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Hindu American Foundation

2023-08-05T14:24:05Z

2001:67C:2628:647:A:0:0:303:

{{AFC submission/draft}}

{{Short description|American Hindu advocacy organization}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox organization
| name = Hindu American Foundation
| full_name =
| image = HAF_Logo_2019_color.svg
| size =
| purpose = [[Hinduism in the United States|Hindu American]] advocacy
| abbreviation = HAF
| formation = {{start date and age|2003|09|03}}
| founders = Sanjay Garg, Nikhil Joshi, Mihir Meghani, Nagendra Rao, [[Aseem Shukla]]
| headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]]
| location = 910 17th St NW, Suite 315
| location_country = United States
| region_served = [[United States]]
| status = [[501(c)(3)]] [[nonprofit organization|non-profit]]
| tax_id = 68-0551525<ref name="guidestar">{{cite web |title=Hindu American Foundation Guidestar Profile |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/68-0551525 |website=[[Guidestar]] |access-date=6 January 2019 }}</ref>
| language = [[American English]]
| leader_title = Executive Director
| leader_name = Suhag Shukla
| website = {{URL|https://www.hinduamerican.org|Official website}}
}}The '''Hindu American Foundation''' ({{Small|abbr.}} {{Abbr|HAF|Hindu American Foundation}}) is an American Hindu non-profit [[advocacy group]] founded in 2003. The organisation has its roots in the [[Hindutva|Hindu nationalist]] organisation [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad America]] and its student wing [[Hindu Students Council]].

HAF's areas of activism include highlighting Hindu persecution in other countries, protecting Hindu rights in the United States, pushing back against the cultural appropriation of yoga, and opposition to legislation of anti-caste-discrimination laws.

==Establishment==
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) was founded in September 2003 by Mihir Meghani, an emergency care physician; [[Aseem Shukla]], an associate professor in urologic surgery; Suhag Shukla, an attorney; Nikhil Joshi, a labor law attorney; and Adeeti Joshi, a speech therapist.<ref>
{{cite news |title=Meet the Young Hindu American Foundation |url=http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3105 | author=Lavina Melwani |newspaper=[[Hinduism Today]] |date=April 2009}}</ref> The organization describes itself as a human rights and advocacy group and emphasizes upon the "Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism."{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|p=159}}

The first Hindu advocacy organization to have a professional organizational structure and full-time staff, it is widely considered to be the most prominent Hindu advocacy organization operating out of America.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Kurien |first=Prema |date=26 July 2016 |title=Majority versus minority religious status and diasporic nationalism: Indian American advocacy organisations: Majority versus minority religious status and diasporic nationalism |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nana.12255 |journal=Nations and Nationalism |language=en |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=109–128 |doi=10.1111/nana.12255}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{cite news |date=27 November 2010 |title=Hindu Group Stirs a Debate Over Yoga's Soul |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/nyregion/28yoga.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&sq=yoga&st=cse&scp=2}}</ref> Scholar [[Vinay Lal]] notes that the organization drew on the claims of Hinduism being unique in its tolerance and religious pluralism as well as the enormous goodwill created by [[Gandhi]] in the West.{{sfnp|Vinay Lal, The Other Indians|2012|p=123}}

== Hindu nationalist ties ==
HAF co-founder Mihir Meghani had also founded the [[University of Michigan]]'s chapter of the [[Hindu Students Council]] (HSC), a nationwide network of student societies affiliated with the [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad America]] (VHPA), in 1991.{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|pp=145-146}} He served on the governing council of VHPA and had even authored an essay for the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP),<ref name="whospeaks" />{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|p=145}}<ref name="Frontline">
{{Cite news |author1=Raqib Hameed Naik |author2=Divya Trivedi |date=16 July 2021 |title=Sangh Parivar's U.S. funds trail |newspaper=Frontline |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/sangh-parivars-us-funds-trail/article35117629.ece}}
</ref> comparing Hindus—a religious majority in India—with Jews, Black Americans, and colonized groups, whose bottled-up anger, for over a millennium, found a channel of outburst in the rise of BJP and [[demolition of the Babri Masjid]].{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|p=146}}{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|pp=145-146}}{{Efn|Meghani critiqued the "denigrations of Hindu traditions" and "pseudi-secularism" practiced by Indian National Congress and went on to warn Muslims about the need of adjusting to a Hindutva-ised Bharat. Meghani claims to have changed his views on the subject in the years since publication - the essay was, apparently, a part of his academic coursework (as a history-major at UMich) and he professes ignorance about how it came to BJP.}} [[Coalition Against Genocide]] (CAG)—a platform established in the aftermath of [[2002 Gujarat riots]] against Hindu Nationalist violence directed at minorities<ref name=":7" />—alleges the formation of the Hindu American Foundation to have been the outcome of Meghani's parleys on the governing council of VHPA and an effort to rebrand the Hindutva agenda as "Hindu rights" in a language suitable to mainstream American politics; Sangay K. Mishra, an assistant professor of political science at Drew University, agrees about the repackaging motto.<ref name="Hindu rights">
{{harvp|Coalition Against Genocide|2013|loc=Sec. 2}}: 'With the VHP-A led by first-generation immigrants who are unable to penetrate the mainstream American political framework, Meghani's creation of the HAF provided a hitherto unavailable opportunity to bridge the gap between the Hindutva agenda and mainstream American politics. By situating the HAF's work within a framework of American multiculturalism, Meghani effectively gained the ability to push the VHP-A's Hindutva agenda as an issue of "Hindu rights".'
</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Mishra |first=Sangay K. |title=Desis Divided : The Political Lives of South Asian Americans |date=1 March 2016 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-8115-0 |page=101–103, 215}}</ref>

