#United States #HinduPACT #San Ramon #Hindu Community #Hindutva

HinduPACT's Challenge to Hinduphobia

In an assertive stand against perceived academic bias, the American Hindus Against Defamation (AHAD) initiative of HinduPACT has unveiled a meticulously crafted rebuttal to a controversial report titled Hindutva in America: An Ethnonationalist Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism released by Rutgers University’s Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR). This action represents a significant moment in the ongoing discourse surrounding Hindu identity and representation in American academia.

The counter-report, aptly named Hindutva and the American Dream: A Counter-Narrative to Hindutva in America, employs advanced AI technology to unveil what AHAD describes as institutionalized Hinduphobia masquerading as scholarship. Utilizing Tattwa.AI's HinduHate Detector and Counter-Narrative Generator, this innovative approach evaluates countless texts—over 150 books, scholarly studies, and investigative reports—identifying bias, sentiment manipulation, and factual omissions with unprecedented rigor.

Technology That Sees Through Bias
Ajay Shah, the founder of HinduPACT, stated, “We’ve developed AI that transcends mere keyword detection; it reveals systematic narrative distortions. Our mission is to uphold the truth, safeguarding it from ideological biases, and to ensure accountability among scholars who venture into discriminatory practices.”

According to the revelations in their analysis, the Rutgers report consistently employs the term Hindutva in a derogatory manner and aligns it with extreme labels like fascist and supremacist without citing adequate evidence. They highlighted a conspicuous absence of engagement with Hindu community representatives, with no consultation from any major Hindu organization to offer a balanced perspective. Instead, the report appears to perpetuate a negative narrative overshadowing the positive contributions made by Hindus in American society, thus achieving a maximum Hinduphobia Risk Score.

Stigmatizing Civic Life
This report portrays common activities within the Hindu community—like temple worship, youth camps, and charitable fundraising—as suspect, a distinction not made for other religious groups. Moreover, the proposal that U.S. authorities should monitor Hindu charities raises significant concerns regarding civil rights violations. Shah emphasizes, “To paint our community with suspicion is to undermine the principles of American pluralism and the very foundation of First Amendment rights. This sort of rhetoric is divisive at a time when unity is essential.”

In response to these practices, HinduPACT has set forth a series of demands:

• - Demand for clear authorship and transparency in the creation of such reports.
• - Call for full disclosure of the funding sources and potential foreign influences.
• - Request for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate universities implicated in potential Title VI civil rights violations.
• - Implementation of federal oversight on programs that exclude Hindu perspectives.
• - Investigation into connections between anti-Hindu advocacy groups and extremist groups.
• - Enhanced oversight of organizations undermining U.S. pluralism.
• - Enforcement of financial compliance among activist academic centers.
• - Promotion of fair employment practices for Hindu scholars and inclusion in academic curricula regarding Hinduism.

The Rutgers report illustrates a broader trend of leveraging selective narratives to disenfranchise American Hindus, hinder their democratic participation, and misrepresent their contributions to the fabric of the U.S. Multicultural society. As Deepti Mahajan, president of HinduPACT, succinctly puts it, “Religious freedom must be universally afforded, including to Hindus. We will not remain passive while our community faces deplatforming and defamation. This is not only about justice; it is a matter of the fundamental American promise of equal dignity for all faiths.”