'Will always stand against Hinduphobia': US State Senator on Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference

Ohio, Sept 1: An upcoming conference titled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ has sparked criticism for further propagating Hinduphobia on a global level. Condemning such conference, a prominent American State Senator has come forward speaking up against hosting the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference.

 

Ohio State Senator Niraj Antani described the conference as an anti-Hindu gathering as several universities asked the organizers to remove their logos from the site of the event which has generated outrage among Hindu Americans.

 

"This conference represents a disgusting attack on Hindus across the United States, and we must all condemn this as nothing more than racism and bigotry against Hindus. I will always stand strong against Hinduphobia," Ohio State Senator Niraj Antani said in a statement. "I am condemning in the strongest possible terms the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ Conference," he said.

 

 

It is worth noting Antani is the youngest Hindu elected official in the history of the United States and is the first Indian American state senator in Ohio history. Further, he also thanked the Hindu American Foundation. 'I want to thank the Hindu American Foundation for leading the charge against this bigoted conference and for all their work on behalf of Hindus across the country."

 

 

Besides, in a huge shocker, in a section labeled as “Letter of Support” on the website of Dismantling Global Hindutva, apparently written by scholars of “Genocide, Mass Violence, and Human Rights”, the conference sought to clarify its position on allegations of Hinduphobia levelled against it.

 

The conference is being held on the weekend of September 10-12. The conference will be distorted truths based on the concept of establishing a pure Hindu state, a Hindu Rashtra, in India through "the exclusion of its Muslim and Christian minorities." In this letter rather than giving assurance that it does not support in enhancing Hinduphobia, it has asserted it as a "distraction" and meant to deflect critiques of other “supremacist ideologies”.

 

“There is also an attempt to claim that the conference engages in Hinduphobia. As the Hindus for Human Rights organization here in the U.S. has clarified the term has long been weaponized by Hindutva nationalists to deflect their own phobias against Muslims and Christians. The South Asian Scholar Activist Collective has also described the term as a distraction in the west to silence critiques of casteism, Islamophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism, racism, and other forms of supremacist ideologies at the heart of Hindutva,” the letter read.