In another instant of rising Hinduphobia in the United States, a unit of the ruling Democratic party has passed a resolution labelling a number of Hindu organisations as “foreign hate groups”.
The Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee (TDMC) in New Jersey named the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), SEWA International, Infinity Foundation, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, as “foreign hate groups”, and said that they have direct and indirect ties to RSS. Calling them Hindu Supremacists, the unit of president Joe Biden’s party has demanded that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) should step up research on “foreign hate groups that have domestic branches with tax-exempt status”.
The resolution passed by TDMC says, “Hindu nationalist organisations have infiltrated all levels of politics and were highly effective in blocking US House Resolution 417 which was a congressional attempt to warn against the Hindu nationalist movement.”
House Resolution 417 was a controversial resolution brought in 2013 in the Congress that sought to continue denying a US visa to Narendra Modi, which was sponsored by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The resolution had also called on India to protect the rights and freedoms of religious minorities and asked the US government to include the matter as part of bilateral the Strategic Dialogue. However, the House resolution lost traction after several sponsors withdrew from it after growing criticism of the move.
TDMC alleges that “most local American elected officials remain unaware and unprepared to deal with the Hindu extremists”. The resolution says, “A bulldozer which has been weaponized against minorities was part of the New Jersey India Independence Day parade with giant pictures of Yogi Adityanath as ‘Daddy Bulldozer’, responsible for demolishing homes of peaceful protestors”. TDMC also states that “controversial BJP spokesman Sambit Patra served as Grand Marshall”.
The resolution also claims that, “one million emails, death threats and rape threats were sent by Hindu extremists to US Academic scholars” like Hinduphobic Rutgers professor Audrey Truschke and their families when 50 universities supported the anti-Hindu online conference ‘Dismantling Hindutva’. They also claimed that Drew University received 30,000 emails in few minutes causing server to crash.
Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee claims that the Hindu organisations can be declared as terror groups under US Code Title 22 Chapter 38, section 2656f(d), which defines terrorism as, “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience”
They say that only condemning hate incidents is insufficient as “hate groups” are increasingly more organized, cause fear and harm to people, and need to be identified and monitored now for safety and security.
The TDMC urged New Jersey Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, Governor Phil Murphy and Congressman Josh Gottheimer to ask the FBI and CIA to probe these groups. They also urged the representatives to revise the Visa waiver program Improvement and Terrorist stave Prevention Act of 2015 “to address foreign violent extremists”. They further asked them to pass the US House Resolution 1196, “condemning human rights violations and violations of international religious freedom in India”. This resolution urges the US Department of State to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern.
The TDMC press release informing about the resolution was published by Indian American Muslim Council among others. Despite not being a media organisation, IAMC published it on their website, indicating their support for demanding action against Hindu groups in the USA.
The resolution by the Democratic party unit underlines the increasing anti-Hindu trend among American liberals, particularly in the Democratic party.
