A report published by an American multiracial civil group, ‘Savera’, in association with the social justice research and strategy centre, ‘Political Research Associates (PRA)’, has termed the American Hindu organisation, Hindu American Foundation (HAF), as “far-right” and “supremacist,” and ties the organisation’s roots to Hindutva.
The report, titled ‘HAF Way to Supremacy’, published on October 15, sheds light on how the organisation leads the Indian Hindu population in the USA towards Hindutva while rebranding itself as a “minority rights” organisation and working along the lines of a supremacist ideology.
‘HAF Way to Supremacy’ finds that the Hindu American Foundation’s claims of upholding civil rights starkly contrast with their record of far-right advocacy.
Indian Americans constitute a significant population in the USA but remain a minority group in the country. The Hindu American Foundation, in the name of upholding the rights of the Indian minority and the diaspora, acts as an agent of India’s far-right Hindutva family (Sangh Parivar), including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, as well as its American offspring, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHP-A) and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the report argues.
These organisations, which have historically struggled to enter the USA’s civil society spaces, can now exploit the unfamiliarity with Hindu supremacy in the country and reach spaces they previously could not enter through the friendlier façade that the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has crafted.
The report calls out HAF’s track record and accuses it of vigorously fighting “to prevent the institution of legal protections against caste discrimination, emulating white supremacist tactics against anti-racist organising.”
The report further alleges that HAF has demonised Indian American Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs in the U.S., to alienate other voices from the Indian diaspora and amplify only the Hindutva narrative while branding it as the Indian identity in America.
Additionally, the report argues that HAF endeavours to justify and whitewash numerous human rights violations for which India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is responsible.
‘HAF Way to Supremacy’ points to HAF’s associations with the right wing in America during a time when settled ideas about the political alignments of communities of colour as liberal and progressive are being shaken loose. It highlights the cultural and political deviation from the Indian diaspora’s increasing trend of moving away from the Democratic Party and towards the Republican Party.
The rising appeal of the far-right political movement in the U.S., fuelled by propaganda and misinformation, has found support within various minority communities, as evidenced by the rise of the “Chinese Tea Party,” the pro-Israel Jewish right-wing, and the increasing visibility of Latino leadership in white supremacist movements, the report states.
The report draws a comparison between the Hindu American Foundation’s ideology and the recent phenomenon of a “Multiracial Far Right,” which overlooks basic issues and rights of the people, and works towards religious or ethnic supremacy while hijacking civil society spaces otherwise committed to multiracial democracy by instrumentalising the language of multiculturalism, minority rights, and representational politics.
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