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US CIVIL SOCIETY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST HINDU SUPREMACY  
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Pranay Somayajula
May 22, 2024
Convergence
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_ Hindu supremacists are joining forces with the MAGA bloc in this
pivotal election year. US movement groups are recognizing that they
threaten our common interests in building multiracial democracy. _

Members of the Hindu nationalist militia organization Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) marching in Bhopal, India, 2016, (Photo by
Suyash Dwivedi, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED, adapted by Convergence).

 

More than 100 American civil society organizations have issued a
joint declaration
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“acute concern about the alarming rise of Hindu supremacy, also
known as Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, in the United States.” The
declaration, whose signatories included groups such as the Movement
for Black Lives, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Grassroots Asians Rising,
was compiled by Savera: United Against Supremacy
[[link removed]]—an interfaith, multiracial, and anti-caste
coalition of Indian-American and partner organizations working to
combat the Hindu supremacist movement in the United States as part of
a larger struggle against the rising global Far Right. It marks a
significant moment in US civil society’s understanding of and
orientation toward Hindu supremacy at home and abroad—a moment that
has come just in time, as Hindu supremacists move to join forces with
the MAGA bloc in this pivotal election year.

The Hindu supremacist movement has been present in the United States
[[link removed]] since
at least the late 1960s, offering significant s
[[link removed]]upport to the Indian
Far Right [[link removed]] and sowing
divisions within South Asian American communities. In the past 10
years, however, this movement—fueled by the rise to power of Donald
Trump and Narendra Modi—has grown more ambitious, converging with
other far-right movements to produce a clear and growing threat to all
of our communities in the US.

That this declaration has pulled together such a broad and diverse
coalition of American civil society organizations, across racial,
ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines, is no accident. Rather, it
reflects many months of careful, systematic outreach to various civil
society groups, in many cases involving sustained back-and-forth via
email or live conversations over the phone, in which we explained to
these groups the ways in which the Savera coalition’s focus on Hindu
supremacy was connected to their own respective focus areas—from
immigration justice to Palestine solidarity to resisting AAPI hate.
Out of those conversations a shared analysis emerged: that the Hindu
supremacist Far Right threatens our common interests in building a
just, multiracial democracy.

Hindu supremacists aim to fracture communities of color

The Hindu supremacist movement’s connections with the broader
American Far Right have multiplied from a VHP-A member waving the
Indian flag at the January 6th insurrection to the growing number of
Hindu supremacist demagogues running for office on far-right
platforms. And while it may seem superficially counterintuitive that
the virulently racist forces of MAGA extremism and white Christian
nationalism would have an interest in building these connections with
a non-white community, a closer analysis reveals the chilling logic
behind this convergence.

Not only are Indian Americans among the wealthiest, most elite, and
most highly educated ethnic groups in the country, and therefore a
valuable source of financial and social capital for the Far Right, but
more importantly, they offer an avenue through which the Far Right can
invert and fracture the very fabric of American multiculturalism by
sowing divisions within communities of color, splintering one of the
most reliable bastions of Democratic votes and progressive politics in
this country.

From the rise of figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy
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to the Hindu supremacist movement’s embrace of the far-right
backlash to affirmative action, to the near doubling of
Indian-American votes for Donald Trump between 2016 and 2020, examples
of this dangerous convergence are all around us.  As such, Savera’s
joint declaration reframes the question of Hindu supremacy away from
an intra-community issue imported from abroad and limited to an
internally divided South Asian diaspora (even if Hindu supremacists
are a small minority within the community) to its role as a key node
in an increasingly interconnected and multiracial Far Right that
should concern all of us.

Zionism and Hindu Supremacy make an unholy alliance

The Hindu supremacist movement’s convergence with other far-right
forces has been made especially visible in the current moment through
the ever-tighter alliance between the Hindu far-right and the Zionist
lobby in the United States. As Aparna Gopalan pointed out
[[link removed]] in  _Jewish
Currents_ last June, this alliance is nothing new. The American Hindu
supremacist ecosystem has openly sought to emulate the structures and
tactics of pro-Israel forces for years, most significantly by adopting
the tactic of weaponizing accusations of victimization (antisemitism
in the case of the Zionist far-right; “Hinduphobia
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in the case of their Hindu counterparts) to smear and silence anyone
who criticizes Zionism or Hindu supremacy.

