US civil society coalition slams Hudson Institute for hosting RSS leaders

By A Representative 

The Hudson Institute’s “New India Conference,” held on April 23, featured senior figures from India’s ruling political ecosystem, including RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and BJP foreign affairs head Vijay Chauthaiwale. The event also included U.S. officials and former diplomats such as Kurt Campbell, Kenneth Juster, and Nisha Biswal, alongside India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Vinay Kwatra.  

A coalition of advocacy groups—including the Indian American Muslim Council, Hindus for Human Rights, The Sikh Coalition, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Dalit Solidarity Forum, Save America From Hindutva, The Religious Nationalisms Project, No Hindutva Maryland, and Equitas Forum USA—issued a joint statement condemning Hudson’s decision. They highlighted that the USCIRF’s March 4, 2026 annual report explicitly recommended targeted sanctions against the RSS for its role in religious persecution of minorities in India.  

The coalition stressed that the RSS is the ideological nucleus of a network accused of enabling violence against Muslims and Christians, and historically linked to Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. They further pointed to recent cases of transnational repression tied to the same ecosystem: in February 2026, Indian national Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal case involving a murder-for-hire plot against a U.S. citizen, allegedly directed by an Indian government official. Canadian authorities have also accused Indian-linked operatives of killings, arson, and extortion on their soil.  

“Hudson Institute is providing a prestigious platform to a foreign organization that a U.S. government body has called to be sanctioned. This raises profound questions about judgment, accountability, and the normalization of extremism in Washington policy circles,” the coalition said.  

The groups emphasized that think tanks like Hudson play a critical role in shaping U.S. foreign policy discourse. By legitimizing organizations accused of systemic rights violations and linked to transnational repression, they warned, such institutions risk undermining U.S. policy objectives and public trust.  

The coalition has called on Hudson Institute to reconsider its decision and urged policymakers, media, and civil society leaders to critically examine the implications of engaging with organizations tied to religious persecution and international repression.  

This controversy underscores growing scrutiny of India’s political organizations in North America and the tension between U.S.-India strategic engagement and human rights concerns.