CAG further notes most of the office bearers of the Hindu American Foundation to have had been drawn from HSC activists.{{sfnp|Coalition Against Genocide|2013|loc=Sec. 2}} [[Georgetown University]]'s Bridge Initiative finds HAF board member Rishi Bhutada to have been the official spokesperson of 'Howdy Modi', a RSS backed rally in support of India's incumbent prime minister from BJP held in Houston on 22 September 2020; a report published by [[BBC]] notes HAF to have lobbied support in favor of Modi among the diaspora.<ref name="Bridge Initiative">
{{Cite web |title=Factsheet: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) |url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh-rss/ |access-date=11 July 2021 |website=Bridge Initiative}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=28 April 2022 |title=Why the West is reckoning with caste bias now |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61241849 |access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref> In September 2019, HAF published an open letter criticizing congressman [[Ro Khanna|Ro Khanna's]] public plea to reject Hindutva.<ref>
{{Cite news |date=17 September 2019 |title=230 Indian-American organisations urge Congressman RO Khanna to withdraw from Pakistan Caucus |work=[[The Economic Times]] |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/230-indian-american-organisations-urge-congressman-ro-khanna-to-withdraw-from-pakistan-caucus/articleshow/71162810.cms}}
</ref> The Bridge Initiative as well as several journalists have documented anti-Muslim statements made by HAF board members, past and present, and individuals invited to speak by HAF.<ref name="Bridge Initiative" /><ref name="Frontline" /><ref>
{{Cite news |author=Ram Vishwanathan |date=29 October 2020 |title=How the American Sangh hopes to win the 2020 US elections |website=The Caravan |url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/how-the-american-sangh-hopes-to-win-the-2020-elections}}
</ref> Academic and journalists have also documented money trails linking HAF to other Sangh Parivar groups via their donors.<ref name="Frontline" />

Sonia Sikka, an academic specializing on the intersections of the religious and the political, notes clear alignments between HAF's activities and the politics of Hindutva Nationalism despite their claims to non-partisanship.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Sikka |first=Sonia |date=12 July 2022 |title=Indian Islamophobia as Racism |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.13152 |journal=The Political Quarterly |volume=93 |issue=3 |language=en |pages=1467–923X.13152 |doi=10.1111/1467-923X.13152 |s2cid=250515835 |issn=0032-3179}}</ref> Chad Bauman, a professor of religion at Butler University, contends HAF's portrayal of Hinduism to be misleadingly monolithic and sanitized, in service of a political agenda.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bauman |first1=Chad |last2=Saunders |first2=Jennifer B. |date=January 2009 |title=Out of India: Immigrant Hindus and South Asian Hinduism in the USA: Immigrant Hindus and South Asian Hinduism in the USA |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00121.x |journal=Religion Compass |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=116–135 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00121.x}}</ref> Nishant Upadhyyay, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, specializing in gender and sexuality studies findsthe group's queer-friendly portrayal of Hinduism to be embedded within a discourse of Hindutva [[homonationalism]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Upadhyay |first=Nishant |date=18 May 2020 |title=Hindu Nation and its Queers: Caste, Islamophobia, and De/coloniality in India |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1749709 |journal=Interventions |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=464–480 |doi=10.1080/1369801X.2020.1749709 |issn=1369-801X |s2cid=218822737}}</ref> Dheepa Sundaram, a scholar of religion and digital culture at [[University of Denver]], notes that the group aimed to sanitize Hindutva, in part by borrowing from decolonial vocabulary and misleadingly portraying terms like Hindutva, Brahminism etc. as oriental pejoratives.<ref name=":10" />

