Executive Summary

Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI) is a student organization who has run campaigns targeting Hinduism across U.S. college campuses. SAHI has closely allied with Equality Labs, Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), South Asia Solidarity Initative (SASI) and others with a history of Hinduphobia. 

The group has attempted to target, hijack and politicize Hindu religious festivals for sinister political agendas both on and off campus. This includes reported incidences of intimidation and harassment of Hindu students. 

SAHI was founded by the name “Holi Against Hindutva” in December 2019 and subsequently changed its name to “Students Against Hindutva” and “Students Against Hindutva Ideology.”

SAHI supported terrorists, spread misinformation regarding Hindu festivals and falsely linked Hindus to police violence. It sided with Neo-Nazis, compared India to Nazi Germany and weaponized the Holocaust to advance a bigoted agenda. 

The social media handle is managed by those in the US, India and Pakistan. 

All intelligence was collected through open source means: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Website

What prompted the investigation? 

A Hindu American student forwarded us this message from March, 2020:

Dear Student Affairs Division,

I’m a Hindu American, writing to you today about the ‘Holi Against Hindutva’ (“HAH”) event happening on March 5th on your campus. 

The HAH event aims to defame this message and utilize our sacred symbols to push a political agenda, while disrespecting this important Hindu festival. It deliberately mistranslates the meaning of the festival to push a political agenda, peddling Hinduphobia and declaring our festival as extremist. In addition, as a Hindu American, I am appalled by the fact that an event is happening under the name of my religious festival. Would your administration allow political events that defame Eid, Christmas, Hanukkah or any other religious festival?

As you may know, Holi is a sacred festival for Hindus worldwide, whose core values lie in unity and love between Hindus and non-Hindus alike. In fact, it is one of the most popular festivals on US college campuses, where people from all walks of life and backgrounds come together to play with colors and display a message of mutual respect in today’s polarized world.

This kind of association targets all Hindu students in the university, intimidates them from expressing their religion openly, encourages McCarthyism against these students, and opens the door to racial profiling/abuse of Hindu students on campus. Moreover, non-Hindu students making such associations will ingest biases which they will carry for the rest of their adult lives. Is this the kind of environment we want to engender on campus? 

While I have no issue with any form of peaceful event taking place, it is degrading for Hindus to see their religious festivities being painted as symbols of hate. Let us learn from history. Hate or bias crimes start with misinformation and propaganda, and Hinduphobia is real as evidenced by many attacks against Hindus across the country over the last decade. 

This event must not be allowed under the name of our ancient Hindu practices & beliefs. Per your university’s policy, hate or bias incidents include non-criminal conduct motivated by hate or bigotry and directed at any individual, house of worship. A holy festival is no different from a house of worship.

Your esteemed university must not allow their anti-discrimination policies to be violated. Should this event continue, we request your university not to demean any religious festival in the process. We also kindly request student organizers and participants of this movement be strictly disciplined for violating university policies and regulations. 

I wish you a happy Holi and all the wonderful things that it universally stands for.

Thank you, 

[Name here]

Hence, we launched an investigation and found the following: 

Support for Terrorists

When Holi Against Hindutva initially launched, they used this photograph as the cover for the “open letter”:

The woman at the center of the image is Ladeeda Sakhaloon, one of the most controversial figures of the CAA/NRC protests in December 2019. Right next to her is Ayesha Renna, another activist that has been involved in the protests. 

Both figures have pledged Jihad against minorities and supported violent Islamist terrorists. 

The following was found on her Facebook profile, which has since been deleted.

On 14 December 2019, Ladeeda shared a write-up saying that “We are and will exist in every space as sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters of Malcolm X, Ali Musliyar and Variamkunnath.” 

The Ali Musliyar she speaks about was a leader in the Moplah riots in Kerala in 1921 and an active orator in the Khilafat Movement, which eventually led to the partition of India and Pakistan. Hindus were ethnically cleansed during the Moplah massacre; around 10,000 were killed and as many as 100,000 were forced to flee their homes as a result. 

On April 23, 2019, Ladeeda shared her post from 2017 which wrote “Dont underestimate the power of a HIJABI” along with photographs of veiled women engaging in violence. 

On December 11, 2019, Ladeeda wrote a Facebook post where she stated “You should learn about our ‘Jihad’”

Similarly, Ayesha Renna and her husband pledged support for Yakub Memon. Memon was a terrorist responsible for the 1993 Mumbai Bombings in which 257 people were killed and 1,400 injured. Both Yakub and Tiger Memon were subordinates of Dawood Ibrahim, who was the mastermind of the attacks. Ibrahim is suspected of having connections to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba. He is wanted by Interpol for connections to Osama Bin Laden. 

