'Suspicious' links of US Hindu far right: top anti-race group seeks FBI, CIA probe

In a surprise move, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a top civil rights organization working to eliminate racial discrimination in the US, has voiced support for a demand to "investigate the links of several Hindu American organizations with India’s Hindu supremacist movement", especially Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The NAACP’s branch in Bergen County, New Jersey, has released a letter of support for a resolution passed by the Teaneck Democrat Municipal Committee (TDMC) last month seeking investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) into these Hindu organizations.
“TDMC’s resolution is a much-needed intervention to tackle the challenges posed to freedoms in the US by Hindu supremacist hate and bigotry,” the NAACP said.
“US-based groups that adhere to this hate-filled ideologies have been known for their connections with India’s Nazi-inspired fascist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), whose offshoots and affiliates carry out mass violence against India’s religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims, as well as lower-caste Hindus.”
The resolution by the TDMC, which is located in Teaneck city of New Jersey’s Bergen County, passed on September 12, urged state governor Phil Murphy; the two US Senators from the state, Bob Menendez and Cory Booker; and Congressman Josh Gottheimer, to seek FBI and CIA investigations into Hindu American Foundation (HAF), Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), SEWA International, Infinity Foundation and Ekal Vidyalaya, among others.
The TDMC resolution had said the FBI and the CIA should “step up [their] research on foreign hate groups that have domestic branches with tax-exempt status.” It also urged the Bergen County Board of Commissioners, New Jersey District 37 Senator Gordon Johnson, Assemblywomen Shama Haider and Ellen Park, Teaneck Council Members, and “all other elected officials running for political office [to] unequivocally disavow support and reject campaign funds from Hindu extremist hate groups.”

Signed by NAACP Bergen County chapter president Junius F Carter III, the letter of support said, “based on recent events in Edison and Ridgewood in New Jersey, TDMC understood the impact, lack of knowledge about extremist groups, and its supporters has on elected officials, religious organizations, and communities.”

The NAACP’s reference is to a "hate parade" organized by the Indian Business Association (IBA) on August 14 in Edison town of New Jersey, that featured a bulldozer. Several state governments ruled by right-wing BJP, in recent months deployed bulldozers to demolish Muslim-owned homes and businesses as well as mosques and churches without following due process.

The bulldozer at the Edison parade featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. Adityanath was especially severe in using bulldozers to raze Muslim properties. The IBA later apologized for bringing a bulldozer to the parade, calling it a “blatant divisive symbol.”
The bulldozer hate parade was condemned by several New Jersey leaders, including the two US senators and federal and state lawmakers.
The fact that the IBA parade’s grand marshall was Sambit Patra, regarded an Islamophobe and national spokesperson for the ruling BJP, indicates its links to the RSS, of which the BJP is an offshoot. The Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP), a decades’ old organization that rushed to register itself as a foreign agent during the 2020 election cycle, was also represented at the Edison parade of August 14.
In Ridgewood, an organization called the Param Shakti Peeth of America, had last month organized a speech by Sadhvi Rithambra, an anti-Muslim Hindu preacher who is known to have spewed venom against Islam and Muslims for decades. The Church in Ridgewood, where this event was to be held, later canceled the event.
The Indian American Muslim Council, a nonprofit dedicated to peace, pluralism and social justice, had earlier urged the US Department of State to revoke the visas of both Sambit Patra and Sadhvi Rithambra.

Comments

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

In lieu of tribute to Pritish Nandy, said to be instrumental in collapse of Reliance-controlled daily

It is widely reported that Pritish Nandy , journalist, author, animal activist, and politician, has passed away. While it is customary to pay tributes to a departing soul—and I, too, have joined those who have posted heartfelt condolences on social media—I cannot forget the way he treated me when he was editor of the Reliance-controlled Business and Political Observer (BPO), for which I had been working informally in Moscow.

Challenging patriarchy? Adopting maternal and marital surnames: Resistance continues

Anandiben Patel The other day, I was talking with a group of family friends. The discussion revolved around someone very close to me who had not changed her official name in documents, including her Aadhaar and passport, after her marriage. However, on social media and within her husband's family, she had adopted her husband's surname as a suffix to her own. I mentioned that there is a growing trend—though not yet widespread—where women prefer to retain their maiden names or add their maiden surnames alongside their husband's surname. Another emerging trend is where men choose to add their mother's name, or even their wife's name, to their own. This revelation surprised my family friends.

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.

Barred premise allowed? 'Modi govt fails to seek release of fishermen languishing in Pak jails'

Are the Indian authorities or their Gujarat counterparts softening their stance toward NGOs that flag human rights concerns? I can't say for sure, as only recently the foreign funding license of one of the most prominent NGOs, Janvikas, headed by the well-known civil society leader Gagan Sethi, was canceled. This NGO has been working on livelihood issues for underprivileged sections of society for several decades.

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

Search This Blog