to identify as blacks. Rajiv Malhotra pointed out that he has a flawed understanding of Buddhism, Hindu Dharma and Marxism. He also said that Yengde has weird ideas regarding caste and the Aryan invasion theory.

Shri Rajiv Malhotra’s book Snakes in the Ganga explains how the Critical Caste Theory promoted by Yengde is a dangerous attempt to break Bharat. This theory is the ‘Indianisation’ of the Critical Race Theory. The book discusses Suraj Yengde, a high-profile figure associated with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who advocates for ‘Dalit’ rights by using frameworks from Critical Race Theory (CRT) to analyze and criticize Bharatiya society, particularly focusing on its treatment of ‘Dalits.’

Yengde draws parallels between the experiences of Dalits in Bharat and African Americans in the United States. He has helped to establish dangerous movements such as Dalit Heritage Month and Dalit Lives Matter, inspired by similar initiatives in the African American community. The book also highlights that such movements aim to make Dalits a protected class akin to African Americans, which would shield Dalit leaders from criticism under the guise of legal protections or fear of public backlash.

Additionally, the book argues that CRT has been used as a tool to unite various groups perceived as victims (such as Dalits, Indian Muslims, and LGBTQ+ communities) against the broader framework of Bharatiya civilization, framing these identities as oppressed and mobilizing them to challenge existing societal structures. In short, CRT is nothing but an attempt to guilt-trip Hindus and further fragment the Hindu society by introducing false faultlines.

Yengde is one of those anti-Bharat Hinduphobic ‘activists’ who attempted to elevate ‘Dalit issues’ to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ level and internationalise issues in Bharat only to boost one’s own income and living standards instead of acting on the ground to improve SC lives. While Loksatta awarding people like Yengde is in keeping with their agenda, Central Ministers like Piyush Goyal should not endorse such Hinduphobes.

(Featured Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)