Case Summary

In the United States, Hindu Americans and their faith were targeted by a Christian nationalist organisation and a Muslim extremist group. The perpetrators also maligned Hindutva, the Hindu political movement established to protect Hinduism against anti-Hindu forces such as Muslim extremists, Christian extremists, Khalistani separatists, and the broader Left-Liberal anti-Hindu ecosystem.​ According to reports, this incident unfolded amidst rising Hinduphobia in the United States. A Christian nationalist group and the Muslim extremist organisation, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), joined efforts to intensify vilification against Indian American Hindus and their faith. The New York State Council of Churches, via its Religious Nationalisms Project, announced a series of interfaith seminars between 20th November 2025 and 23rd November 2025, in North Carolina’s Bay Area. Events titled “The Weaponisation of Hinduism in North Carolina and India and the Relationships to Global Religious Nationalisms” were co-organised by the Indian American Muslim Council. Additional sponsorship for these anti-Hindu events was provided by the White Christian Nationalisms Task Force, operating under the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church.​ Promotional materials stated the seminars would occur at several venues, including United Methodist churches in Roseville, Alameda, and Santa Rosa, and First Church Berkeley (United Church of Christ). A session had also been planned at a Sikh Gurudwara Sahib in San Jose. This series was set to address religious nationalisms, with “a special focus on Hindutva as a central case study.” Scheduled presenters for these events were The Reverend Peter Cook, The Reverend Neal Christie, and The Right Reverend Joshua Lickter.​ The collaboration between a church-affiliated Christian group and the anti-Hindu Muslim organisation ignited outrage among Hindu Americans. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) condemned this anti-Hindu tour and event, noting heightened animosity against Hindus in the United States. The foundation questioned city authorities regarding their allowance of such an event in California and the use of public funding for a propaganda campaign against Hindus.​ A statement from the Hindu American Foundation on X read: “A New York-based Christian church group joining the Indian American Muslim Council on a ‘tour’ in spreading provocative lies against Hindus when anti-Hindu hate is at its zenith is absolutely unacceptable. Why does your office fund this @GovKathyHochul? Is this acceptable in California, @CAgovernor?” Suhag Shukla, Executive Director of the Hindu American Foundation, commented, “The New York State Council of Churches is joining a Muslim group to tour California—not to promote solidarity or peace—but to target peaceful Hindu Californians. This is not interfaith solidarity; it is an ambush. @GovKathyHochul, your New York Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is financing the council as anti-Hindu hate peaks. How is this justified?”​ Simultaneously, the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) expressed similar concern over the seminars, accusing the organisers of attempting “to lecture practising Hindus about what their faith should and should not be”.​ Notably, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) is a Washington-based Muslim extremist organisation, known for its involvement in anti-India activities and the promotion of an anti-Hindu agenda for several years. In 2021, the group, alongside the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), campaigned to label India as a “Country of Particular Concern.” During the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025, when the Indian Armed Forces neutralised Islamic terrorist infrastructure inside Pakistan, both organisations condemned India’s Operation Sindoor.​ The Indian American Muslim Council has documented links with banned Islamic terror groups, including the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jamaat-e-Islami, through its founder, Shaik Ubaid. The group functions as a Jamaat-e-Islami-backed advocacy organisation. It has also created the 'Hindus for Human Rights' group, an openly anti-Hindu and anti-India entity in the United States. Furthermore, in 2021, ‘Hindus for Human Rights’ endorsed the anti-Hindu “Dismantling Global Hindutva” conference. The group also circulated a “special toolkit” aiming to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his State visit to the United States in June 2023.​ This pattern of events is not unprecedented. In 2021, the “Dismantling Global Hindutva” conference in the United States provided a platform to whitewash Hindu persecution and denigrate the Hindutva movement, which strives to protect Hindus and their faith. The conference declared that, for ‘liberals’ and Islamic radicals, there was no distinction between Hindutva and Hinduism. By claiming to “deconstruct” Hindutva, the event ultimately undermined Hinduism and its practitioners by enabling Hinduphobic individuals to dismiss and deride legitimate concerns voiced by Hindus. Despite ongoing violence and persecution against Hindus—such as the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi in 2020 and the forced exodus and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits—certain ideologues associated with ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ insisted Hinduphobia was merely imaginary, invented to deflect criticism of casteism, Islamophobia, sexism, antisemitism, and other prejudices.

