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| A Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh shakha in US |
Counterview Desk
A new report prepared in the US is likely to further fan the
on-going controversy around the Intelligence Bureau (IB) accusation that foreign-funded
NGOs’ campaign in India has undermined India’s growth rate. The report, “released
via South Asia Citizens Web”, has alleged
that between 2001 and 2012, five Sangh Parivar affiliates in the US – India
Development and Relief Fund, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of America, Param Shakti
Peeth, Sewa International, and Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America – “allocated
over $55 million dollars to their programme services”, and these funds were “largely
sent” to Sangh Parivar groups in India.
Saying that this is only a part of the effort by the Sangh
Parivar “over the last three decades toward Hinduizing India”, the report runs
into 54 pages and gives well-researched and minutest of details complete with
citations of the organizations funding and supporting the Sangh Parivar. Saying
that the Sangh Parivar affiliates in the US have been seeking to advance “the
status of Hindus toward political and social primacy in India”, report admits, this
has “continued to gain ground in South Asia and diasporic communities”, as reflected
in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
The report says, the Sangh Parivar affiliates receive “social
and financial support from its US-based wings, the latter of which exist
largely as tax-exempt non-profit organizations in the United Stattes.” These
are identified as “Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad of
America (VHPA), Sewa International USA, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation-USA, the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata
Party - USA (OFBJP)”, and so on.
Accusing the Sangh Parivar for intensifying propaganda
around “Hindu nationalism”, the report believes, the US-based Sangh
Parivar-affiliates’ view is coloured with “multiplied forms of discrimination,
exclusion, and gendered and sexualized violence against Muslims, Christians,
other minorities, and those who oppose Sangh violations, as documented by
Indian citizens and international tribunals, fact-finding groups, international
human rights organizations, and US governmental bodies.”
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| Main spots in the US where Sangh Parivar affiliates allegedly do activities |
Giving details about the activities of the Sangh Parivar
affiliates in the US, the report states, “Sangh-affiliated youth and family
programmes, such as those held by the HSS and the VHPA, have concentrated their
classes, camps, events, and materials on Hindu cultural identity. As of May
2014, there were 140 HSS shakhas (chapters) in the United States listed on the
HSS website. Between 2002 and 2012 the HSS and VHPA have collectively spent
more than $2.5 million on youth and family programs.”
The report further says, “Literature used by such programs
often prioritize a version of history and culture that highlights the Sangh Parivar
leadership of India and Brahminical (upper-caste) narratives and practices,
while diminishing the struggles and contributions of lower caste and non-Hindu
communities.” The South Asia Citizens Web is a network of human rights organizations
operating since 1996, and claims to support “dissent in South Asia and beyond”.
Detailing how the Sangh Parivar’s US affiliates have tried
to influence American academia, the report says, “In 2009, Sangh-affiliated
Hindu Students Council (HSC) student groups were present on 78 US and Canadian
university and college campuses, including those of Duke University, Emory
University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
McGill University, New York University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Stanford
University, Syracuse University, University of California at Berkeley, Irvine,
and San Diego, University of Ottawa, and University of Texas at Austin and
Houston.”
It adds, “Hindu nationalist groups have increasingly
inserted themselves into curricular, administrative, and financing arenas in
academic and educational institutions, specifically in the disciplines of
history, religious studies, Indology and other fields. Particular projects
include the establishment and operation of a religious college, the Hindu
University of America, at least one religious studies conference (World
Association for Vedic Studies), and funding institutions, such as the Infinity
Foundation and the Vivek Welfare and Educational Foundation.”
Further, it says, “From 2001 to 2013, the Infinity
Foundation gave more than $1.9 million to researchers, academic associations,
and academic departments around the world, including the Association for Asian
Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies, the Center for the Study of
Developing Societies, Columbia University, Harvard University, Melbourne
University, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Rutgers University,
University of Hawaii, and the University of Texas at Austin.”
Pointing towards how the Sangh-affiliated organizations have
emerged as “leaders in Indo-American communities”, the report lists following “major
events” it organized:
a) OFBJP co-hosted a luncheon on Capitol Hill in early March
2002 with two other major Indian-American organizations, “while BJP-ruled
Gujarat witnessed mass killings of Muslims”.
b) OFBJP members and Asian American Hotel Owners Association
(AAHOA) were among the leadership that “sought to host Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi as an honored guest speaker in 2005.”
c) In the California textbook controversy of 2005-2006, the
Vedic Foundation and the HSS’ educational wing, the Hindu Education Foundation,
“led an effort to insert edits into California textbooks that foregrounded
Hindu nationalist priorities and downplayed gender and caste oppression in
Ancient India.”
d) Since the textbooks controversy, the Hindu American
Foundation has become “a voice for Hindu nationalist interests to US
politicians.”
The report recommends the need for “further investigations to
explore possible legal culpability of US-based Sangh groups and members in
Sangh-led violent acts in South Asia; possible violations of 501(c)(3)
regulations and restrictions; and the involvement of other US-based groups and
individuals in supporting violence perpetrated by Hindu nationalist groups.”
It also says that “more investigation” should be carried out
in “other funding channels from the US; whether the monies collected were
allocated to the purposes reported to the Internal Revenue Service; and the
effects of funding recipients’ work.”
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