HEAD FOR THE HILLS!
What? Why? Hindutva, also called Hindu nationalism, is a right-wing political ideology that guides the current ruling party in India, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sometimes, people will argue that Hindutva is “a way of life,” or that Hindutva simply means “Hindu-ness,” synonymous with Hinduism. However, Hindutva is a modern, political ideology that is barely more than a hundred years old.
In some ways, Hindutva resembles right-wing nationalist movements around the world, advocating for economic protectionism and increased border security. Its distinguishing factor, though, is its core belief that India’s national identity should be synonymous with a Hindu identity.
Some of the core teachings of Hindu scriptures include ekatva (oneness) and ahimsa (nonviolence). Hindutva promotes division and exploitation on the basis of religion. In a country where one fifth of the population is not Hindu, Hindutva advocates argue that India should be a country that privileges Hindus and openly incite violence against minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians. This is a majoritarian vision no different from the ugliness of white nationalism or conservative politicians who argue that the United States is a Christian country.
A U.S. Problem, Too. Hindutva groups have a significant presence in the United States. [In] September 2019, 50,000 Indian-Americans attended a rally in Houston organized by Hindutva political activists that featured Narendra Modi and Donald Trump. Last year, in Chicago, leaders of India’s largest Hindu nationalist group spoke in Chicago to an audience of thousands of people at the World Hindu Congress. (Sadhana.org).
Joe Biden & Narendra Modi
O Maryland, My Maryland! Elected as a Democrat in 2022, Aruna Miller is the Free State’s Lieutenant Governor. As noted by a coalition of Indian, Muslim, and peace groups, she has had public and unequivocal political ties with Hindu nationalist organizations that are intimately connected with Hindutva, a 97-year-old far right ideology founded by a man named Vinayak Savarkar, whose protege assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, and who himself lauded Hitler and his racial views. This ideology of Hindutva is steeped in religious supremacism and bigotry towards India’s oppressed castes and religious minorities–especially Christians and Muslims.
The persecution of India’s Muslims and Christians has sharply escalated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s eight-year rule. Narendra Modi has called himself a Hindu nationalist, and since his childhood, he has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the paramilitary Hindu supremacist organization founded in 1925, whose self-avowed goal is to convert India into a Hindu nation by junking its pluralist, secular Constitution.
Although Mrs. Miller has claimed she does not have any ties to Hindutva or US-based Hindu far right organizations connected to the RSS and Modi’s BJP party, the evidence demonstrates otherwise. As far back as 2014, Miller attended a rally with Mr. Modi during his first US visit as prime minister that followed a nine-year US travel ban that the US Government imposed on Narendra Modi for his role in the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat state in 2002. Immediately prior to this, Miller attended a Virginia event promoting the rally, which also was attended by Hindu nationalists including then BJP National Executive member Vijay Jolly. At this event Mrs. Miller described Modi as a “rock star.” Miller’s extensive ties to Hindutva were exposed in the Huffington Post article written by Rowaida Abdelaziz on February 3, 2023.
That article noted that Aruna Miller’s political career had been dependent on right-wing Hindu nationalist money, moving her from State legislator to Lieutenant Governor.
Being a puling professional politician, she manages to talk out of both sides of her mouth—while simultaneously contradicting herself. The Huffington Post quotes Scott Webber, a Democratic activist in Maryland (and personally known to me), as saying that he had approved of Miller’s platform as a State delegate — until he learned about her ties to far-right Hindu groups. “She is not anti-immigrant. She talks about being pro-female. She talks about religious pluralism. She talks about tolerance and she talks about the need for having open dialogue and being anti-violence,” Webber said. “She talks about all those things but supports the BJP.”
Scott Webber
Moreover, Webber and others are increasingly worried that foreign money and foreign influence, tied to extremist groups, will be accepted without question by America’s Democratic Party.
