India Marches into Fascism

OPINION India Marches into Fascism

The Biden administration needs to ensure that federal funds and U.S. tax-exempt charities do not bankroll growing Hindu fanaticism in India

BY SHAKEEL SYED

Modi at lunch hosted by (then) Vice President Biden and (then) Secretary of State John Kerry, in Washington D.C. on Sept. 30, 2014 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4eEii509II)

President Biden, visiting NASA on March 4 to celebrate the Mars Perseverance rover’s landing, made one of his most head-turning comments since being sworn in when he told Swati Mohan, NASA’s guidance and controls operations lead for the rover landing, “Indian — of descent — Americans are taking over the country: you; my vice president [Kamala Harris, who overtly stresses her maternal Indian roots but rarely her paternal Jamaican roots]; my speechwriter, Vinay. I tell you what. But thank you. You guys are incredible,” declared Biden (https://www.independent. co.uk/news/world/americas/biden-india-usnasa-mars-rover-b1812881.html).

Among Biden’s appointees is Sri Preston Kulkarni, 42, the twice-failed Texas District 22 Democratic Congress nominee who has been criticized for accepting money from donors affiliated with the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), HAPAC and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s grand diaspora celebrations in the U.S.

Upon learning of Kulkarni’s financial sources, area Muslims formed a taskforce and helped defeat him by supporting the Republican nominee, Troy Nehls. Kulkarni now occupies a key position at AmeriCorps as chief of external affairs.

The Intercept reported that among his donors is Ramesh Bhutada, the national vice president of the U.S. wing of the RSS. In the 1970s, Bhutada helped establish Houston’s first chapter of the HHS, an organization under the RSS umbrella and registered in the U.S. as a nonprofit engaged in service work and fostering community among Hindus living in this country. Bhutada has also been active in political organizing for Modi’s election campaigns, as well as organizing and fundraising for several U.S. politicians, notably Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who has been criticized for ties to Hindu nationalist groups and has been a vocal Modi government supporter (https:// theintercept.com/2020/10/29/sri-kulkarni-congress-indian-politics/; https://theintercept.com/2019/01/05/tulsi-gabbard2020-hindu-nationalist-modi/).

HAF recruited Gabbard to weigh in with the Vedic Foundation (VF) and the Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) — the Hindu groups who proposed these changes — and asked the California Board of Education (CBE) to remove or rewrite other significant sections. However, many American Hindus and academics complained that this was unacceptable — they were concerned that Hindutva groups wanted to silence minority voices and present an idealized, false representation of Hinduism. Some pointed out that the VF and HEF were promoting a representation of Hinduism specific to upper caste North Indians that they did not share; and to VF and HEF ties to Hindutva — conservative Hindu nationalist organizations in India that have tried and failed to make similar changes there (https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/religion-context/case-studies/minority-america/ hindus-american-textbooks).

Just how ethical is this “Indian-descent takeover" of the U.S.? Kulkarni is not a stray example, and pandering to Indian Hindu fascism is nothing new. After all, it was the Obama-Biden administration that lifted the travel ban on Modi, which had been imposed for the 2002 Gujarat massacre of Muslims (https://www.washingtonpost. com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/06/ from-pariah-to-capitol-hill-narendra-modis-extraordinary-rise/). Trump only sexed up the relationship.

In her June 24, 2017, tweet, Harris had enthused, “I welcome Indian PM @ NarendraModi to the United States and reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our two nations.”

In a severe indictment of Modi, at that time chief minister of Gujarat, for his alleged role in the 2002 post-Godhra massacre, India’s Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team released a 600page report on May 12, 2010, holding that he failed to control the riots that killed 1,200+ people, among them Indian National Congress leader Ahsan Jafri and dozens of other Muslims who were hacked to death (https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/ sit-report-indicts-modi-in-gujarat-riots/ story-ApMNztHsH47JFts1Oob63L.html). It had also noted that the Modi government appointed Vishwa Hindu Parishad- and RSSaffiliated lawyers as public prosecutors in the subsequent cases.

Another example: In 2008, Obama’s closest advisory team member was economist Sonal Shah, a VHP America national coordinator who served [now Transportation Secretary] mayor Pete Buttigieg as the national policy director in his failed 2020 presidential campaign (https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/obama-team-membersonal-has-vhp-links/story-YzJW8jDOVBaQgkGDdu60lI.html). The CIA declared this strident Hindu extremist group a terrorist organization in its “World Factbook” (2018). Shah is a consistent supporter of Ekal Vidyalayas, a VHP-founded movement

dedicated to countering Christianity among India’s Adivasis (Scheduled Tribes).