Hindu supremacist groups like the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and
the VHP-A have cosponsored pro-Israel rallies
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Israeli consulates and far-right Christian Zionists, and their leaders
have even teamed up
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AIPAC and other Zionist groups to bankroll primary challenges against
progressives who dare to speak out against the Israeli state’s
genocide in Gaza. (For example, US Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the
Squad, is facing Bhavini Patel in an April 23 primary; Patel has
bragged about the resources she will bring from the Hindu
supremacists
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defeat Lee.) What lies behind this alliance is not just a desire to
amplify each other’s power, or a set of shared geopolitical
interests, but also a shared pursuit of a very specific positioning in
US society: a proximity to whiteness that can co-exist alongside an
aggrieved politics of victimhood.

The only way we can successfully resist these far-right forces is by
building solidarity across racial, religious, and ethnic lines to
oppose them. In this spirit of collective action and liberation,
Savera has compiled this declaration to raise the alarm on Hindu
supremacy’s insidious rise in the United States. The text of the
declaration follows. New organizations are welcome to sign on
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_We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, express our acute
concern about the alarming rise of Hindu supremacy, also known as
Hindutva or Hindu nationalism, in the United States. This political
ideology, which was first articulated in the early 20th century
with direct inspiration
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Nazism, Fascism and other ideologies of racial subjugation, now finds
itself in a deepening alliance
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various facets of the American far-right. Hindu supremacy poses a
growing threat to our core values of democracy, pluralism and justice,
both in India and here in the United States._

_We stand steadfast in solidarity with Savera
[[link removed]], a new united front that represents the
true Indian-American majority, and that has brought together an
interfaith, multiracial, anti-caste coalition of organizations and
activists to resist supremacist politics of all kinds. _

_Hindu supremacist organizations may hide behind a facade of
multiculturalism and diversity, but in practice they have worked to
break bonds of solidarity between communities and legitimize far-right
politics within communities of color—including by attacking civil
rights groups
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far-right demagogues; spreading anti-Muslim disinformation
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affirmative action
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protections
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marginalized communities; and working to curb free speech and
academic freedom
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_The deeply anti-Muslim project of Hindu supremacy began and continues
to function as a dominant caste project, and its history is littered
with examples of violence against Muslims
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other religious
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groups
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peoples
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The Hindu supremacist movement is not only harmful to Indian, South
Asian and Muslim Americans, but runs deeply counter to our values of
collective liberation. It is our shared responsibility to stand in
solidarity with those who are bravely opposing supremacist politics
and fighting for a true multiracial democracy. Hindu supremacy deeply
concerns us all, and we are committed to combating it. _

_Therefore, together, we pledge:_

* _To reject all forms of hatred and supremacist politics, including
Hindu supremacy; and to educate ourselves about the ideology and
global presence of the Hindu supremacist movement, and its
intersections with the broader far-right;_
* _To stand in firm solidarity with the global struggle to dismantle
Islamophobia and annihilate caste, and in particular to support
movements to combat anti-Muslim hate and ban caste discrimination in
the United States;_
* _To support calls for the United States government to center human
rights and democracy in its engagement with the Modi regime; and _
* _To stand with activists and organizations working to articulate a
diverse, inclusive, and liberatory vision of Indian American
identity._

_Pranay Somayajula is the Director of Research and Advocacy Campaigns
at Hindus for Human Rights [[link removed]], a
US-based nonprofit organization that was founded in 2019 to provide a
Hindu voice of resistance to caste, Hindutva, and all forms of
supremacy and oppression. _

_Convergence is a magazine for radical insights. We work with
organizers and activists on the frontlines of today’s most pressing
struggles to produce articles, videos and podcasts that sharpen our
collective practice by lifting up stories from the grassroots and
making space for reflection and study. Our community of readers,
viewers, and content producers are united in our purpose: winning
multi-racial democracy and a radically democratic economy._

* Hindu Nationalism
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* India
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* zionism
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* multi-racial democracy
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