On January 12, 2018, Afsal Rahman, the husband of Renna wrote a Facebook post saying “Afzal Guru, Yakub Memon… Remembrance becomes duty.” 

Afzal Guru was an Islamist terrorist responsible for the 2001 Indian parliament attacks. He was a member of the terrorist group Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), which was responsible for the Kashmiri Hindu genocide. 

On July 31, 2015, Aysha Renna posted “Yakub memon am Sry#Am helpless in ds fasist country#i cn only regret Ik a doll” 

These are the individuals who SAHI used as its cover image. 

Lakshmi Amin, a SAHI member at Yale University, is seen retweeting their image. 

SAHI: Student Wing of Equality Labs

SAHI is the student wing of Equality Labs and has partnered with them to conduct campaigns against Hinduism on U.S. college campuses. 

On February 25, 2020, SAHI posted “Students against Hindutva is rolling out a list of terms compiled to help people, particularly those new to the movement who want to become more educated about what we are fighting for. We will be highlighting these terms under the hashtag #SAHlistofterms!”

SAHI’s documents show that they are partnered with Equality Labs. 

For example, in this document, SAHI writes: 

Equality Labs is a fringe, Hinduphobic group, whose members have called for the destruction of Hinduism as a religion, linked police violence to Hindus and have labelled Hinduism as fascism. 

Copying directly from Equality Labs

Claremont’s HAH Facebook Event description states “We are not protesting Holi itself,” however, the following statements contradicts this: “We seek to acknowledge the casteist origins of Holi and engage in a politics of refusal in order to center Muslim, Dalit, Bahujan, femme and Adivasi communities throughout our acts of subversion.” 

This completely twists the religious symbolism of Holi and undermines the festival’s message of pluralism, unity and love and furthers Hinduphobic messaging by claiming Holi somehow excludes the above groups. 

But who came up with this? Equality Labs. 

Abhimanyu Arjun, a Hindu activist, uncovered these connections. 

From A House of Cards: 

In its decision to reorganize from Holi Against Hindutva to Students Against Hindutva, the group uses the same language as that used by Equality Labs – that Holi has a casteist history which celebrates the burning of a “lower caste” woman, and that Holi Against Hindutva will work on caste abolition and advocacy of “Muslim, Dalit, Bahujan, femme and Advisasi communities.” The snapshot below illustrates this point.

Similarly, Holi Against Hindutva’s March 5th event at Harvard (bottom, right) uses the same language as above and as shown in the snapshot from Equality Labs’ website below (blue, left).

In another instance, Holi Against Hindutva (Students Against Hindutva) is seen asking for funds to support Equality Labs and quotes Thenmozhi Soundararajan on the resolution against India passed by the Seattle City Council.

Thus, the above examples show that Equality Labs is one of the main driving forces and the ideological backbone behind Holi Against Hindutva.

Linking Holi to Casteism and Sexual Violence

The attack on Holi is straight out of Equality Lab’s playbook, in its now [deleted] article “Why do we say no to Holi?” 

On March 6, 2020, Equality Labs tweeted “This #Holi take the time to read more about the festival, and share the Bahujan version of the story during dinner. Educate folks about the Brahmanical control of the history of India, and connect it to the rise of the BJP, Hindu Fascism, and upper caste networks of power.”

Unfortunately for them, an archived version of the article can be found here, which had been published on March 2. The article reinforced views that the Hindu festival of Holi is casteist and perpetuates sexual violence against women. 

The article stated the following: 

Holi also further reifies Brahmanical Patriarchy by encouraging casteist and sexist slurs that are ritually hurled at Holika’s figure as part of the ritual. This translates into the widespread violence against femmes in cities where Holi is practiced, creating a turbulent and frightening environment where gender based harassment attacks rise during this time. This includes groups of men throwing balloons filled with rocks, water, or even semen at femmes who are walking in the street. We cannot expect more from a festival whose heart is quite literally the burning of an Indigenous woman.

The violence on Holi is a reminder of the continued aggression against marginalized peoples and creates license for even more during this time. That is why many femmes, caste oppressed, and tribal people stay away public spaces to avoid these attacks.