Her father, Ramesh Shah, vice president of the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), had campaigned extensively for L. K. Advani, prime minister aspirant and architect of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Similarly, the Biden campaign also appointed its heavily backed Amit Jani outreach director of Asian American Pacific Islanders.

AMERICANS SHOULD BE CONCERNED OFBJP, which registered as a foreign agent only last August despite launching itself in 1992, was founded as a BJP public relations project to “correct what members argued

JUST HOW ETHICAL IS THIS INDIAN-DESCENT AMERICA "TAKEOVER" OF THE U.S. KULKARNI IS NOT A STRAY EXAMPLE AND PANDERING TO INDIAN HINDU FASCISM IS NOTHING NEW. AFTER ALL, IT WAS THE OBAMA-BIDEN ADMINISTRATION THAT LIFTED THE TRAVEL BAN ON MODI, WHICH HAD BEEN IMPOSED FOR THE 2002 GUJARAT MASSACRE OF MUSLIMS. TRUMP ONLY SEXED UP THE RELATIONSHIP.

were distorted views of India and the BJP and [to] promote the political party’s platform” (Sonia Paul, “How Hindu Nationalism Could Shape the Election,” 10/30/2020; https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/30/hindu-nationalism-election-indian-american-voters-433608).

Paul pointed out that “[G]roups that embrace and advocate for some form of Hindutva have existed in the United States for decades, operating as nonprofits for immigrant communities wanting to retain Indian culture.”

She wrote, “Now, in the United States, a small but vocal group of donors and activists is pressuring Indian American and Hindu politicians to embrace the ideology, while criticizing as “Hinduphobic” those who reject Hindutva for its nationalist roots. These Hindutva advocates hope to use the ideology as a wedge issue for the roughly 1.9 million Indian American eligible voters in this country, who represent one of the fastest-growing and wealthiest immigrant groups in the United States.”

In 2020, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) — a campaign cash-rich Senate aspirant — won his third term with 73.17% of the vote after a nominal primary election, despite being criticized for attending events like “Howdy, Modi!” — where Trump appeared with Modi in a Houston stadium (2019) — and the World Hindu Congress, a 2018 VHP-organized conference in Chicago (https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2021/4/22/22398564/ illinois-rep-raja-krishnamoorthi-9-million-campaign-cash-election).

HISTORY OF FUNDING HINDU EXTREMISTS On July 1, 2014, the South Asian Citizen Web (SACW; http://www.sacw.net/), an online platform that promotes dialogue on South Asia, released “Hindu Nationalism in the United States: A Report on Nonprofit Groups.” It stated that the Hindu nonprofits were linked to Sangh Parivar — the umbrella term that refers to all of the Hindu supremacist organizations linked to the RSS. The report, based on an analysis of official tax records between 2001-14, found that U.S.-based charity groups sent millions of dollars to RSS-affiliated organizations: “India-based Sangh affiliates receive social and financial support from its U.S.-based wings, the latter of which exist largely as tax-exempt non-profit organizations in the

The lure of India’s billion plus market overpowered humanity. The initial euphoria about Modi is taking time to cool. This redemption story was only possible because of the Western world’s bigotry toward the poor and India’s and in fact any Muslims.

United States: 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) is active as well, though it is not a tax-exempt group.”

For instance, between 2001-12, both the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation and the VHPA sent $27 million and $3.9 million, respectively. SEWA International spent $3.3 million during the same period on activities of right-wing groups across India, while Infinity Foundation gave $1.9m in grants to universities and researchers to promote the Hindu supremacist agenda.

The report noted Hindu fascists’ youth outreach in the U.S., “Sangh-affiliated youth and family programs, such as those held by the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, 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 VHP have collectively spent more than $2.5 million on youth and family programs.”

It added “In 2009, Sangh-affiliated Hindu Students Council (HSC) student groups were present on 78 U.S. 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.

“From 2001 and 2012, five Sangh-affiliated charitable groups (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 program services, funds which are largely sent to groups in India. Several of the recipient groups have affiliations with the Indiabased Sangh Parivar, and more investigation is needed into: a) other funding channels from the United States; b) whether the monies collected were allocated to the purposes reported