Orchestrated anti-Hindu campaign: Leftist and Muslim groups attempt to hijack Hindu festival to demonise Hindutva
Ohio, United States 
14 April, 2024
Case Summary
An attempt to hijack the Hindu festival of Holi with the intent to demonise Hindutva was made by leftist and Muslim groups in Ohio, USA. According to media reports, left-liberals and Muslim groups at Oberlin College in Ohio organised an event called ‘Holi Against Hindutva’. Hosted jointly by the Asian American Alliance and the Muslim Students Association, the event was slated to take place at the Hallock Auditorium of the private liberal arts college. “Join us for a teach-in on Hindu nationalism in the US and India, its violent implications for Muslims worldwide and connections to Zionism. No prior knowledge necessary,” the event synopsis read. One of the speakers scheduled for the event was Pranay Somayajula, the Director of Research at Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), an organisation known for its pro-Islamist stance. Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) was established in 2019 by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and the Organisation for Minorities of India (OFMI). The group has been actively involved in anti-Hindu and anti-Modi activism and is widely regarded as a pro-Islamist organisation. Notably, the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), a coalition involving HfHR, led protests against Prime Minister Modi's visit to Houston in 2019 and endorsed the 'Dismantling Global Hindutva' conference, a deeply anti-Hindu conference in 2021. In addition, HfHR created a toolkit to propagate against Prime Minister Modi during his state visit to the US in June 2023. The organisation's Twitter account was withheld in India in October 2023 following a legal demand for spreading misinformation about Hindutva, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The event’s organisers, including 'Students Against Hindutva' (SAH), which is linked to pro-Islamist outfits like 'South Asian Americans Leading Together' (SAALT) and 'Stand With Kashmir' (SWH), faced criticism for their biases and dissemination of false information regarding Hindutva and Indian policies.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Hate Speech against Hindus. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. In this case, it is important to note that the Hindu festival of Holi holds profound cultural, religious, and spiritual significance for Hindus. Celebrated with great enthusiasm, Holi marks the arrival of spring and the victory of good over evil. Holi is one of the most revered Hindu festivals, celebrated by millions, fostering themes of love, unity, renewal, and forgiveness. The deliberate exploitation of such a sacred festival as a political tool to attack Hindutva reveals a profound disrespect for its religious and cultural importance. Using Holi in this manner undermined not only the festival itself but also the faith and identity of millions of Hindus who hold it dear. This calculated appropriation and distortion reflected a targeted form of religiously motivated hate speech, designed to provoke division and demean Hindu beliefs. By turning a joyous celebration of the Hindu faith into a platform for political attack, the leftist and Muslim perpetrators demonstrated blatant disregard for the festival’s sanctity and the sentiments of Hindu devotees. Such acts were rooted in deep-seated bias and prejudice towards Hinduism and the Hindu community, making it a clear instance of religiously motivated hate speech. Moreover, the malicious targeting of Hindutva—often falsely equated with extremism—was itself an expression of anti-Hindu prejudice cloaked as political critique. 'Hindutva' is often used as a euphemism to make the targeting of Hindus more palatable. Hindutva is essentially a unifying ideology for Hindus, which became imperative for Hindus to find and preserve their cultural identity, which was being eroded and attacked due to Islamic invasions, British colonisation, Christian theological impositions and conversions. Hindutva is not a destructive ideology, as some attempt to portray, but one that is used as a unifying edifice for Hindus. Hindutva is also often used as a euphemism to target Hindus on the whole and their religious identity and faith. It is essentially semantic jugglery to confuse Hindus into believing that their own persecution by supremacists is somehow 'justified' because the specific victims espoused an ideology (Hindutva) which deserves the onslaught. The fact that the use of 'Hindutva' is merely to mask animosity towards Hindus was evident from the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference held in the USA, where the speakers unabashedly spoke about how Hindutva and Hinduism are indistinguishable and therefore, to "dismantle Hindutva" one would have to "dismantle Hinduism". The practices of targeting Hindus and their religious and cultural identity, and justifying that victimisation and dehumanisation by using euphemisms like "Hindutva", stem from inherent animosity and hostility towards Hindus. Even in this particular case, the hatred expressed against Hindutva served merely as a veil; the true animosity was directed towards Hinduism and the Hindu community as a whole. Additionally, in this case, considering that the Muslim and Leftist groups have been involved in the “Dismantling Global Hindutva” conference and are well known for their anti-Hindu and anti-India views due to their hostility towards Hindu collectivism, this further confirms that their actions were motivated by animosity against the Hindu community and their religion. This firmly categorises their conduct as anti-Hindu hate speech. Given that this case clearly meets the criteria of hate speech targeted against Hindus, it is being added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Others
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
both
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