HAF denies these charges, claims to non-partisanship, and has unsuccessfuly filed defamation suits against a wide range of organisations and individuals that alleged its links to Hindutva.<ref name="RNS" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Menon |first=Vandana |date=14 June 2022 |title=A mysterious new report tells you who funds Hindu nationalism in US, and with how much money |url=https://theprint.in/features/a-mysterious-new-report-tells-you-who-funds-hindu-nationalism-in-us-and-with-how-much-money/995680/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref> However, Arun Chaudhuri, an anthropologist of religion and politics at [[York University]], cautions that such disavowals are not be taken as face value but rather as efforts at distancing from the negative connotations of Hindu Nationalism. Sailaja Krishnamurti, a professor at [[Saint Mary's University (Halifax)]] who specializes in religious traditions of the South Asian diaspora, summarizes that HAF has "earned a reputation" of being a conservative group purveying Hindu Nationalist politics.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Krishnamurti |first=Sailaja |title=The Routledge Handbook of Hindu–Christian Relations |chapter-url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781003139843-18 |chapter=Race, representation, and Hindu–Christian encounters in contemporary North America |date=31 December 2020 |pages=180–192 |publisher=Routledge Handbooks Online |isbn=978-0-367-00070-7 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003139843-18 |s2cid=229400060 |quote=Despite claiming to have no affiliations with transnational Hindu groups like the VHP, however, the HAF has earned a reputation as a conservative group supporting a nationalist Hindu politics. At best, the version of Hinduism promoted by HAF is homogenous and simplistic, as Bauman and Saunders (2009) suggest.}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Jenkins |first1=Laura Dudley |title=Hindu perspectives on the right to religious freedom |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203732625-11/hindu-perspectives-right-religious-freedom-laura-dudley-jenkins-kristina-teater |work=Routledge Handbook of Freedom of Religion or Belief |doi=10.4324/9780203732625-11 |access-date=7 August 2022 |last2=Teater |first2=Kristina M.|year=2020 |pages=102–116 |isbn=9780203732625 |s2cid=228820013 }}</ref> As does Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, a historian specializing in S. Asian religions at the [[University of Vermont]], who qualifies HAF as a "deeply conservative" outfit.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fuerst |first=Ilyse R. Morgenstein |date=28 June 2022 |title=Survivals: The Stakes of Religious Literacy |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/mtsr/34/5/article-p435_2.xml |journal=Method & Theory in the Study of Religion |volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=435–445 |doi=10.1163/15700682-bja10078 |s2cid=251185536 |issn=0943-3058}}</ref> [[Audrey Truschke]], a historian of South Asia at [[Rutgers University]], finds HAF to be an integral component of the "wider Sangh Parivar" and Hindu right in the United States; she notes the organization to have "prioritized attacks on higher education".<ref>Truschke, A. ''[[doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.1070|The Hindu Right in the United States]]''. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History.</ref>

==Activism==

=== Hindu persecution in other countries ===
During 2004–05, the organization held events to educate legislators about issues of concern to Hindu Americans. These included the abuse of Hindus in the Muslim majority regions of South Asia, including [[Kashmir]], Bangladesh and Pakistan.<ref name="whospeaks">
{{citation |last=Kurien |first=Prema A. |title=Who speaks for Indian Americans? Religion, ethnicity, and political formation |journal=American Quarterly |volume=59 |number=3 |year=2007 |pages=759–783 |doi=10.1353/aq.2007.0059 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/v059/59.3kurien.html |jstor=40068449 |s2cid=143780494 }}
</ref> Since then, they have continued to publish regular "Hindu Human Rights" reports to such effect.<ref name=":7" /> They have critiqued Pakistan's treatment of Hindus and advocated for better assimilation and integration of Pakistani Hindu migrants/refugees in India.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Raheja |first=Natasha |date=1 September 2018 |title=Neither Here nor There: Pakistani Hindu Refugee Claims at the Interface of the International and South Asian Refugee Regimes |url=https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/31/3/334/4922733 |journal=Journal of Refugee Studies |language=en |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=334–352 |doi=10.1093/jrs/fey013 |issn=0951-6328}}</ref> The organization also supports strong ties between India, Israel and the US to create an axis of countries aiming to fight [[Islamic terrorism]].{{sfnp|Vinay Lal, The Other Indians|2012|p=122}}

