We have seen a growing trend of blatantly portraying Hindutva and Hinduism as an evil section of society. We have seen how renowned scholars are putting false and baseless aspects to spread anti-Hindu sentiments across. It has been orchestrated that people who believe in ‘Hindutva’ are trying their best to establish a Hindu Rashtra by amending the constitution, and they have hatched a plan to denounce the values of secularism and democracy from it.
In order to oppose such ‘Fake’ Hindutva forces, several so-called thinkers have been brought together financial, social, political, castes, sexual discrimination, health, science, and several other issues at a platform to attack Hindutva across the globe.
The South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC), a group of Liberals, activists, scholars, and students of North America, has recently come up with an online resource for ‘people who are allegedly under attack from Hindu nationalists. This is called The Hindutva Harassment Field Manual, which offers an introduction to how one’s multiple identities are ‘targeted’ by Hindutva ideologues. The manual allegedly offers several resources to understand the identity categories and how to align with the so-called underrepresented communities.
The infamous Audrey Truschke, who is an Associate Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University, and unfortunately a member of the SASAC group, tweeted about the launch of the manual, saying, “I am thrilled to be sharing a new online resource — Hindutva Harassment Field Manual. This field manual offers educational and practical resources for the targets, allies, students, and employers of those subjected to Hindu Rights assaults. #Hindutva.”
Audrey Truschke is a rabid Hindu hater and she is known for spreading nefarious propaganda against Hindus and Hinduism, hatch conspiracy theories to defame Hindutva in whatever way possible.
The other members of this evil SASAC group are Purnima Dhavan, University of Washington, Manan Ahmed, Columbia University, Supriya Gandhi from Yale University, Ananya Chakravarti from Georgetown University, Simran Jeet Singh from Union Seminary, Davesh Soneji from the University of Pennsylvania, and Dheepa Sundaram from the University of Denver.
She shamelessly introduces the manual and states that “Critics of Hindutva are often attacked on the basis of their presumed caste and religious affiliation. Dalit voices as well as individuals from non-Hindu faiths and atheists are automatically maligned (wrongly) as bigoted by pro-Hindutva individuals. Hindutva advocates attempt to silence critical Hindu voices who are upper caste (savarna) by claiming the individual is self-hating or misinformed.” This is the reason for developing this document.
This website claims to offer vital resources to those who have been allegedly targeted and attacked online by Hindus and claims that such attacks are coming from “BJP IT Cell” and “Hindutva ideologues”.
These activists and so-called activists have written extensively on these Anti-Hindutva issues and recently held a conference in the USA, that offers a framework to spread the propaganda of Hinduphobia and influence people who are unfamiliar with the phenomenon.
According to this manual, if anyone questions the professional privilege and methods implemented by the group are demonized as “Hindutva.” It is a charged term used to silence the people who are daring to take a stand against these people.
This manual is nothing but a cover to continue spreading Hinduphobia under the garb of Academic freedom and Scholarly pursuit. However, what makes this manual even more problematic is the use of allies and sources, which are blatantly anti-Hindu in nature and openly create a divide between several sections of the society.
These sources are highly aligned to a certain political agenda in the name of “diverse opinions”, but shamelessly target those who have differences of opinions and political leanings. This bigotry should ring alarm bells for anyone who is too serious about diversity, inclusion, scholarly pursuits, and secularism.
The Hindutva Harassment Field Manual also lists “legal considerations” for people who are allegedly targeted by Hindus in the US, and offers them legal advice on contacting the law enforcement authorities and initiate civil litigations against attackers.
The Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), which is a strong organization completely dedicated to improving the understanding of Hinduism” has comes heavily against this Manual and retorted that it is an attempt to silence Hindu voices and a nefarious agenda to deflect attention from Hindu phobia and secular-liberal bigotry.
CoHNA stated that “Essentially, anyone who questions the methods and professional privilege used by the South Asian Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC) is deemed as ’Hindutva’. It is an epithet used to silence Hindus or indeed any criticism at all,”.
The Hindu community has raised reasonable concerns and tried to engage with the academics in question several times in recent years, but all attempts have been wasted so far. The Hindu students on American Univeristy campuses have shared their concerns with university administration, and submit the evidences of trauma they have faced due to biased propaganda against Hinduism, but everything has been largely ignored.
The Hindu community as a whole has not done anything that would be considered harassment or racial aggression, but these people are spreading misinformation and flagging factual errors to peddle fake narrative against Hindus and Hindutva and provoking people to express hatred against innocent Hindu students, who are studying in American universities.
Conclusion
This SASAC group represents a group of dimwits, who are orchestrating disgusting attacks on Hindus across the United States, and we are wholeheartedly condemn this as nothing more than bigotry and racism against Hindus. The Harassment Field Manual is a highly biased resource of lies, that categorically states that Hindus have never faced oppression currently and throughout history. This manual also denies that anti-Hindu bias has ever led to horrific incidents against Hindus.
We wholeheartedly reject the propaganda to defame Hindutva and putting Hindu students in harmful situation. We urge our government and several other prominent Hindu groups to raise their voice against such malicious attmepts.