It is also possible that the myth of Holi appropriated an Indigenous or local spring festival — because there is a long history of appropriation that brought local myths and gods into the so-called Hindu fold — and incorporated the violent burning of Holika into it, making this festival even more problematic, adding to the appropriation and erasure of Indigenous culture.

As there were too many factual errors to unpack, The American Hindu has provided a point by point breakdown of their misinformation here. 

From A House of Cards, which breaks down the false narrative:

Holi is casteist –

The falsity in and the anti-Hindu nature of this campaign is evident when one reads the below snapshot from Holi Against Hindutva’s website. The group claims that Holi is casteist because it celebrates the burning of a lower caste woman – a blatant lie meant to conjure up graphic imagery of angry, casteist Hindu mobs, along with bride burning. It accuses Hindus who celebrate Holi as endorsers of some extremist ideology that wants to drive India’s 200 Million Muslims out.

On March 2, 2020, Equality Labs also wrote a highly pejorative article about why everyone should reject Holi because it endorses casteism. Strange, considering that it uses Holi for its own political agenda. Equality Labs appeals: “If you are serious about caste abolition, and the rights of South Asian Indigenous and religious minorities, you must confront the truths about Holi and work to challenge Brahminical positions on history from the South Asian experience.” It claims that upper caste Hindus have whitewashed the festival for Americans and the western world by showing fun colors, family gatherings, etc. and have erased the “atrocities” associated with caste; that “for centuries, activists and historians from India’s Indigenous communities and oppressed castes have argued that the myths around Holi were deliberately built to hide a violent overthrow and conquest.” It then attempts to provide an “indigenous perspective” of Holi (Equality Labs considers Dalits as the indigenous people of India that were violently suppressed by fair skinned Aryans with their Vedas and castes). It deliberately uses the Sanskrit word “Asura” for a group indigenous people and the Sanskrit word “Deva” for a group of non-indigenous people.

Exposing the twisted logic –

This narrative is a classic case of superimposing outdated racial and colonial theories on top of mistranslations to fit a particular hateful agenda. This is a strategy deployed by many South Asian and leftist activists to confuse gullible young minds who are not familiar with Hindu stories, philosophy, etc. and have digested false narratives from the likes of Equality Labs. Anyone familiar with Sanskrit, the Vedas and various Hindu texts, know that they are replete with stories of Asuras and Devas, where each has divine powers obtained by doing penances and yoga. Similarly, Hiranyakashipu (the “indigenous king” of the story of Holi, according to Equality Labs) was the son of sage Kashyap (which would make him a “Aryan” or a “non-indigenous” according to Equality Labs’ twisted logic). Similarly, major Rigvedic deities such as Varuna are Asuras. So, how does Hiranyakashipu become a “indigenous” king who was oppressed by “non-indigenous” foreigner Devas if he was the son of a “non-indigenous” famous sage?

To continue, anyone familiar with the story of Holi knows that Holika (the woman referred by Holi Against Hindutva and Equality Labs above) was the sister of king Hiranyakashipu and thus not a “lower caste” woman. In addition, the fact that the festival itself is named after Holika is an important reminder of the lesson from the whole story – that good will triumph over evil, no matter how powerful or magical the evil is. In addition, the son of Hiranyakashipu (Prahalad) is the hero of the story and one of the most famous characters of Hinduism. Why would “casteist Brahmins” make a “lower caste boy” one of the most famous and revered characters of Hinduism?

This narrative is thus a patent work of Equality Labs, as evidenced from the group’s works and statements and the article above.

Organizing Against Hindu Fascism Toolkit

A lot of SAHI’s content is from the “Organizing Against Hindu Fascism” toolkit by Equality Labs. It has since been deleted from their website and relevant tweets have been deleted too. 

The Organizing Against Hindu Fascism toolkit encouraged students to compare Indian politics to the Holocaust on Twitter. 

Holocaust Comparison

On May 20, 2020, SAHI tweeted “India is already building detention centers to illegally detain and torture millions of Muslims. CAA is our Holocaust. Will you be silent or will you stand up with the world to stop genocide? #StopGenocideinIndia”

However, if we examine the Organizing against Hindu Fascism Toolkit by Equality Labs, we can see that these tweets have been directly copied and pasted. 

The founder of Equality Labs, Thenmozhi Soundararajan (@dalitdiva), is seen replying to SAHI’s tweet. 

Hijacking Holi

In addition to previous information, it’s important to note the following. 

