Activists raise alarm over Hindu nationalist presence at Parliament of World Religions ( Middle East Eye )

By Azad Essa

Activists and scholars have sounded the alarm over the presence of a Hindu nationalist leader linked with India‘s far-right at next week’s Parliament of World Religions convention in the US city of Chicago.

Nivedita Bhide, the vice president of Vivekananda Kendra, a Hindu nationalist social service and “nation-building” organisation, is scheduled to address a plenary session at the conference on 16 August.

Bhide, who was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian award by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017, has routinely shared the rhetoric of right-wing Hindu nationalists who demonise prominent Indian activists.

Targets have included Afreen Fatima, a researcher and activist; Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub; and the late Christian Priest, Father Stan Swamy.

Activists and scholars told Middle East Eye that Bhide is routinely present in events either hosted or endorsed by the RSS, a Hindu paramilitary organisation that aims to turn India into a Hindu state, and she actively promotes disinformation, conspiracy theories, and Islamophobia on social media.

This story was originally published in middleeasteye.net. Read the full story here