=== Hindu rights in USA ===
In 2004, HAF challenged the public display of the [[Ten Commandments]] in Texas, where it appeared as [[amici curiae]] (friend of the Court) in ''[[Van Orden v. Perry]]'' in the [[United States Supreme Court]]; they argued that the display represented an "inherent government preference" for [[Judeo-Christian]] religions over others and the state must be reminded of its obligation to maintain religious neutrality.{{sfnp|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007|p=1}}{{sfnp|Vinay Lal, The Other Indians|2012|pp=122-123}} In 2005, it joined the [[American Jewish Committee]] (AJC) to jointly sponsor a program at [[Stanford|Stanford University]] on "countering biases against Hindus and Jews on the College campus."{{sfnp|Vinay Lal, The Other Indians|2012|p=122}} In 2008, HAF, along with a coalition of other religious groups, filed a lawsuit and blocked the issuance of Christian-themed license plates in South Carolina.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jon Hood |title=Religious License Plate Banned in South Carolina |newspaper=Consumer Affairs |date=5 November 2009 |url=https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2009/11/sc_plates.html}}</ref>

In 2013, HAF joined a coalition of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim organizations urging the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] investigate the [[New York City Police Department]] for discriminatory surveillance of [[American Muslims]].<ref>
{{cite news|date=24 October 2013|title=NAACP, ACLU, Faith Groups Say NYPD Is Engaging in Religious Discrimination|newspaper=[[ACLU]]|url=https://www.aclu.org/news/over-120-rights-faith-and-community-groups-ask-justice-department-investigate-nypd-muslim|access-date=11 November 2018}}
</ref> In 2015, as a part of the Hate Crimes Coalition, HAF participated in the drafting and submission of the edits to an [[FBI]] manual to specifically track [[hate crimes]] against Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims.<ref>
{{cite news|author=Sunita Sohrabji|date=26 March 2015|title=FBI Adds Hindus, Sikhs to New Hate Crime Tracking Manual|newspaper=IndiaWest|url=https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/fbi-adds-hindus-sikhs-to-new-hate-crime-tracking-manual/article_a092d0ca-d412-11e4-ba4e-e73a618932a6.html|access-date=11 November 2018}}
</ref> In 2016, HAF along with [[Indiaspora]] and other organizations successfully convinced the [[United States Postal Service]] to issue a [[Commemorative stamp|stamp commemorating]] the Hindu festival of [[Diwali]].<ref>
{{cite news|date=23 August 2016|title=Diwali stamp to be released by the United States Postal Service on 5 October|newspaper=American Bazaar|url=https://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2016/08/23/diwali-stamp-to-be-released-by-the-united-states-postal-service-on-october-5416558/}}</ref>

==== Visa by Narendra Modi ====
In 2002, [[Gujarat]] witnessed [[2002 Gujarat riots|a communal riot]] under the Chief Ministership of [[Narendra Modi]]; the incumbent government and even Modi himself is widely blamed by scholars for complicity.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Republic |date=2016 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9781315628806-8/republic-hermann-kulke-dietmar-rothermund |work=A History of India |pages=287 |edition=6 |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315628806-8 |isbn=978-1-315-62880-6}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Nielsen |first1=Kenneth Bo |title=Hindu nationalist statecraft and Modi's authoritarian populism |date=30 December 2021 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003042211/chapters/10.4324/9781003042211-10 |work=Routledge Handbook of Autocratization in South Asia |pages=99 |edition=1 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003042211-10 |isbn=978-1-003-04221-1 |access-date=22 December 2022 |last2=Nilsen |first2=Alf Gunvald|s2cid=245165294 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Santhosh |first=R. |title=Muslims in Contemporary India |date=11 August 2015 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317403586/chapters/10.4324/9781315682570-31 |work=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India |pages=393 |editor-last=Jacobsen |editor-first=Knut A. |edition=1 |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315682570-31 |isbn=978-1-315-68257-0 |access-date=22 December 2022}}</ref> In 2005, when Modi was invited to address the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association in 2005, activists including [[John Prabhudoss]] lobbied the [[United States Congress]] to introduce a resolution criticizing him for his role in those riots. HAF deemed this resolution "Hinduphobic" and lobbied Senators to not support it; nonetheless, the resolution later led to the State Department denying Modi a visa to enter the country.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 February 2022 |title=Their Master's Voice In Washington |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/their-masters-voice-in-washington/289551 |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=www.outlookindia.com/ |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7" />

=== ''Take Yoga Back'' ===
In 2010, the Foundation launched the eponymous campaign as a reaction to alleged [[cultural appropriation]] and [[secularisation of Yoga|secularization of yoga]] by popular press and neo-gurus who abstained from discussing the origins of yoga in Hinduism and corrupted a Hindu philosophical practice to a mere collection of physical postures.<ref>{{citation |last=Nanda |first=Meera |title=Not as Old as You Think |date=12 February 2011 |url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/not-as-old-as-you-think |newspaper=[[Open (Indian magazine)|OPEN Magazine]] |author-link=Meera Nanda}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Jain |first=Andrea |title=Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |chapter=Yogaphobia and Hindu Origins |pages=130–157 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199390236.003.0006 |isbn=978-0-19-939023-6 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199390236.003.0006}}</ref> Particular emphasis was laid on the Hindu nature of yoga manuals across centuries to corroborate claims of yoga being a Hindu form of spiritual quest.<ref name=":5" />

