HINDUTVA TERROR GOES GLOBAL
26 November 2023
Published in: The Express Tribune
Earlier this month, a team from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) visited India to conduct evaluations, assessing the country’s implementation of the legal framework against money laundering and terrorist financing.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu-centric Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership might take solace in delivering a satisfactory report card to the international watchdog on terrorism financing, mounting evidence suggests that Hindutva groups, operating with state patronage, are involved in systematic and organised acts of terror, particularly targeting religious minorities.
A complex network of transactions, disguised as charitable endeavors, interwoven with a network of extremist organisations operating at home and abroad, and the covert funneling of financial support to Hindu supremacist and religious groups, now, collectively cast a dark shadow over India’s stance against terrorism before the global audience it has been trying to charm for decades.
Since the 2014 victory of the BJP, the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organisation committed to turning India into a Hindu nation, marginalisation of minority communities, particularly Muslims, has become more pronounced. In the last decade, the RSS and its Hindu nationalist ideology, known as Hindutva, have experienced a significant surge. Advocacy groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch contend that the escalation of Hindutva-related violence and discrimination against religious minorities coincides with the rise of Modi’s BJP and has exacerbated further with each successive electoral triumph for the right-wing party.
According to Hindutva Watch, an independent research project that documents hate crimes and hate speeches against religious minorities in India, an overwhelming 205 (80%) of hate speech events in 2023 occurred in BJP-ruled states and union territories. Furthermore, a majority of the events were orchestrated by entities affiliated with the RSS, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) designated as a religious militant organisation by the World Factbook of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Bajrang Dal, also a declared militant religious organisation by the World Factbook, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, and the ruling party itself. The growth of these groups, and their involvement, the watchdog suggests, is directly linked to their financial resources, which plays a crucial role in scaling up their operations.
Details gathered by the Express Tribune reveal that Hindutva groups in India have relied on various legal and illegal methods, globally as well as domestically, to raise funds for their activities against religious minorities.
According to data released by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), a federal agency supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs, in 2021, five organisations with documented connections to Hindu supremacist groups were granted COVID-19 relief funding totaling $833,000. These funds were then used to sponsor various activities and campaigns at home in India.
As detailed in a report by Al Jazeera, the SBA disbursed funds through its Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance (EIDLA), Disaster Assistance Loan (DAL), and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). These initiatives were designed to offer economic relief to struggling businesses and maintain their workforce during the COVID-19 crisis in the worst-hit nation in the world.
Under several of these initiatives, the Massachusetts-based Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA) received over $150,000, along with an additional $21,430. Since its establishment, the VHPA’s Indian counterpart, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has been committed to establishing an ethnic Hindu-majority state in India. VHPA alone runs more than 20 chapters across the United States, with its membership surging in the late 1980s following heightened efforts by right-wing Hindu groups in India to construct a temple dedicated to Lord Ram at the specific site where a Mughal-era mosque stood in the North Indian town of Ayodhya.
The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation (EVF) of the USA, an organisation affiliated with the RSS, known for its network of schools primarily situated in India’s tribal and rural regions, received more than $71,000. The foundation stands accused of disseminating the RSS agenda of Hindu supremacy and fostering anti-minority sentiments among young children. SBA data further reveals that the Infinity Foundation, another Hindu nationalist organisation with known connections to the RSS, secured over $51,000 in US federal funds in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. Founded by Rajiv Malhotra, a right-wing author, the organisation has faced accusations of targeting academics and scholars critical of right-wing Hindu groups, along with issuing divisive statements. Malhotra’s foundation extends grants to researchers and universities with the aim of promoting the Hindu nationalist ideology endorsed by the RSS within academic spaces. Similarly, Sewa International, a longstanding affiliate of the RSS, was allocated $150,621. The organisation actively finances various projects under the RSS in India, and at one point, its publications showed that it was housed within the RSS headquarters in New Delhi. Among the five organisations, the Hindu American Foundation secured the largest portion, receiving over $380,000 from the US government as part of the pandemic relief initiative. Co-founded by former VHPA activist Mihir Meghani, the Washington-based advocacy group, as reported by Al Jazeera, allocated substantial funds to advocate for BJP leader Narendra Modi and his brand of politics at home and abroad.
The origin
Originating in the late 1920s, the Hindutva philosophy centers on the perceived racial superiority of Hindus, with the ultimate goal of establishing India as a Hindu nation-state. At the forefront of this ideology is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, founded in 1925, which describes itself as “firmly rooted in genuine nationalism” and criticises what it sees as an erosion of the nation’s integrity in the name of secularism and excessive appeasement of the Muslim population. Locally, the RSS has expanded its influence by forming numerous affiliates representing students, trade unions, tribals, and women, including prominent groups like Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Seva Bharti, and Bajrang Dal.
In 1951, on the political front, the RSS established the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), renamed as Bharatiya Janata Party roughly three decades later. While these affiliated organisations maintain formal separations on paper, they collectively advocate for a Hindu nation and support each other in their shared cause. Now, the RSS’s influence extends beyond India, including in the United States, where equivalent sister organisations exist. For instance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), although legally an independent, nonprofit, tax-exempt entity, is functionally considered an offshoot of the VHP in India, sharing the same values and ideals. The Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, based in Frisco, Texas, collaborates with Bajrang Dal and the VHP, while the Bajrang Dal, known for its militant approach, maintains VHP as its parent body.