Holi is one of the most popular Hindu festivals on U.S. college campuses. Although SAHI is claiming that they are not protesting Holi itself, the name of their campaign and online content suggest otherwise. 

SAHI’s old website subtitle states “This Holi, oppose India’s CAA & NRC and the state’s use of police brutality.” which peddles a political agenda during a Hindu religious festival. 

Furthermore, SAHI still condemns Holi, appropriates the colorful powders and replaces it with white powder to further a political motive. 

On March 1, 2020, SAHI retweeted “College campuses across the US are marking their solidarity with protestors in India. They are asking protestors to come dress in black (as opposed to Holi’s traditional white attire) and will supply only white powder. This is not a celebration, but a condemnation.” 

A student supporter of SAHI also shared the following on his Facebook page, thus amplifying the hateful message against Holi: 

Comparing India to Nazi Germany and Holocaust comparisons

In addition to the prevoius statements, SAHI and its members have frequently compared India to Nazi Germany and compared it to the Holocaust to further a political agenda. Consider the following: 

On August 21, 2020, Alliance of Progressive Hindus tweeted “Regarding anti-Semitism, Ms. Shreeya Singh [SAHI founder] has also been seen at protests holding a picture of Adolf Hitler being compared to India’s PM, a nation with very strong ties to the USA. It’s deeply disrespectful to the Jewish community to minimize their trauma and genocide that killed millions by utilizing comparisons to Hitler. By inherently minimizing the Jewish people’s sufferings, Ms. Singh is at the very least enabling anti-Semitism that seeks to minimize the pain and trauma of the Jewish community.”

From Instagram: 

In addition, the group also reported their concern with Shreeya Singh’s history of Islamophobia regarding the Uyghur genocide in China. 

Not to mention, SAHI also compares India’s Farmer laws to the Nuremberg Laws, further whitewashing and diminishing Antisemitism from Nazi Germany. 

Linking Hindu Religious Festivals to Police Violence

On August 3, 2020, SAHI posted “Check out this amazing set of graphics to learn about how #rakshabandhan has been coopted by Hindu Fascists to support the police state and patriarchal norms!”

To explain their bigotry, let’s review each of the points above:

1. A festival of Hindu origins is celebrated in August, Raksha Bandhan highlights sibling bonds… At the Dalit-Bahujan website velivada.com, author Pardeep explores the holiday’s sexist roots: “Raksha Bandhan is itself a Bandhan (hinderance) to the development of women in society”
   
   One of SAHI’s fundamental arguments is “We’re not against Hinduism, only Hindutva.” Yet, the group promotes graphics which call Hindu religious festivals as a “[hindrance] to the development of women in society.”
   
2. Many upper-caste led groups, including the Hindu nationalist network of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS: the American arm of India’s right-wing nationalist organization, the RSS), routinely host events with the police, and many of their donors are connected to politicians and business associations that promote more policing in our communities. (Thenmozhi Soundararajan)

and:

3. In 2019, HSS in the U.S, U.K and Canada organized a “campaign to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, building kinship between Hindu communities and the police”
   
   In points (2) and (3), Rajni suggests that these are “Bonds of Violence” and that Hindus are somehow responsible for Anti-Black violence through the police.
   
4. South Asians and Hindus in the U.S. can no longer accept the anti-Black Police State. We can no longer accept the violent socioeconomic political power of the anti-Dalit, anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh, anti-Buddhist, pro-U.S. Hindu Indian fascist RSS.
   
   Ironically, a Hindu grandpa, Sureshbhai Patel was partially paralyzed due to police brutality. How is the police “pro U.S. Hindu Indian fascist RSS”? 

Furthermore, when we examine who created the graphics and what their prior statements on Hinduism are, we once again see a connection to Equality Labs. 

To illustrate, on August 3, 2020, SAHI tweeted “Check out this amazing thread to learn how #RakshaBandhan has been coopted by the RSS to support the police state and patriarchal norms!”

The quote tweet by Rajani Gudlavellti states “Today on #RakshaBandhan, learn, educate, agitate, and organize. Gratitude to @EqualityLabs1 and @velivada for inspiring me/us: https://rajanigudlavalleti.wordpress.com/blog/ #Rakhi #CasteintheUS #StopHinduFascism #StopGenocideinIndia #SouthAsiansforBlackLives #BlackLivesMatter”

Rajani Gudlavellti’s personal blog describes the need to “Untangling Hinduism: Liberation for South Asians?” 

