THREAD - ACTION ALERT: #DismantleHinduphobia. Urge universities to dissociate themselves from the "Dismantling Global Hindutva" conference and not support bigotry against Hindus. Here's why.👇🏾1/n cohna.org/dismantlehindu…
As Hindus, we welcome any open exchange of ideas and the freedom of academics to pursue scholarly inquiry without restraint. However, this conference falsely paints Hindus as purveyors of extremism, actively denies the genocide of Hindu people, and most troublingly...2/n
...labels those who disagree as "Hindutva," which the conference organizers define as Hindu extremism. 3/n
Furthermore, many of the conference speakers either have a history of supporting Naxalite/Maoist violence or of disparaging Hindu deities, festivals and practices. US State Dept recognizes Naxalites as terrorists. Let's analyze some of the speakers. 4/n cfr.org/backgrounder/c…
Kavita Krishnan is on the Politburo (Central Committee) of CPI-ML (Liberation), which has a history of supporting armed struggle & violence & glorifies letters & works by Charu Mazumdar, one of the key figures of the violent Naxalite movement in India. 5/n cpiml.org/category/libra…
The party has openly stated, "...it is totally false to suggest that we have given up the policy of armed resistance...Militant sections capable of resistance have come up in many villages…" 6/n jstor.org/stable/4414314…
Nalini Sundar was named as a key link between violent Maoist leaders & their urban sympathizers (CPI-Maoist is also recognized as a terror outfit by the US State Dept) by Podiyam Pandu, a Naxalite involved in a deadly attack on Indian police in 2017. 7/n dnaindia.com/india/report-a…
On August 20, 2015, while commenting on the murder of a Muslim woman by two of her brothers, Kavita Krishnan dragged in the Hindu festival of Rakshabandhan to imply that the killing was tied to the spirit of the festival. 8/n 
A conference resource called "The Hindutva Harassment Field Manual," created by Prof Audrey Truschke and the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC), also refers to Holi, another popular Hindu festival as fundamentally "casteist" and "violent." 9/n cohna.org/cryinghindutva…
On May 17, 2021, amidst the COVID-19 crisis in India and the overwhelming deaths, journalist Neha Dixit demeaned Hindu funeral rites by alleging them to be part of "...omnipresent...oppressive Brahminical practices..." Notice the amount of likes and retweets! 10/n
In 2010, P. Sivakami, another speaker at this conference, participated on a provocative panel which argued that the caste system will not go until Hinduism is erased and that "Hinduism is spiritual fascism." 11/n tribuneindia.com/2010/20100131/…
Anand Patwardhan's short film, titled "We Are Not Your Monkeys," falsely analogizes monkeys in the epic to "lower caste" Dalits using colonial race theories & uses images of the Ramayana with controversial scenes to nauseate the viewer about Hinduism. 12/n tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-…
Meena Kandasamy has authored a poem that calls the Hindu deity Rama a "di**head" who needs "the testicle of a golden deer" to "rouse [his] manhood" and portrays the Hindu goddess Sita as lusting after Ravana, her kidnapper in the epic. 13/n poemhunter.com/poem/random-ac…
Not to mention, an author of the conference’s "Hindutva Harassment Field Manual" resource (Prof Audrey Truschke) has called Rama a "misogynistic pig" & argued that another sacred Hindu text, Bhagavad Gita, "rationalizes mass slaughter." 14/n cohna.org/wp-content/upl…
These examples are fundamentally a re-casting of Hinduism-- not any political movement (i.e., Hindutva)-- as oppressive. "Hindutva" is used as a smokescreen for overt #Hinduphobia. This pattern of abusing Hinduism and falsely attributing a Hindu origin to violent ideas...15/n
...while peddling bigotry can also be seen through the works of many scholars & resources associated with the conference. E.g., a scholar who co-authored the aforementioned "Hindutva Harassment Manual" has called Hindus "the worst scum on earth." 16/n cohna.org/cryinghindutva…
It is also alarming that the organizers are hosting this conference on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 - the worst terrorist attack on American soil. By doing so, they are sending two clear but EQUALLY TROUBLING messages: 17/n
1. "Global Hindutva" is an insidious problem that has permeated beyond India to the extent that the next 9/11 is imminent & will be caused by "Hindu extremists." -- a FALSE & DANGEROUS conflation of the Al Qaeda, the Taliban, & global terrorism with Hindu organizations...yet 18/n
Meena Kandasamy, a keynote speaker at the conference, has already expressed this dangerous sentiment. 19/n
2. 9/11 also marks the 128th anniversary of the arrival of Hinduism to American shores through Swami Vivekananda's landmark speech at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago, 1893. Hence,...20/n
...appropriating this day for such an event implies that the anniversary of integrating Hinduism into the American social fabric will now be synonymous with launching a campaign of distrust and #xenophobia against us. 21/n
The fig leaf of "we are opposed to Hindutva ideology, not Hinduism" falls apart when derogatory comments are directed at Hindu religious icons, texts and Hindus as a people. It falls apart when anti-Hindu violence is concertedly erased. 22/n
As members of an indigenous minority faith, Hindu students already struggle to find respect & understanding for their very different beliefs. This relentless bigotry against the Hindu community also has larger ramifications - including hate crimes, attacks and intimidation. 23/n
Universities are supposed to be a melting pot for competing ideas and diverse identities. Yet, there is an obvious and increasing attempt to silence the voices of practicing Hindus at various universities - by using the specter of "Hindutva" to peddle #Hinduphobia. 24/n
Academic freedom certainly permits scholarly inquiry; but, institutions are at liberty to NOT endorse a line of inquiry they find deeply troubling or harmful. We would not want this type of treatment for any religious community or minority group! 25/n
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