THREAD: As campuses reopen in the fall, we bring to your attention a student group operating on 🇺🇸 college campuses that have spread dangerous lies about Hinduism and engaged in targeted harassment of Hindu students.
Part 1, 2, and 3 are available to view on our IG📸👈🏾
Our investigation has found that Hindu religious festivals were politicized to further a Hinduphobic motive, incitement of violence against Hindus took place and the group supported known terrorists responsible for the murder of minorities.
Before we begin, we would like to make it very clear that we, as @hinduoncampus, do not condone any type of abuse, threats or harassment. This thread should not be an excuse to do any of this.
1/ Who are they? → @Students_A_H
SAHI began as "Holi Against Hindutva" (HAH) in December 2019, changing its name to “Students Against Hindutva” and “Students Against Hindutva Ideology.” (SAHI)
The social media handle is based in🇺🇸,🇮🇳,🇵🇰
facebook.com/SAHINational/
2/ Support for Terrorists
When HAH initially launched, they used this photograph as the cover for the “open letter”
The woman at the center of the image is Ladeeda Sakhaloon and next to her is Ayesha Renna, another activist that has been involved in the protests
The following was found on her Facebook profile, which has since been deleted.
> Moplah Massacre = 10,000 Hindus killed & 100,000 were forced to flee their homes
> You should learn about our ‘Jihad’”
shethepeople.tv/home-top-video…
web.archive.org/web/*/https://…
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.
web.archive.org/web/2019121620…
web.archive.org/web/2019121612…
3/ Hijacking Holi
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.
4/ Inciting violence against Hindus
During a protest held by Holi Against Hindutva @Harvard, Suraj Yengde, a postdoctoral fellow, incited violence against Hindus.
It is the same Yengde who tweeted that “Hindus are the sick people of India.”
5/ Falsely blaming Hindus for police violence
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!”
SAHI’s fundamental arguments is “We’re not against Hinduism, only Hindutva.” Yet, the group promotes graphics which call Hindu religious festivals a “[hindrance] to the development of women in society.”
Rajni [the author of the graphics] suggests there are “Bonds of Violence"..
... between Hindus & the police, concluding that Hindus are responsible for Anti-Black violence through the police.
A Hindu grandpa, Sureshbhai Patel was partially paralyzed due to police brutality with no accountability. How is the police “pro U.S. Hindu Indian fascist”?
6/ The student wing of Equality Labs
SAHI’s documents show that they are partnered with Equality Labs.
docs.google.com/document/d/1uC…
EL is a fringe group, whose members have called for the destruction of Hinduism and have labelled Hinduism as fascism.
7/ 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
web.archive.org/web/2020080104…
The toolkit encouraged students to compare Indian politics to the Holocaust on Twitter.
When we examine the Toolkit, we can see that these tweets have been directly copied and pasted from EL with the founder @/dalitdiva replying
SAHI and its members have frequently compared India to Nazi Germany and compared it to the Holocaust to further a political agenda.
SAHI's founder, Shreeya Singh's, IG:
8/ Linking Holi to Casteism and Sexual Violence
The attack on Holi is straight out of EL’s playbook, in its now [deleted] article “Why do we say no to Holi?”
web.archive.org/web/2020031110…
@American_Hindu wrote a piece debunking: medium.com/who-is-the-ame…
9/ Support for Neo Nazis
Here, they seen are supporting Pieter Friedrich, who has called Hindu "cow piss drinkers." His old blog found instances of antisemitism & neo nazism.
thedisinfolab.org/the-un-ending-…
web.archive.org/web/2004021407…
10/ Do they represent Hindu voices? Nope.
SAHI has support of organizations with a history of derogatory comments against Hinduism and Hindu people. Not a single major Hindu or Indian organization was involved in SAHI’s campaigns due to the group’s alliances & hateful agenda.
+ 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 @Yale
southasia.macmillan.yale.edu/event/sasc-stu…
+ SAHI’s Outreach Director Mariam Khan seen openly reaching out to students on campus:
11/ Sadhana
A fringe group whose members have whitewashed Hinduphobia, rejected Hindu American parent concerns in the California textbook case study & allied with those who have called for the destruction of Hinduism
thewire.in/rights/audrey-…
ahouseofcards.net/sunita-viswana…
Sunita Viswanath, a board member of Sadhana and Hindus for Human Rights (HFHR) & 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.
Letter →
12/ SASI
SASI is a Hinduphobic organization that has peddled conspiracy theories about Hindu religion and culture.
They have claimed Hindus are “not indigneous to India,' '“Hinduphobia does not exist, it is right wing talk,” and joked about the Kashmiri Pandit genocide
Examples:
instagram.com/p/CD-Y7EMDkSZ/
instagram.com/p/COTlYbrjtKK/
instagram.com/p/CLSmRLCFtS7/
SAHI connection:
SASI NYC have also labelled students who supported the “Holi for Unity” movement as “Sanghis” for asking that their Hindu religion not be misrepresented.
13/ Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)
Once again, from SAHI’s list of key terms, they pledge support for IAMC.
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”
ummid.com/news/2021/apri…
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.
14/ Board of Advisors
studentsagainsthindutvaideology.org/about-us
Finally, SAHI’s board of advisors have previously been accused of Hinduphobia and condemned.
Audrey Truschke is an Associate Professor @RutgersU, 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.
15/ South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC)
Started by Truschke, the manual recommends that students who want to "fight against Hindutva and for inclusion and diversity on [their] campus" should get involved with SAHI
hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/students
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 politicizing religious festivals significant to minority students is not activism.
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