Hindu Nationalist Organizations Efforts to Import Hindu Extremism into America

In July 2024, the National Conservatism conference in Washington, DC, hosted two controversial speakers who departed from the conference’s typical roster of Western scholars from the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Taking to the podium to speak on “India’s Vision for World Conservatism” was Ram Madhav, a national executive member of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-of-center Hindu paramilitary group. The group is notorious for its violent persecution of Indian religious minorities, particularly Christians, through means that include deadly pogroms and terrorism.

Joining him to speak on “Why India Suspects American Intentions” was Swapan Dasgupta, a former parliamentarian and member of India’s ruling Bharata Janata Party (BJP)—an RSS subsidiary no less hostile to Christians in India.

Yet speaking to an audience in a country where over 60 percent of people identify as Christians and a conservative movement in which 85 percent are Christian and religious sentiments hold strong sway, Dasgupta and Madhav spoke of a “natural alliance” between Western conservatives and Hindu nationalists.

Madhav, in particular, declared, “We share most of the ideas that you, the NatCons, consider dear—God, religion, tradition, family, patriotism, nationalism.” Predictably, Hindu nationalism’s hostility toward Christianity in India was not mentioned.

Instead, the speakers exploited American political divides to downplay Hindu extremism and present a more appealing face to an unsuspecting American audience. Their attempt to lead the audience to view Indian society and politics through an American conservative lens versus progressive divide is flawed at best.

Dampening Criticism of Hindu Extremism

This is part of a concerted campaign by Hindu nationalists, spearheaded by locally established nonprofits and individuals linked to the Indian diaspora in the United States, to launder and dampen, if not silence, criticism of Hindu extremism. In a way, this extends the political repression endemic in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Indians in America.

Conservatives are not the only ones who have been duped. Liberals have fallen for parallel arguments, thanks to intense lobbying Hindu nationalists in the United States.

In 2023, California’s state legislature passed a bill to ban caste discrimination—a rigid Hindu social hierarchy system that divides people into “touchables” and Dalits or “untouchables.”

The bill was passed after Dalit Americans, long relegated to the bottommost rung of the Hindu social hierarchy, testified to experiencing systemic exclusion and bias in workplaces and communities in America. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Newsom’s veto decision came after intense lobbying from influential Hindu nationalist–aligned figures within the Indian American community. Among them was Ramesh Kapur, a wealthy Democratic donor who used his influence to sway the governor’s choice, explicitly tying his support for Newsom’s future political aspirations to the bill’s rejection.

“If you want to be our next president, veto the bill,” Kapur threatened Newsom, as Kapur revealed to Harper’s magazine in an interview with essayist Andrew Cockburn.

American Self-Censorship

Newsom eventually complied, joining a growing list of activists, scholars, and politicians who have self-censored their criticism of Hindu extremism under pressure from powerful interests.

Unlike the all-familiar Islamism that Americans were reminded of by the weeks of pro-Palestinian riots that rocked university campuses across the country in 2024, Hindu nationalism is a fledgling form of extremism in the American nonprofit and activism scene that has hitherto not drawn much attention due to its lack of physical violence stateside.

Hindutva, or “Hinduness,” is an ethnic-nationalist political ideology that stipulates that India is fundamentally a Hindu cultural and civilizational space and that a homogenized version of Hinduism must attain cultural hegemony in India in the interest of fostering a strong and cohesive identity at the expense of religious and ethnic minorities.

In the United States, Hindutva has taken the form of active lobbying in the U.S. Capitol and government agencies to influence American foreign policy in ways that favor India’s BJP government and stifle criticism of its crackdown on religious freedom and political liberties.

Critics have argued Hindutva groups have taken inspiration from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s strategies for pro-Israel advocacy.

Through organizations such as the United States India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) and the Indian American Centre for Political Action (IACPA), Hindutva groups have facilitated exchange programs and events to influence legislators into supporting pro-India policies and build a network of political support.

Hindutva in America has also been shaped by nonprofits such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (formed in 1970) and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (established in 1989). Both are offshoots of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that focus on cultural preservation and political advocacy.

USINPAC and other Hindu nationalist organizations, taking a leaf out of AIPAC’s playbook, have often avoided condemning policies or events that might alienate their political allies in the United States. For instance, they did not criticize the Patriot Act of 2001 despite concerns that it could disproportionately affect Sikh and Muslim Americans.

Hindu nationalist organizations have also worked to brand critiques of Hindutva, the caste system, and Indian policies as “Hinduphobic” or anti-Indian, conflating criticism of the policies of the Modi government and the Hindu religion with hostility toward a nationality or ethnicity.

Likewise, in addition to advocacy on Capitol Hill, Hindutva in America has also taken the form of campaigns attempting to silence or “cancel” professors and activists who criticize the caste system or India’s Hindu-nationalist government.

Dual Ingratiation Strategy

Hindu nationalism employs a “dual ingratiation strategy” to resonate with the American political landscape. To conservatives, it aligns with cultural preservation, echoing the right’s concerns about traditional values and security by positioning itself against what it claims as threats of “woke” culture and Islamist terrorism. As such, they portray secularists in India as “woke” leftists to make them unpalatable to an American right-of-center audience.

On the left, Hindu nationalist groups strategically use the language of social justice, diversity, and minority rights, framing Hindus in America as a minority in need of protection from “Hinduphobia.”

They engage in dialogue with progressive movements, selectively supporting issues like LGBTIQ+ rights and environmentalism, to present themselves as inclusive.

However, they resist addressing caste discrimination, which they argue is irrelevant outside India or is a colonial construct, thereby appealing to the American liberal base’s focus on racial and religious equality but without acknowledging internal hierarchies.

These groups exploit American identity politics, claiming minority status to secure sympathy and political leverage. At the same time, they subtly promote Hindu nationalist ideology under the guise of culture protection, navigating the American political divide to their advantage.

Growing Indian Diaspora

As the Indian diaspora grows, the increasing presence of Hindutva ideology in the United States is particularly relevant.

With more Indians coming to the United States, Hindu nationalist organizations will have a larger audience and base to influence, both culturally and politically.

Moreover, as Indian Americans gain more political clout, understanding the nuances of this influence is vital to ensure that community advocacy does not inadvertently support policies that undermine democracy, human rights, or religious freedom abroad.

The challenge is to foster an environment where cultural pride can coexist with the national interest of preventing divisive politics and foreign hatreds from embedding themselves in the American social fabric.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/hindu-nationalist-organizations-efforts-to-import-hindu-extremism-into-america/