Case Images

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being added to the tracker under the primary category- Hate Speech against Hindus. The subcategory selected is- Anti-Hindu subversion and prejudice. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Media plays a specific and overarching reach in perpetuating prejudicial attitudes towards a community owing to unfair, untrue coverage and/or misrepresentation/misinterpretation, selective coverage and/or omission of facts of/pertaining to issues affecting a specific religious group. This type of bias can dehumanise the victim group, making it easier for others to justify harmful actions against them, which aligns with the objectives of hate speech laws aimed at preventing such harm. It is often observed that the media takes a prejudicial stand against the Hindu community driven by their need to shield the aggressor community which happens to be a numeric minority, however, is the one perpetrating violence against Hindus. For example, the media is often quick to contextualise religiously motivated crimes against Hindus, omit or misrepresent facts that point towards religiously motivated hate crimes, justify and/or downplay religiously motivated hate crimes or simply present fake news to stereotype Hindus. Such media bias leads to the denial of persecution and is often used to dehumanise Hindus, leading to justification for violence against them. For example, the media covered several fake allegations of Hindus targeting Muslims and forcing them to chant Jai Shree Ram. Most of these cases were proved false and fabricated after police investigation. These fake news reports were subsequently never retracted or clarified. Such fake news led to the justification of violence and dehumanisation of Hindus based on the argument that since Hindus targeted Muslims and forced them to chant Jai Shree Ram, the dehumanisation of Hindus and violence against them was par for the course and merely a retaliation. Such media bias leads to prejudicial portrayal of Hindus and offers a justification for violence against them and therefore, is considered hate speech under this category. The other 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. This case represents a clear instance of religiously motivated hate speech and anti-Hindu prejudice orchestrated by accused Christian nationalist and Muslim extremist organisations. These groups are conducting tours and events that aggressively target American Hindus, their faith, and the Hindutva movement, seeking to vilify and undermine them. Firstly, it is crucial to clarify that Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, is not an extremist Hindu movement. Rather, it is a political and religious movement aimed at protecting Hinduism and the Hindu community from attacks by anti-Hindu groups like the Islamist extremists, Christian extremists, Khalistani extremists, and anti-Hindu elements within the left-wing ecosystem. Hindutva is not a destructive ideology; it is a unifying edifice that seeks to bring Hindus together regardless of caste or social division, encouraging pride in their religious identity without succumbing to persecution. Often, Hindutva is used as a euphemism to target Hindus broadly and attack their religious identity. This semantic manipulation attempts to justify hostility against Hindus by claiming that the ideology they follow (Hindutva) deserves such an onslaught. This was very evident in the 2021 'Dismantling Global Hindutva' conference, which explicitly revealed this by stating that Hindutva and Hinduism are indistinguishable, meaning that attacking Hindutva is essentially attacking Hindus and Hinduism itself. Therefore, in this case, discussing the "weaponisation" of Hindu nationalism or Hinduism clearly intend to target Hindus due to their religious identity. Groups like the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), a known rabidly anti-Hindu organisation, have repeatedly pushed an anti-Hindu, anti-India agenda. Its documented ties to Muslim extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-e-Islami, alongside its support for the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference via allied organisations like Hindus for Human Rights, make it evident that these tours and seminars are motivated by deep religious animosity towards the Hindu community and their faith. Moreover, the involvement of Christian extremist groups and Christian nationalist organisations, supported by mainstream church bodies, in backing and organising such events demonstrates entrenched hostility from multiple fronts against Hindus. In recent years, Hindu Americans have faced direct targeting by Christian extremists in the United States, including vilification of their faith and desecration of Hindu temples. Hence, the joint Muslim-Christian actions against Hindus reinforce a pattern of religious animosity that transcends single communities. Such orchestrated events pose grave threats as their normalisation fosters greater stigmatisation, discrimination, and hatred against Hindus in America, escalating the environment of religiously motivated bigotry and hate crimes. The Hinduphobia Tracker has previously documented numerous instances of anti-Hindu hate crimes in the United States. Notably, during Diwali 2025, there was a marked surge in anti-Hindu hate speech on social media, primarily driven by Christian extremists. These individuals launched an online campaign of denigration and abuse, targeting Hindus, their faith, the festival of Diwali, and Hindu deities. This incident is emblematic of a broader pattern of religiously motivated hostility aimed at Hindu communities in the US. Such orchestrated hate speech not only offends religious harmony but also intensifies the climate of fear and discrimination faced by Hindu Americans. Another notable example involved the University of Houston’s online course, Lived Hindu Religion, which sparked outrage for blatant Hinduphobia by misrepresenting Hinduism and falsely portraying it as a political tool of oppression. Taught by Professor Aaron Michael Ullrey, the course pushed controversial narratives, including that Hinduism is not an “ancient, lived tradition” but a construct weaponised by “Hindu nationalists” to silence minorities. American broadcaster NBC faced backlash for demonising Hindu deities in a “comic” sketch on its popular Saturday Night Live show that mocked a Satanic ritual. In September 2025, in Texas, Lord Hanuman, a Hindu deity, was mocked as a “false god” by Christian Republican politician Alexander Duncan, an act of blatant anti-Hindu hatred. That same month in Greenwood, Indiana, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple, was vandalised and defaced with hateful slogans against India, including “Hindustan, Modi Murdabad” (meaning “Death to India and Modi”), targeting India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In April 2025, in Queens Village, New York, the Hindu flag displayed at a Hindu family’s home was desecrated and thrown into the garbage by an unidentified individual. Authorities classified the incident as a hate crime. Also in March 2025, the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) Senate at UC Berkeley voted against a resolution to officially recognise October as Hindu Heritage Month. The debate saw Hinduphobic behaviour from senators Isha Chander, Jonathan Franco, and Carlos Gonzalez, who displayed disrespectful conduct during discussions. Given that this case clearly meets all parameters of a religiously motivated crime—targeting a religious group’s identity, propagating hate through organised campaigns, and fostering hostility—it will be added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker. Disclaimer: In this case, it is important to note that both Muslim and Christian organisations were involved. However, the Hinduphobia Tracker database currently allows only one perpetrator identity to be selected per case—either Christian extremists or Muslim extremists. Given that the first three speakers were Christians and the event was primarily organised by church bodies, despite Muslim involvement, the perpetrator identity for documentation purposes is recorded as ''Christian extremists''. The Hinduphobia Tracker records the date of an incident based on when the crime or event occurs rather than when it is reported by the media. Although this event was organised from 20th to 23rd November 2025, it was first notified on social media by Hindu organisations in America on 14th November 2025. Therefore, 14th November 2025 has been selected as the indicative date of the incident solely for documentation purposes.