We can see from the above that Gudlavellti derives immense inspiration from Equality Labs. 

Support for Neo Nazis

On September 10, 2020, SAHI tweeted “🙌🏾🙌🏾 the Hindutva network has drawn support from the US to aid it’s reign of terror for far too long, we as a diaspora can make a significant impact by mobilizing against their forces and cutting those relationships, hoping to see promising results from this investigation” in quote tweet response to a tweet from Pieter Friedrich. 

Disinfo Lab has reported extensively on Friedrich and his activities. In addition, his archived blog found numerous instances of Antisemitism, promotion of Neo Nazism, pushing Antisemitic conspiracy theories and Anti LGBTQ+ rhetoric. 

Fredrich has also referred to Hindus as “Cow Piss” drinkers

Encouraging Violence Against Hindus

On March 5, 2020, during a protest held by Holi Against Hindutva at Harvard University, Suraj Yengde, a postdoctoral fellow, incited violence against Hindus. 

He stated “We have to strike back. The time of protests and the time of petitions have gone. With 50 lives in the coffins, it only demands a strike back. Before we think about our collective futures, we have to think about those individual lives that our ignorance has given birth to. And before we strike back, let us also remember those monsters of faces in the police uniform as well as the people who are not in the uniforms. We should not forget them” 

Interestingly, it is the same Suraj Yengde who tweeted that “Hindus are the sick people of India.” His Twitter account was temporarily suspended after the tweet. 

Affiliated Organizations

SAHI enjoys support of multiple on and off campus organizations. Most of these organizations have a history of derogatory comments against Hinduism and Hindu people. What’s more, not a single major Hindu or Indian organization on or off campus was involved in SAHI’s campaigns due to the group’s alliances and overtly hateful agenda. Thus, SAHI’s argument that it is protesting against Indian political leaders and their policies falls apart.

Student and Campus Organizations

From SAHI’s campaign signatories:

No major Hindu organization (student or otherwise) has joined this coalition. The list includes mostly South Asian groups with skewed views of Hinduism and India, Muslim organizations and other groups with half-baked knowledge about Hinduism and India. 

As a rough count , there are 17 South Asian organizations, 10 Muslim organizations, 2 Sikh organizations and about 10 “other.” The count doesn’t include a category called “student of,” where a handful of students from a university decided to endorse the campaign. 

Interestingly, the South Asian Federation at UC Riverside won an award at UCR in partnership with the Pakistani Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Bangladeshi Student Association and Sikh Student Association for their participation in the Holi Against Hindutva campaign. 

Furthermore, while it may appear that Hindu students are behind SAHI from the name of the organization and its co-opting of the festival of Holi, the owner of their “key terms” document (which is a glossary of terms to be used as a reference in their campaign) is Iman Iftikhar, a Pakistani Muslim student at Yale University. 

Another leader, SAHI’s Outreach Director Mariam Khan, can be seen openly reaching out to Muslim students on campus to join the Holi Against Hindutva campaign. This is illustrated in the Muslim Student Association of GSU below.  Here is an MSA at GSU endorsing Holi Against Hindutva:

SAHI’s claim of support from Hindu groups is also dubious at best. The “Hindu” groups supporting SAHI hardly represent Hindus, and in fact have a history of making and supporting derogatory comments about Hinduism.

Sadhana

Sadhana is a fringe group whose members have whitewashed Hinduphobia, rejected Hindu American parent concerns in the California textbook case study and allied with those who have called for the destruction of Hinduism. Sunita Viswanath, a board member of Sadhana and Hindus for Human Rights (HFHR), as well as a supporter of SAHI, signed a letter in support of Audrey Truschke on behalf of HFHR which claimed that Hindu students at Rutgers are “supporters of Adolf Hitler.” This letter was also signed by SAHI. 

On March 14, 2020, SAHI tweeted “”New York City’s Sadhana said that speaking up against injustice in such a way is part of Hinduism’s core teaching and hosted its own Holi satsangh during which they prayed for those who died in Delhi.”

Not to mention, that is not how you spell satsang* 😂

On March 5, 2020, Sadhana tweeted “Sadhana stands in full solidarity with the #AHoliAgainstHindutva protests happening on campuses across the US today, led by @Students_A_H. We commend them for taking this important and necessary action. #weareone #vasudhaivakutumbakam. The students who are protesting today come from Hindu as well as other religious and cultural backgrounds. Their goal is to draw attention to discriminatory policies introduced in India like the CAA/NRC and the recent anti-Muslim violence in New Delhi. ” Their statement can be found here. 