Andrea Jain, a professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University, finds such claims to be embedded within a polemical discourse of religious fundamentalism that unwittingly borrowed from and mirrored the West—while HAF waxed about the inevitable Hinduization of anybody who chooses to practice Yoga in its true essence, the Christian far-right denounced Yoga as a satanic act which took practitioners away from Christ into the fold of Brahmins.<ref name=":5" /> Furthermore, Jain finds HAF's essentialist discourse on Yoga to be ahistorical—Yoga was a fluid tradition which was made and remade by different socioreligious cultures across different times with different connotations.<ref name=":5" /> Other scholars reiterate Jain's observations;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corigliano |first=Stephanie |title=The Routledge Handbook of Hindu–Christian Relations |chapter-url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781003139843-6 |chapter=Orientalism and postcolonial theory in Hindu–Christian encounters |date=31 December 2020 |pages=54–66 |publisher=Routledge Handbooks Online |isbn=978-0-367-00070-7 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003139843-6|s2cid=229427069 }}</ref> Christopher Patrick Miller, a professor of Yoga Studies at [[Loyola Marymount University]], finds it ironical that to defend against perceived Christian ingressions, HAF had to borrow from Christian (and colonial) notions of what constituted a Yogic cannon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Christopher Patrick |title=The Routledge Handbook of Hindu–Christian Relations |chapter-url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781003139843-27 |chapter=Christian and Hindu responses to Christian yoga practice in North America |date=31 December 2020 |pages=280–293 |publisher=Routledge Handbooks Online |isbn=978-0-367-00070-7 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003139843-27|s2cid=229449147 }}</ref>

=== Caste ===
in 2010, HAF issued a report titled "Hinduism: Not Cast in Caste" alleging that Christian missionaries etc. were able to push their proselytizing agenda only because of the prevalence of caste-discrimination in India; it went to argue that caste cannot be considered to be an intrinsic definitional aspect of Hinduism—due to a lack of theological sanction in its most sacred texts—and urged for reforms led by Hindus themselves.<ref name=":1">
{{Cite web |date=21 December 2010 |title=Recasting Hinduism for the 21st century {{!}} Ramesh Rao |url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/21/india-hindu-dalit |access-date=6 August 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7" /> This led to a flutter in conservative Hindu circles of India and the next year, HAF toned down their report; they cautioned against the trend of passing resolutions against caste discrimination adopted by various global organizations and held caste to be an internal affair of a sovereign India.<ref name=":7" /> HAF has since portrayed castes as occupational guilds which had brought stability to premodern India before being reified under British colonialism; it has vehemently opposed drawing parallels between caste-discrimination and racism, and even any depiction of the caste-system as a rigid birth-determined pyramid of hierarchy.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kurien |first=Prema A |date=22 June 2022 |title=The Racial Paradigm and Dalit Anti-Caste Activism in the United States |url=https://academic.oup.com/socpro/advance-article/doi/10.1093/socpro/spac035/6613071 |journal=Social Problems |language=en |pages=spac035 |doi=10.1093/socpro/spac035 |issn=0037-7791}}</ref>

In 2021, on the heels of prolonged transnational activism by Dalits, "caste" was added as a protected category to California State University's anti-discrimination policy.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Nani Sahra |date=20 January 2022 |title=Cal State system adds caste to anti-discrimination policy in groundbreaking decision |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-20/csu-adds-caste-to-its-anti-discrimination-policy}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sriram |first1=Lakshman |title=Group opposes protection from caste discrimination in California Varsity's faculty union |work=The Hindu |issue=24 January 2022 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/group-opposes-protection-from-caste-discrimination-in-california-varsitys-faculty-union/article38319866.ece}}</ref> HAF perceived such policies to have the potential of enabling in the malicious targeting of Indian Hindu academics and lodged stiff opposition; their post-bearers argued caste to be a "stereotype", that was imposed upon South Asians only by the British Raj.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |last1=Chopra |first1=Rohit |last2=Subramaniam |first2=Ajantha |title=Caste Discrimination Exists in the U.S., Too—But a Movement to Outlaw It Is Growing |url=https://time.com/6146141/caste-discrimination-us-opposition-grows/ |publisher=Time |date=11 February 2022}}</ref> Ajantha Subramaniam, a professor of South Asian Studies at Harvard University, rejects HAF's charges and accompanying accusations of being discriminated on the basis of religion; she and other scholars emphasize on the depth of scholarship that has held caste to be a reality of central significance from premodern S. Asia to present day India including diaspora.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Not Even Indian Students in American Colleges Can Escape Caste Discrimination |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dyg9/csu-caste-indian-students-california-state-university-policy |access-date=6 August 2022 |website=www.vice.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" />

