'As we gather with our families for Diwali...' HAF objects to Rutgers University's anti-Hindu conference, 'We are not proxy of RSS'

The Hindu American Foundation expressed its objection to an upcoming conference sponsored by Rutgers University targeting the Hindu American community in the United States and asked the university to dissociate itself from the event.

The event titled 'Hindutva in America: A threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism' will be held on October 27 to discuss a report that was released six months ago. The report called Hindutva in America an 'ethnonationalist threat' to equality and religious pluralism. The Hindu American Foundation issued an open letter addressing the university, asking it to distance from the event. The HAF said that the report equates Hindutva with white supremacy or fascism and calls HAF a proxy of the RSS.

"HAF is not a proxy or affiliate of the RSS< an Indian organization considered to be the parent of the current ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party. The report's claims of ideological and ongoing programmatic ties between HAF and such groups are categorically false," the letter said.

The HAF urged the university to clarify that they do not endorse what the speakers at the anti-Hindu conference would say, withdraw official logos from the event.

"As we gather with our families for Diwali, we are hearing from so many shocked and outraged by @RUCSRR @saharazizlaw hosting a conference that blatantly seeks to dismantle Hindu American institutions, including HAF," HAF director Suhag Shukla wrote.

The controversial report on Hindutva in America

The report published by Rutgers Center for Security Race and Rights says Hindutva is not Hindism. "Whereas the religion of Hinduism contributes to American pluralism and religious diversity, the political ideology of Hindu nationalism works against those core American values by perpetuating supremacist ideas and discriminatory conduct, especially against non-Hindu South Asians," it said. The US government should impose sanctions on or refuse entry into the United States to persons who facilitate or provide material support for anti-minority violence in India, the report suggested.