The Hindu American Foundation’s “Guide to Hindutva”: A Flawed Attempt to Mask a Divisive Ideology
by Raju Rajagopal
The Hindu American Foundation’s (HAF) recently published “Guide to Hindutva” is a mis-Guided attempt to whitewash the caustic ideology that is infecting Indian society. https://hinduamerican.pulse.ly/wdy4kdsorb
HAF says that the Guide addresses common misconceptions about Hindutva. It then goes on to make the preposterous assertion that “Hindutva is about India’s pluralistic culture and how this inclusive ethos can inform governance.” What an insult to the millions of victims of the Hindutva ideology”! https://x.com/HinduAmerican/status/1800517285150437566…
Having followed HAF’s confused battle with the term ‘Hindutva’, which has taken them all over the map in the last few years, it’s good to know that they now have a Guide to guide them and their followers. Congratulations!
Unfortunately, for most people who have followed the trajectory of Hindutva or have been victims of the hate and violence perpetrated by the votaries of Hindutva, from Modi and Shah down, the Guide is an affront. It is an amateurish attempt to whitewash the real story of Hindutva.
In my view, Hindutva has already defined itself by its acts of hate, violence, and the ‘othering’ of minority communities, and then falsely claiming to speak and act on behalf of all Hindus: e.g. rationalizing or ignoring mob violence; attacking scholars, journalists, intellectuals, and others who dare to speak out in support of pluralism; imposing one’s dietary values upon others and interfering in interfaith unions; locking up dissidents; attacking places of worship; bulldozing homes, etc.
In her May 16, 2022 deposition in HAF’s defamation lawsuit against HfHR co founders and three others, Suhag Shukla of HAF cleverly dodged all the questions on Hindutva: “Q. How does HAF define ‘Hindutva’?...A. We don't have a definition of Hindu Hindutva…Q. Is HAF anti-Hindutva?...A. If we don't have a definition of Hindutva, that answers the question as to whether we are for or against. We are nonpartisan…I am saying Hindutva has no single definition, and without a single definition, there's no question of being for or against something.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NRl2uIDwsGCltxSjW005PDZvSe6XefmT/view?usp=sharing…
It is well known that HAF had pulled out all stops just eight months earlier, in September 2021, to stop an academic conference titled “Dismantling global Hindutva,” boasting that it had sent over a million protest mails to US universities associated with the conference. And having failed to stop the conference, HAF and others had indulged in unhinged attacks on the organizers and participants, creating a toxic environment that had even led to death and rape threats against some of the panelists. It was amply clear that HAF was defending the Hindutva ideology. After all that brouhaha in 2021, it was now asserting in 2022, in a legal deposition, that it does not even know what Hindutva stands for. What a travesty!
The fact is that the Hindutva bandwagon left Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992 in search of fame and foes after destroying the ancient Babri Masjid. 32 years later, after thousands of innocents had been killed or maimed in the name of Ram, the bandwagon returned to Ayodhya on June 4, 2024, battered and beaten at the polls by the very people of Ayodhya! Listen to some of their voices in these HfHR produced videos titled: “Mood India”: https://hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/mood-india-voices-from-ayodhya… https://hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/mood-india-voices-from-ayodhya-1…
It's time for HAF to face the fact that Hindus are beginning to understand the real damage that Hindutva is doing to Hinduism and to India and that it can’t stop the new awakening with their false narratives.
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