By Rutgers Law School,
Far-right Hindutva groups in the US must be reined in as they are threatening lives and spreading hate, while perpetuating supremacist ideas and discriminatory conduct against Americans, a new report warns.
The report, titled “Hindutva in America: A Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism”, is a damning 68-page document prepared by Rutgers Law School in New Jersey.
It examines how far-right Hindu groups have capitalised on the anti-Muslim public discourse arising from the so-called “war on terror” to obtain greater acceptance of their ethnonationalist agenda.
The report states, “By couching their rhetoric within the mainstream narrative that Muslims worldwide are presumptively terrorists and violent, Hindutva organisations join the chorus of other anti-Muslim right-wing groups.”
It adds that the various strands of Hindutva in the US pursue two specific objectives: the othering of Muslims as suspicious outsiders and stymying academic freedom.
Hindutva is a far-right political ideology rooted in Hindu supremacy, operating transnationally.
In India, Hindu nationalists promote ethnonationalism, envisioning a Hindu nation and marginalising religious minorities, particularly Muslims.
Hindutva differs from Hinduism, despite claims by Hindutva proponents that they represent all Hindus.
Undermining American pluralism
The Rutgers report also highlights a 2022 image showing a bulldozer in New Jersey city decorated with photos of an Indian PM Narendra Modi and India’s militant monk Yogi Adityanath.
Bulldozers have become symbols of oppression in India, as authorities in many Indian states have been razing homes of Muslims despite court orders against such practices, celebrated by far-right Hindutva groups and allied media.
This story was originally published in trt.global. Read the full story here.