At home in India, these Hindutva groups employ violent methods to instill fear and terror. Similar to other ethnic-racial terror groups, they seek to marginalise, subjugate, exclude, and, if necessary, eliminate minorities, particularly Indian Muslims. Employing tactics such as hate speech, lynching, and inciting mob violence, these outfits utilise a diverse range of actors, from lone wolves to local militias to faith-based charities. All these affiliate organisations are known under a common banner of “Sangh Parivar (the Sangh family).
Dual standards
While India maintains a diplomatic charm offensive on the global stage, positioning itself as a crucial ally of the United States against its arch-rival, China, a contrasting scenario unfolds domestically. The government in New Delhi seemingly grants a carte blanche to the RSS and several of its affiliates engaged in receiving foreign funding through diverse channels. “The West has consistently employed different standards when it comes to dealing with violations of human rights and other norms by India – primarily because the United States has been positioning India as an opposing force to China,” said Dr. Talat Wizarat, former chairperson, Department of International Affairs, University of Karachi.
Highlighting the anti-Muslim propaganda propagated by both elected and unelected leaders in India, Dr. Wizarat said: “The BJP and its RSS affiliates have conducted killings and acts of violence against minorities with impunity. The unabashed Hindu-first messaging by BJP politicians has emboldened Hindutva groups, leaving the country’s Muslim and Christian minorities in a perpetual state of fear and alienation.”
“The activities of these Hindutva groups clearly fall under ethnically or racially motivated terrorism, a growing threat that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) itself has recognised in the past,” the expert emphasised. In response to a question regarding FATF’s lack of action on the situation in India, Dr. Wizarat remarked that the Paris-based global body, established to combat terrorism financing and money laundering, is jeopardising its credibility by overlooking India’s persistent violations and its failure to curb the funding of terrorist activities through RSS affiliates. “When you have one rule for Pakistan and another for India, it clearly makes the watchdog look very dubious and less credible.”
According to a report on Hindu non-profits in the US by South Asian Citizen Web (SACW), an online platform that promotes dialogue on South Asia, charity groups in the US directed millions of dollars to RSS-affiliated organisations between 2001-2014. In the period from 2001 to 2012, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation and VHPA provided $27 million and $3.9 million, respectively, to RSS and its affiliated groups. During the same timeframe, SEWA International allocated $3.3 million to various activities of right-wing groups across India, while the Infinity Foundation provided $1.9 million in grants to universities and researchers supporting the Hindu supremacist agenda.
While media reports suggest that Hindutva groups are actively perpetrating acts of terror through tactics such as threats of genocide, mob lynching, and hate crimes against minority communities within the country, Wizarat believes that their operations are expanding beyond India’s borders. “Their activities demonstrate a well-organised approach, backed by a coordinated and sophisticated resource pool encompassing both financial support and human resources. While historically focused on India, Hindutva groups have expanded their operations globally, playing a significant role in spreading hate speech and even divisive politics in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.”
In September this year, Wizarat pointed out that India’s government was exposed by Canada’s Prime Minister, who accused the Modi administration of playing a pivotal role in the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia.
While New Delhi denies the allegation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists that his government had sufficient evidence to suggest that “agents of the government of India” had carried out the shooting of the Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Fast forward to November, India faces similar allegations, this time from Washington. While the US government has not raised the issue officially, the Modi government is facing questions about whether it was involved in an assassination plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a vocal advocate of the cause of Sikh separatism and a dual US-Canadian citizen.
Can these violations be overlooked?
According to Wizarat, Hindutva groups in India have resorted to various legal and illegal methods to procure funds for their terror and genocidal activities. “There is ample evidence suggesting that Hindutva groups are receiving significant financial support globally as well as domestically,” she added.
Reports reveal that the VHP, operating in 29 countries globally, channels a substantial amount of money back to the VHP in India, predominantly through tax-exempt channels. Regulatory filings by VHP of America (VHP-A) indicate a transfer of over $7 million to VHP India and its subsidiaries between 2001 and 2020. Details from the Express Tribune also indicate that VHP’s American affiliate, VHPA, has close ties with extremist groups and leaders like Swami Yati Narsinghanand, who openly issued genocidal threats to Muslims in India, documented by the media and advocacy groups. Wizarat believes that these actions will adversely affect India’s global ambitions in the long run. “India has become the greatest mockery of democracy now,” she remarked during the interview.
Interestingly, for the fourth consecutive year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended adding India to a list of countries perpetuating systemic and egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion, stating that conditions for religious minorities in the country “continued to worsen” throughout 2022. “Religious freedom conditions in India have notably declined in recent years,” said USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper.
Most recently, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues conveyed to the USCIRF that the situation in India can be summarised in three words – “massive, systemic, and dangerous.” He cited a study noting a 786% increase in hate crimes against minorities between 2014 and 2018. He emphasised, “India risks becoming one of the world’s main generators of instability, atrocities, and violence, due to the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others. It is not just individual or local; it is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism.”
Many independent observers believe that much of these acts would not have been possible without excessive foreign funding and a free hand from the right-wing BJP government in New Delhi. “The government in India is an equal partner in propelling these actions. Above all, it is very much responsible for allowing the free flow of funds from RSS affiliates all over the world to fund ethnically or racially motivated terrorism against religious minorities at home,” stated Dr. Wizarat.
“Narendra Modi, India’s populist leader, and his right-wing party are complicit in all such activities. Failing to implement norms on terror financing, only make the Financial Action Task Force a weaker and ineffective entity,” the Karachi-based expert emphasised.