The online conference named Dismantling Global Hindutva included panels on the hierarchical caste system, Islamophobia, and differences between Hinduism the religion and Hindutva the majoritarian ideology had to be annulled in face of severe protests. It was co-sponsored by departments of more than 40 American universities, including Harvard and Columbia.
The announcement only of the conference by U.S.-based researchers to discuss the rise of Hindu nationalism, a right-wing political movement in India, was reason enough for galvanizing aggressive counterattack in no time
In a proven methodology bearing a distinct stamp of what they oppose being accused of, around a million protest emails were sent to universities, false complaints were made against the event website causing it to go offline for two days, email account linked with the event spammed with hundreds of messages, the right-wing Hindu groups termed the event Hinduphobic and claimed it encourages hate against the community.
The browbeating mechanism went to the extent of organizers and speakers receiving death and rape threats. The propaganda machine through the Hindutva sympathizing Government-backed news channels made allegations of the conference being an “intellectual cover for the Taliban.”
The protests against the conference in the United States were led by groups such as the Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America
These groups have been advocating before the U.S. Congress for contentious issues like Kashmir in support of the Indian Government. It also tried to alter the way in which Indian history is taught in the US and tried to uphold their view like campaigning for using the word India instead of South Asia in California’s textbooks. They also insisted upon describing the caste system as an Indian cultural phenomenon instead of a discriminatory Hindu practice.
It is pointed out by several scholars that Hindu nationalists are using the ideas of American multiculturalism to stealthily shield themselves under terms like Hinduphobia. Hindu groups are taking advantage of the West’s liberal and accommodating policy of incorporating minority viewpoints and pushing their own narrow political agenda for consumption in faraway India. It is even more hypocritical as Hindu nationalism having gained momentum under the Modi era suppresses the rights of its minorities with impunity and undermines its democratic institutions regularly at home. Hypocrisy does not end there when it is found that members of the Indian diaspora in the United States vote for Democrats and vouch for secularism, but in the Indian context, they overwhelmingly support the Hindu right
“I was shocked and concerned safely. It is not normal for academics to get bomb scare,” said Dheepa Sundaram, a University of Denver professor of Hindu studies and a part of the team organizing the conference
While some participants decided to opt-out genuinely fearing for the safety of themselves and their kins in Indi, some, like Audrey Truschke, a professor of South Asian history at Rutgers University are more tenacious in dealing with the Hindu nationalists.
Audrey frequently receives death and rape threats from Hindu nationalists for her work on Muslim rulers of India, especially Aurangzeb. She is not only battling lawsuits from Hindu groups, a group of Hindu students from Rutgers petitioned that she not be allowed to teach courses on Hinduism
Truschke and other South Asian scholars from North America created a guide for academics facing harassment from Hindu nationalists on how to defend themselves
In January 2020, when the South Asia Institute at the University of Texas at Austin hosted a discussion on the topic of the citizenship law passed by the Indian government which is perceived to be blatantly discriminatory against Muslims as it fast-tracked citizenship for immigrants’ other religions and excluded Islam, a group of Indian men in attendance created ruckus and the room and repeatedly interrupted and heckled some of the speakers.
The supporters of Hindutva however maintain that there was no opposing viewpoint on the panels and the events had an anti-Modi, anti-India and anti-Hindu stance.
Critics point out that Hindu nationalism in India has gained unprecedented prominence in the public sphere since the emergence of present Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the political scene in India in 2014.