Speaking of Hindutva, Gayatri Girirajan, a member of Peace Action Montgomery [County, Md.] said “It’s a racist movement. It’s a caste-ist movement. It’s a supremacist movement. It’s an antisemitic movement. It’s an Islamophobic movement. That is something all of those things are going to be affecting people who are already vulnerable and marginalized in the U.S. We should start looking at the Hindutva movement as a really potent, slow-boiling, long-term sort of foreign interference that really does have a tangible impact.” Writing in the American Bazaar, she added “Over the past year, there has been an increasing sense of alarm that Maryland’s Democratic candidate for Lt Governor, Aruna Miller, is not as committed to our state’s values of religious tolerance and pluralism as our diverse state requires of our public servants.” Additionally, she commented: “The impact of Miller’s sustained courting of fascism has contributed to Hindutva encroachment into the American educational and cultural system, at the expense of our country’s diversity and pluralism.” Then she dropped the bomb: “Aruna Miller has clearly demonstrated that she is not trustworthy nor fit to represent the values of the Democratic Party and Marylanders. Party leaders need to break their silence and call on her resignation…”
Gayatri Girirajan
According to TwoCircles.net, “The issue of Hindutva influence in US politics received little attention until 2019 when [Pieter Friedrich’s] investigation of (now former) Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s campaign financing revealed extensive funding by leaders in the US wings of the RSS-BJP. Since then, several other candidates and elected officials have been linked to the same American network of Hindutva donors. Notably, congressional candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni [American diplomat and failed Democrat candidate for Texas’s 22nd Congressional District] ultimately lost his 2020 campaign due to such ties while Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi [D-Ill.], in his 2022 race for reelection, has come under pressure for the same reason.”
Democratic Censorship. India, which prides itself on being the world’s largest democracy, has blocked transmission of a BBC documentary on Modi (India and the Modi Question) and his role in the Gujarat murders of Muslims. The Indian government has asserted that the showing or sharing of clips from the two-hour program are punishable as treason. YouTube and Twitter have complied with Delhi diktats to avoid showing any of the BBC program.
And More! On Sunday, May 7, 2023, I attended a meeting of the NoHindutvaMD Coalition in Rockville, Md., just north of the Nation’s Capital. This included showing of part of the BBC documentary. Several members and extremely knowledgeable Indian guests spoke, after the prior warning that, while pictures would be taken, they would be snapped from the back so as not to identify anyone. Why? Fear of reprisals from Hindutva.
COMMENTARY. Over the past few years, we have been deluged with false claims of interference in American elections. Remember how the Russian Federation put Donald J. Trump in office? But no one mentions Apartheid Israel and its funding of partisan candidates who support it and its terrorism. One journalist told me he had once thought to run for minor political office in Virginia. However, he dropped the idea when he was told to kiss the rabbi’s ring (or another part) to ensure that he would have Jewish support in his bid for public office.
However, India’s Hindutva and Modi are a new, stealth movement out to gain control of various levels of American government. At Sunday’s Coalition meeting, I learned that Hindutva has gone to the extent of getting its people placed in high positions at the Department of Homeland Security. And one congressman was quoted as saying that he was used to US Jews seeking influence. However, when Hindutva activists braced him, he was astonished that a domestic group wanted him to support an alien organization.
While it’s one thing to have snakes on a plane, it’s something entirely different to have them in the body politic. It’s past time to bring back St. Patrick and get him to cast out these reptiles.
J. Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, political commentator, and former diplomat, with postings to Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia. He previously authored, Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World: An Insider’s View, recounting how the U.S. created and used Islamic Terrorism. Additionally, he penned Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb, an analysis of the alien wave sweeping the Continent. He currently practices law in the Washington D.C. Area. He is a frequent commentator on Arab and Russian news programs.
He is also on the Ukraine’s “Enemies List”, having questioned, inter alia, the country’s refusal to honor the Minsk Accords and for stating that its government is Nazified.