In September 2022, HAF sued the [[California Civil Rights Department]] for allegedly misrepresenting caste as intrinsic to Hinduism in its submission to the [[Cisco caste discrimination lawsuit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=HAF Sues California for 'Misrepresenting' Hindu Beliefs, Practices |url=https://thewire.in/world/haf-sues-california-for-misrepresenting-hindu-beliefs-practices |access-date=21 December 2022 |website=The Wire}}</ref> In October 2022, two University of California professors sued their employer to prevent the implementation of caste-based protections; HAF is representing them in the lawsuit.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/10/20/california-state-university-professors-sue-over-caste-policy-allege-discrimination/|title=California State University professors sue over caste policy, allege discrimination |date=20 October 2022 }}</ref>

== Attacks on academic freedom ==

=== Textbook revisionism ===
{{main|California textbook controversy over Hindu history|2016–17 California textbook controversy over South Asian topics}}

In 2006, HAF was actively involved in the [[Californian Hindu textbook controversy]]. On 16 March 2006, it filed a lawsuit contesting the California's Curriculum Commission's decision to reject many of the [[Vedic Foundation]] and Hindu Education Foundation's suggested edits to California's textbook curriculum on Hinduism and India. The proposed changes had been publicly opposed by [[Indology|Indologists]] organized by [[Michael Witzel]], who renounced them as "politically and religiously motivated",<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bose |first=Purnima |year=2008 |title=Hindutva Abroad: The California Textbook Controversy |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/the_global_south/v002/2.1.bose.html |journal=The Global South |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=11–34 |doi=10.2979/GSO.2008.2.1.11 |s2cid=145295643}}</ref> as well as by various Hindu groups.<ref name="wsj">
{{citation |title=New Battleground In Textbook Wars: Religion in History |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=25 January 2006 |url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB113815619665855532 |id={{ProQuest|398911134}}}}
</ref>
The court ruled to retain the textbooks, noting the significant expense associated with reissuing the textbooks.<ref>
{{Cite news |title=US text row resolved by Indian |newspaper=The Times of India |date=9 September 2006 |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-09/india/27800566_1_aryans-textbook-affidavit |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715082709/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-09/india/27800566_1_aryans-textbook-affidavit |archive-date=15 July 2012 }}
</ref>

In 2016, the HAF lobbied against the replacement of the word "Indian" with "South Asian" in middle school history textbooks in California, arguing that the change was essentially an erasure of India itself. These efforts were protested by South Asian academics and activists belonging to India's minority groups, who said that those on the side of the HAF sought to whitewash California's history textbooks to present a nativist, blemish-free view of how the Hindu caste system was enforced in India. They also argued that the term "South Asia" correctly represents India's collective history with countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. A letter to the California State Board of Education about this issue, which garnered thousands of signatures, was spearheaded by the HAF.<ref>
{{Cite news |author=Jennifer Medina |title=Debate Erupts in California Over Curriculum on India's History|work=The New York Times |date=4 May 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/us/debate-erupts-over-californias-india-history-curriculum.html}}
</ref>

=== 2021 defamation suit ===
In May 2021, the Hindu American Foundation filed a defamation lawsuit against [[Sunita Viswanath]] and Raju Rajagopal of [[Hindus for Human Rights]], Rasheed Ahmed from the [[Indian American Muslim Council]], [[John Prabhudoss]] from the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations, and [[Audrey Truschke]], a historian of South Asia based at [[Rutgers University]].<ref name="Anisha Sircar"/><ref name=RNS>
{{Cite news |author=Mythili Sampathkumar |title=Hindu American Foundation files defamation suit against Hindu rights nonprofit |newspaper=Religion News Service |date=20 May 2021 |url=https://religionnews.com/2021/05/20/hindu-american-foundation-files-defamation-suit-against-hindu-rights-nonprofit/}}
</ref> A diverse group of intellectuals and academics — [[Akeel Bilgrami]], [[Amitav Ghosh]], [[Anita Desai]], [[Cornel West]], [[Martha Nussbaum]], [[Nandini Sundar]], [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Romila Thapar]], [[Sudipta Kaviraj]], [[Sheldon Pollock]], and [[Wendy Doniger]] among others — condemned HAF's tactics as a [[strategic lawsuit against public participation|SLAPP]], designed to silence critics and push forward [[Hindutva]].<ref name="Anisha Sircar">
{{Cite web |author=Anisha Sircar |title=Explained: The Hindu American Foundation's defamation case against Hindus for Human Rights founders |newspaper=Scroll.in |url=https://scroll.in/global/995560/explained-the-hindu-american-foundations-defamation-case-against-hindus-for-human-rights-founders |access-date=18 July 2021}}
</ref><ref name=repudiate>
{{Cite web |title=Over 300 Writers, Academics and Scholars Repudiate HAF's Attempt to Silence Hindus for Human Rights |website=Hindus for Human Rights |url=https://www.hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/for-immediate-release-300-academics-and-scholars-express-their-solidarity-with-hindus-for-human-rights-and-its-allies-in-the-lawsuit-filed-by-the-hindu-american-foundation-py7je |access-date=18 July 2021}}
</ref>

