Hindutva Network

The Network of Hate

Over the last 100 years, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has meticulously expanded its base throughout India and abroad. The Hindutva movement has smartly insinuated itself into mainstream America, mirroring their gradual acquisition of power and influence in India. In the US their strategy has consisted of gaining influence in the spaces of Indian Americans, while pursuing proximity to power through active lobbying in Washington, DC, campaign financing of politicians, and projecting themselves as champions of human rights through well-crafted campaigns.

A network of Hindutva fascist-inspired organizations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar, has established national and local organizations throughout the U.S., including the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Sewa International, and Ekal Vidyalaya. Their primary activities and goals are:

Fundraising for hate-mongers (Sadhvi Rithambara (a militant priest), PM Narendra Modi and RSS projects in India)
Misleading mainstream Hindu community
Spreading Islamophobia in the US
Establishing Hindutva in mainstream America

The rise of Hindu nationalism in India has been aggressively welcomed by powerful Hindu-American groups in the U.S. and parts of the Indian diaspora in the U.S. also champion Hindutva. Among Indian Americans, proponents of Hindutva have steadily moved into positions of power at professional associations such as the Association of Indian American Doctors. They have appropriated how India’s culture is projected in America through their ascendancy in Indian cultural organizations and through Hindu-centric campaigns around Yoga. Many of them have been so emboldened as to be openly forming alliances with American Islamophobes.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the international wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and has a presence in 156 countries, including the United States

Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA)

VHPA’s Indian counterpart, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the religious wing of RSS was designated as a religious militant organisation by the Central Intelligence Agency

Sewa International

Sewa International is the foreign service wing of RSS’s Sewa Bharati India. Sewa touts itself as a service organization and has presence in many countries including its branch in the US.

Ekal Vidyalaya

Ekal Vidyalaya USA is the US counterpart of Ekal Vidyalaya India, which is a RSS-VHP-run project. Ekal is accused of promoting hate against Muslim & Christian minorities.

Overseas Friends of the BJP

The US based Overseas Friends of the BJP, was forced to register as a foreign agent for aggressive foreign interference on behalf of the ruling RSS linked Hindu nationalist BJP party in India.

Hindu American Foundation

Hindu American Foundation (HAF) is the main Hindu Nationalist advocacy group in the US that does aggressive lobbying on the US Capitol and with White House, DoS, and NSC

Hindu Students Council & Hindu YUVA

The Hindu Students Council (a VHPA project) and the Hindu Youth for Unity, Virtues & Action (YUVA, a HSS project) are the sister concerns of Hindu supremacist student organization in India.

Infinity Foundation

Infinity Foundation’s founder Rajiv Malhotra, a Hindu supremacist author, is often referred to as the “Ayn Rand of Internet Hindutva”, as the Hindu nationalist movement is known as.

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation

GHHF adheres to Hindu supremacism, a political ideology also known as Hindu nationalism/Hindutva. Hindutva ideology is inspired by Germany's Fascist Hitler's Nazi Party

Political Influence by Hindu Supremacists in United States

There has been a steady creep of Hindu supremacist individuals into American politics with aggressive outreach, warning and threatening Members of Congress against criticizing India or Hindu nationalism or speaking in favor of Muslims.

The Hindu Nationalists’ dream and strategy are to get a member of congress who is beholden to them elevated to the status of the chair of South Asia subcommittee (and eventually the foreign affairs committee) so they can effectively subordinate all US Foreign policy toward South Asia to the Hindu Nationalist agenda. As Islamophobia is central to their agenda, it means the US will not only not be able to raise a voice against the persecution of Muslims in India but will actively support the persecutors of Muslims in that region.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is an open supporter of BJP. Other candidates such as Raja Krishnamurthy, Ami Bera, Padma Kuppa, Sri Kulkarni have received financial backing by Hindu Nationalists. Hindutva-aligned candidates support policies that target Indian religious minorities and caste-oppressed people both in America and abroad while projecting themselves as champions of progressive values in the U.S.

Hindutva groups in the U.S. have funded opposing candidates in an attempt to defeat Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Keith Ellison. They’ve opposed City Council resolutions against India’s discriminatory citizenship laws in Seattle, Albany, Cambridge, San Francisco, St. Paul, and Chicago.

An article in Al Jazeera, published in April, revealed that at least ﬁve U.S.-based Hindu groups received $833,000 in loans and grants from the federal COVID relief funds distributed by the United States Small Business Administration. The ﬁve organizations—Sewa International (the foreign service wing of the RSS’ Sewa Bharati), the VHPA, the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (a VHP-run project), the Inﬁnity Foundation, headed by the Hindu nationalist author Rajiv Malhotra, and the HAF were reported to have links with the Sangh Parivar.

Hindu American Foundation’s (HAF) co-founder Rishi Bhutada was the main organizer and spokesperson of the Howdy Modi event in Houston where Hindu supremacist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed and Trump was the chief guest. At least 50,000 of them traveled to Houston to cheer the Indian Prime Minister.

Rishi Bhutada along with his large extended family (all staunch adherents of Hindu nationalism) and other HAF members contributed close to $50,000 to Sri Preston Kulkarni’s campaign in Houston, TX. Kulkarni has come out and stated that his campaign would not have happened had it not been for them. He further went on to say that Rishi Bhutada’s father Ramesh Bhutada (who is considered one of the founders of Hindu nationalist movements in the United States) was like a father to him after Kulkarni lost his own father in his early years. Analysis of Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports reveals that Bhutada — as well as his wife and son — were among the first 40 donors to Kulkarni’s campaign.

According to Form 990, the tax document that tax-exempt organizations in the U.S. ﬁle with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Bhutada Family Foundation donated $362,242 to the HAF between 2005 and 2018. During the same period, the Bhutadas gave more than $1 million to ﬁve Sangh-affiliated organizations in the U.S.— Param Shakti Peeth of America (PSPA), Sewa, Ekal, the HSS, and the VHPA.

Another congressman who is beholden to Hindutva is Raja Krishnamoorthy from IL-8. When Raja Krishnamoorthi first launched his campaign, he said everything Muslims wanted to hear, but soon after he consolidated his position, he enabled and facilitated the World Hindu Conference where Mohan Bhagwat, head of RSS was the chief guest and every noted Islamophobe from India was invited.

When fellow Indian-Americans like Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna are so outspoken in opposition to the agenda of India’s ruling Hindu nationalists and yet congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi remains silent on the issue of foreign policy while, at the same time, taking in large donations from representatives of the Sangh in America.

To understand what Raja does behind the scenes to undermine human rights and enable Islamophobia, read this report.