From SAHI’s GoFundMe, the founder of Sadhana, Sunita Viswanath, is seen donating $100. 

Sunita Viswanath was accused in a petition to Columbia University to be removed as Hindu Religious Life Advisor. The petitioner claimed she was Hinduphobic and insulted Hindu deities amongst numerous other accusations. 

Some of Sadhana’s past statements: 

A progressive Hindu should never feel comfortable about being a Hindu, because the stain and sin of casteism is still so deep and still so ever-present. A progressive Hindu should never be an uncritical student and practitioner, who believes in sastric inerrancy. As Ambedkar makes clear, it is these very shastras from which the evil of caste has emerged.

SASI NYC

SASI is a Hinduphobic organization that has peddled conspiracy theories surrounding Hindu festivals, religion and culture. They have claimed that Hindus are “not indigneous to India” and that “Hinduphobia does not exist, it is right wing talk” on multiple occasions. They have also made jokes about the Kashmiri Pandit genocide. 

On July 31, 2020, SAHI quote tweeted from SASI “retweeting this again!”

Similarly, from Facebook: 

At the protest in Times Square, racist posters were held up saying “How many Muslims have to die for your temples? #StopHinduFascism #HindutvaKills #StopGenocide #TSQprotest via @SASIinNYC”

What is conveniently missed is the fact that thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed during Islamic colonization of India, including the Ram Mandir (most sacred sites for Hindus) in Ayodhya. It was a Muslim archeologist, KK Muhammed, who corroborated these claims. 

SASI NYC have also labelled students who supported the “Holi for Unity” movement as “Sanghis” for asking that their Hindu religion not be misrepresented. 

On March 9, 2020, in response to Holi For Unity, SASI NYC tweeted “Yes, @holiforunity are Sanghis”

From Holi for Unity website: 

In recent times, this Hindu festival has been subjected to cultural misappropriation and commercialization. Intentional misuse of Holi and its traditions has also sown further confusion about Hindu heritage and culture, while also aiding distrust towards Hindus and fueling Hinduphobia. 

In this vein, we have launched a “Holi for Unity” campaign to celebrate Holi for what it is, and to learn about, embrace and respect our Hindu traditions. We call on you to sign onto the Holi for Unity campaign!

Yet, SASI openly labels a Hindu campaign as run by “Sanghis”

Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)

Once again, from SAHI’s list of key terms, they pledge support for IAMC. 

From Document: 

On July 23, 2020, SAHI shared an article by IAMC:

IAMC is known for its anti-Hindu messaging: As an example, in 2012, its founder, Shaik Ubaid, falsely linked Hindus to the Milwaukee Guruwara shooting, despite no evidence. 

From A House of Cards: 

Shaik Ubaid is the founding President of IAMC. On August 5, 2012, Ubaid condemned the racist attack on the Milwaukee Sikh Gurudwara in a press release. In this release, Ubaid attempts to link “Hindu extremists” to this attack and implies that Hindus had something to do with it. He states: “Some Hindu extremist groups in the US have joined hands with other Islamophobic hate-peddlers [emphasis added]. They should now realize that the hate that they are spreading endangers all South Asians irrespective of their religious backgrounds and will not be limited to hatred against Muslims.” 

IAMC have suggested that Hindus are “spreading their tentacles in U.S. politics” and that they “need to be put on a leash” 

Syed Ali Mujtaba, the author who article was shared by IAMC, has claimed that “Correcting portrayal of Hinduism,” and “Bengali Hindu Genocide of 1971,” is “Hindutva” 

This goes to show that they are quick to brand anything and everything Hindu as “Hindutva” and silence the genuine concerns of the Hindu community. 

Board of Advisors 

Finally, SAHI’s board of advisors have previously been accused of Hinduphobia. 

From Website:

Audrey Truschke

Audrey Truschke is an Associate Professor at Rutgers University, who has been known for peddling Hinduphobia and denigrating Hindu deities and sacred texts. In April 2021, the Rutgers Student Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to condemn Hinduphobia on campus as a result of her actions. 

Conclusion

SAHI is a dangerous organization that has created an unsafe environment for Hindu students on campus. The organization is allied with those who have deep rooted prejudice against Hindus and Hinduism as a religion. They frequently use the guise of Indian politics to cover for their Hinduphobia. Bigotry against Hindu students on campus and preventing religious festivals from being celebrated is not activism.