On 15 March 2022, Judge [[Amit Mehta]] stayed defendants' [[Motion (legal)#To dismiss|motions to dismiss the suit]] since he deemed one of their arguments about whether HAF had satisfied the second requirement of [[Diversity jurisdiction#Amount in controversy|invoking diversity jurisdiction]] — by proving the amount of monetary loss to have exceeded 75,000 USD — as a "substantial question" of procedure, that needed to be settled prior to adjudication on merits.<ref name=":4">{{Cite Pacer|plaintiff=Hindu American Foundation|defendant=Sunita Vishwanath|title=ORDER staying the pending motions to dismiss in this matter for a limited period of jurisdictional discovery as to the amount in controversy.|doc-number=48|date=15 March 2022|pacer-number=230928|case-state=DC|case-division=1|case-year=2021|case-type=cv|case-sequence=01268}}</ref> Discovery was ordered, and Judge Mehta accepted HAF's evidence to pass muster.{{Efn|Judge Mehta notes that HAF offered little causal connection between the defendants' actions and loss of revenue. However, the evidence was sufficient to pass the "low bar" required for invoking the diversity jurisdiction.}} However, on 20 December 2022, he dismissed the suit since HAF had failed not only to establish any [[cause of action]] even assuming that their allegations were factually accurate{{Efn|Judge Mehta rejected that HAF had provided any evidence to support that the defenders were acting with malice, which is integral to maintainability of a defamation suit.}} but also evidence that the court had any personal jurisdiction{{Efn|HAF requested for a discovery to bolster its jurisdictional claims; Judge Mehta denied the request for being a "fishing expedition, [..] not made in good faith."}} over the defendants except one.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Scroll Staff |title=US court dismisses Hindutva group's defamation case against academic Audrey Truschke, four activists |url=https://scroll.in/latest/1040232/us-court-dismisses-hindutva-groups-defamation-case-against-academic-audrey-truschke-four-activists |access-date=21 December 2022 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Efn|As to the lone defendant - Prabhudoss - over whom the Court had jurisdiction, Judge Mehta ruled that his statements were opinions that could not be plausibly alleged to be "verifiably false" and hence not litigable.}}

=== Dismantling Global Hindutva conference ===
During August–September 2021, the Hindu American Foundation launched a protest campaign against a virtual conference, titled ''Dismantling Global Hindutva'': ''Multidisciplinary Perspectives'', organized by a conglomeration of American universities.<ref name="Guardian" /> Multiple academics and activists involved in the conference reported receiving death threats and being subject to other forms of intimidation.<ref name="Guardian">
{{Cite news |title=Death threats sent to participants of US conference on Hindu nationalism |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 September 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/09/death-threats-sent-to-participants-of-us-conference-on-hindu-nationalism }}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite web |author=Raqib Hameed Naik |title=US academic conference on 'Hindutva' targeted by Hindu groups |newspaper=Al Jazeera |date=7 September 2021 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/7/us-academic-conference-dismantling-global-hindutva-hindu-right-wing-groups}}
</ref> In response, the [[American Historical Association]] condemned the attacks against academic freedom, while the [[Association for Asian Studies]] noted Hindutva to be a "majoritarian ideological doctrine" different from [[Hinduism]], whose rise to prominence had accompanied "increasing attacks on numerous scholars, artists and journalists".<ref>
{{Cite web |title=AAS Statement on the Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference |url=https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-statement-on-the-dismantling-global-hindutva-conference/ |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Association for Asian Studies |date=10 September 2021}}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite web |title=AHA Releases Statement on Threats to Academic Conferences (September 2021) | AHA |url=https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-statement-on-threats-to-academic-conferences-(september-2021) |website=www.historians.org}}
</ref>

