An upcoming conference titled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ has evoked sharp criticism for providing a platform to Hindumisic elements to further their Hinduphobia. In response to the allegations that the conference will further anti-Hindu propaganda, the official website of Dismantling Global Hindutva said Hinduphobia or the negative sentiments or actions against practitioners of Hinduism is not a real phenomenon but just a distraction.
In a section labelled as “Letter of Support” on its website, apparently written by scholars of “Genocide, Mass Violence, and Human Rights”, the conference sought to clarify its position vis-a-vis allegations of Hinduphobia levelled against it. However, instead of assuring that its platform won’t be used in furthering anti-Hindu sentiments, the conference went on to dismiss the notion of Hinduphobia, asserting that it is just a “distraction”, meant to deflect critiques of other “supremacist ideologies”.
“There is also an attempt to claim that the conference engages in “Hinduphobia”. As the Hindus for Human Rights organization here in the U.S. has clarified “the term has long been weaponized by Hindutva nationalists to deflect their own phobias against Muslims and Christians”. The South Asian Scholar Activist Collective has also described the term as a distraction “in the west to silence critiques of casteism, Islamophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of supremacist ideologies at the heart of Hindutva,” the letter read.
Even as Hindus continue to suffer violence and persecution, whether it is the anti-Hindu Delhi riots that took place in 2020 or the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their home state, there are some nefarious anti-Hindu ideologues who are bent on making light of the tragedies endured by Hindus. The “Genocide Scholars” of Dismantling Global Hindutva belong to such a lot that believes Hinduphobia does not exist. They insist that Hinduphobia is an imaginary construct, created to fend off the criticism of casteism, Islamophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, and other ideologies.
Essentially, the so-called Genocide Scholars have shamelessly indulged in Genocide denial. Hindus have endured multiple genocides in the last several centuries. The Islamist marauders from central Asia who raided temples and conquered vast tracts of Northern India often indulged in committing mass slaughter of Hindus. Hindus were given two options—to accept Islam or die a torturous death. Credible historical accounts say Hindus, to the tunes of millions, were slaughtered by various Muslim rulers who invaded and ruled India. Not only were Hindus tortured, raped, and killed, they were also humiliated as the Islamist invaders attacked their temples and destroyed their revered idols.
Even in independent India, thousands of Hindus have been victims of hate crimes. For instance, lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir were forced to flee their homes after Islamists ran a concerted campaign to evict the Hindus from the Valley. More than 500 Kashmiri Pandits, who either refused to leave their ancestral homes or simply could not do so, were killed by the Islamists because they were Hindus.
In February 2020, the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act reached a crescendo when Islamists mobs ran amok, creating havoc in the National Capital. Hindus were targeted, attacked and killed by the bloodthirsty Islamist mobs, most notably the brutal murder of IB sleuth Ankit Sharma, who was allegedly hacked to death by a Muslim mob. There were countless other Hindus who perished in the riots unleashed by the Islamists in Delhi.
For thousands of years, Hindus have suffered innumerable genocides. Yet, the “Genocide Scholars” of Dismantling Global Hindutva believe that threats of their persecution are unfounded and that Hinduphobia is a figment of imagination, created with the express purpose to divert attention from other issues. Not only is this assertion patently wrong, but it also reaffirms the group’s anti-Hindu proclivities and its brazen dehumanisation of Hindus. For the academics, scholars, journalists and others associated with Dismantling Global Hindutva, Hindus are expendables, a community whose genocide is justified and defended so that perpetrators belonging to the Islamists and other supremacist ideologies could be shielded.
Dismantling Global Hindutva and its Nazi-esque propaganda to dehumanise Hindus and justify their genocides
A 3-day conference cosponsored by 60+ Departments or Centers from 45+ Universities most from the USA is set to take place on the 10th, 11th and 12th of September. The event titled “Dismantling Global Hindutva” is set to see the participation of several Hindumisic elements like Audrey Truschke, Naxal sympathiser Anand Patwardhan and Nandini Sunder, Quint journalist Neha Dixit and many others.
While the Hindumisic elements globally have tried to equate Hindus to Nazis, the Nazi-esque propaganda to justify the impending genocide of Hindus is hard to miss. It is evident that this declaration of war against the Hindus has gone from a few rants of deranged minds on Twitter, to an organised campaign with journalists, academics and career Hindumisic activists joining hands.
