Hindutva, far-right extreme Hinduism, is gaining more and more traction in the US. The rise of Hindutva in the US has caused a variety of groups to sign a declaration expressing concern about the extremism in the US and pledging to combat its spread.
In August of this year in New York City, thousands took to the streets to celebrate the India Day Parade, an annual event on Madison Avenue. The parade included a controversial depiction of the Ram Mandir Hindu temple, which was built on the ruins of the Babri Masjid – a mosque that was destroyed by Hindus in the early 1990s.
Ajit Sahi, an advocacy director for the Indian American Muslim Council, criticized the float, and called for an investigation due to anti-Muslim hate speech. He said, “This float, regardless of who blesses it, is nothing but a symbol of repression, division, persecution, and rampant Islamophobic and anti-Muslim ideology, It is our argument that this float is being used by the Indian government to inject hate and divisiveness in the United States, especially in New York City.”
During the parade, Israeli flags could be spotted alongside the depiction of the Ram Mandir, along with chants of “Am Yisrael Chai,” a rallying cry for Israel, showing a deeper relationship between India and Israel.
New York City mayor, Eric Adams, joined the parade.
In a letter sent to New York state governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Adams, it said, “The proposed float for the parade is a blatant attempt to glorify the illegal demolition of the historical Babri Mosque and celebrate ongoing violence and terror against 200 million Indian Muslims. This is not merely a cultural display but a vulgar celebration of anti-Muslim hate, bigotry, and religious supremacy.”
The state of Hindutva in the US has been becoming more normalized as high-profile Indian Americans engage Hindutva rhetoric. An example of this is caste. Caste is a fixed social class system particularly amongst Hinduism (but not excluding other religious communities in South Asia). Caste hierarchy exists amongst South Asian communities. Caste can be used as a way to discriminate against those who are deemed “low caste.” South Asian immigrants in the diaspora have brought elements of caste discrimination to their new countries, particularly with a new wave of far-right Hinduism support.
There have been many reports of tech companies in Silicon Valley and the US engaging in caste discrimination, discriminating against lower-caste Indians.
In New Jersey, the largest Hindu temple constructed in the US, the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Akshardham temple, is on the receiving end of a lawsuit by six Dalit construction workers – called volunteers by the temple. The lawsuit claims that there was trafficking of Dalit workers from India, caste discrimination and exploitation, and alleged violations of US labor and immigration laws.
The lawsuit says, “Defendants (BAPS) knew these workers suffered from rampant discrimination and had limited economic opportunities, access to services, and government protection in India. Defendants essentially weaponised India’s caste system, using it to coerce the Plaintiffs and other R-1 workers to work for substandard pay under abysmal conditions in New Jersey.”
With the increase of Hindutva support in the US, large donors associated with Hindutva are pressuring lawmakers and local and state governments to strike down laws that attempt to ban caste discrimination. In 2023 in California, a bill banning caste discrimination was struck down by Governor Gavin Newsom after the governor met with donors associated with Hindutva.
Regardless of this decision, activists and groups are still attempting to help end caste discrimination in the US. Many universities, including University of California, Davis, Harvard University, and Brown University have introduced caste to their non-discrimination policies.
As Hindutva rhetoric in the US increases, it is glaringly important to pay attention to events like the India Day parade, because they symbolize a growing normalization of far-right Hinduism.