The conference went ahead as scheduled.<ref>
{{cite news |title=Explained: What is 'Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference', and why has it triggered a row? |work=The Indian Express |date=14 September 2021 |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/global-hindutva-conference-us-7501478/}}
</ref> HAF has since lodged a complaint against the [[University of Pennsylvania]] before the United States Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights for violating [[Civil Rights Act of 1964#Title VI—nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs|Title VI requirements]]—they allege that the university, having co-sponsored a "one-sided" conference, promoted negative "stereotypes and slurs" about Hindu academics and discriminated against them.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sousa |first=Tori |title=Penn faces federal complaint for participation in conference discussing Hindu nationalism |url=https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/10/hindu-foundation-penn-complaint-us-department-of-education |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=www.thedp.com |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Snyder |first=Susan |title=A Hindu foundation has filed a complaint against University of Pennsylvania, saying an online conference perpetuated stereotypes |url=https://www.inquirer.com/news/hindu-foundation-penn-civil-rights-complaint-hindutva-20211017.html |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=The Philadelphia Inquirer |language=en}}</ref> Multiple Hindu professors of UPenn rejected the accusations and highlighted how transnational Hindutva was weaponized to stifle free speech.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" /> Sundaram, who identifies as a Hindu, notes the lawsuit to have leveraged "the rhetoric and tactics of social justice activists" but in "pursuit of an oppressive ideology".<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Sundaram |first=Dheepa |date=2023-06-23 |title=Hindutva 2.0: How a Conference on Hindu Nationalism Launches a Change in Strategy for North American Hindutva Organizations |url=https://academic.oup.com/jaar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jaarel/lfad028/7205785 |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfad028 |issn=0002-7189}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{citation |title=Affiliations of Faith: Hindu American Foundation and the Global Sangh |publisher=Coalition Against Genocide |date=15 December 2013 |url=https://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/reports/2013/cag.15dec2013.haf.rss.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Coalition Against Genocide|2013}}}}
* {{citation |last=Kurien |first=Prema |author-link=Prema Kurien |title=A Place at the Multicultural Table: The Development of an American Hinduism |url={{Google books|DxneawQ8sKQC|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |year=2007 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-4161-7 |ref={{sfnref|Prema Kurien, Place at the Multicultural Table|2007}}}}
* {{cite book |surname=Kurien |given=Prema |author-link=Prema Kurien |chapter=Chapter 7. What is American about American Hinduism? Hindu Umbrella Organisations in the United States on Comparative Perspective |editor=John Zavos |display-editors=etal |title=Public Hinduisms |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuuICwAAQBAJ&pg=PT103 |year=2012 |place=New Delhi |publisher=SAGE Publ. India |isbn=978-81-321-1696-7}}
* {{citation |last=Lal |first=Vinay |author-link=Vinay Lal|title=The Other Indians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmFmpTMJFgIC&pg=RA1-PT55 |year=2012 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-93-5029-261-7 |ref={{sfnref|Vinay Lal, The Other Indians|2012}}}}
* {{citation |last=Min |first=Pyong Gap |author-link=Pyong Gap Min
|title=Preserving Ethnicity Through Religion in America: Korean Protestants and Indian Hindus Across Generations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHUTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |year=2010 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9586-6 |ref={{sfnref|Pyong Gap Min, Preserving Ethnicity|2010}}}}
* {{cite book |first=Vijay |last=Prashad |author-link=Vijay Prashad |title=Uncle Swami: South Asians in America Today |publisher=The New Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1595588012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h9ImLEPR-4QC |ref={{sfnref|Vijay Prashad, Uncle Swami|2012}}}}
* {{citation |last=Macher |first=Jasa |author-link=Jasa Macher |title=Hindu Nationalist Influence in the United States, 2014-2021 |publisher=Released via sacw.net|date=May 2022 |url=https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22041101/20220523_hninfluenceusa.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Macher, Hindu Nationalist Influence in the United States|2022}}}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{URL|http://www.hafsite.org/|Hindu American Foundation official website}}
* Mihir Meghani, [https://web.archive.org/web/19970117204631/http:/www.bjp.org/bjp/htvintro-mm.html Hindutva: The Great Nationalist Ideology], bjp.org, archived on 17 January 1997.
* [https://www.audreytruschke.com/documentshafslapp Documents from the Hindu American Foundation’s SLAPP Lawsuit], audreytruschke.com, January 2023.

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[[Category:Religious organizations established in 2003]]
[[Category:Hindu organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Hindu organizations established in the 21st century]]
[[Category:2003 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Human rights organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Advocacy groups in the United States]]

{{AfC submission|||ts=20230805195405|u=2001:67C:2628:647:A:0:0:303|ns=118}}

Hindu American Foundation

2023-08-05T14:23:33Z

2001:67C:2628:647:A:0:0:303: Drafted