In today’s divided world of talks about identity and diversity in America, the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) released a report in May 2025 called “Hindutva in America: An Ethnonationalist Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism.” It describes Hindutva – which is wrongly portrayed as Hindu nationalism (ala Western or European nationalism) , as a dangerous far-right…
In an era where diversity and inclusion are heralded as cornerstones of American society, a disturbing pattern has emerged—one that threatens the very fabric of religious freedom for Hindu Americans. Enter Pieter Friedrich, a self-proclaimed journalist and human rights activist who has made it his mission to traverse city councils across the United States, systematically vilifying Hindu organizations and sowing…
By Brajesh Shandilya I still can’t shake the image from September 10, 2025: Chandra Mouli “Bob” Nagamallaiah, a 50-year-old Indian-American motel manager in Dallas, was chased down and beheaded by a man enraged over what seems like a trivial workplace argument. The brutality is almost impossible to comprehend. A human life ended in one of the most gruesome ways imaginable,…
We commend U.S. authorities for thoroughly investigating and clearing the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, in the 2021 labor discrimination case and caste exploitation case. By 2023, plaintiffs withdrew their claims (allegedly paid less than $1 USD per hour, and forced to work up to 90 hours per week, exploited the workers’ caste position),…
By Geeta Sikand California Senate Bill-509 (SB 509) is now with Gov. Gavin Newsom until October 12th! As expected, the CA legislature passed the highly problematic SB 509, a bill that will discriminate between certain groups by privileging one group over the others. It will arbitrarily assign labels of ‘dissidents’ to the pro-Khalistani extremists and ‘agents’ to Indian Americans, especially…
By Madhu Hebbar This is a 3-part series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (this article) Hindutva, like all nationalisms, is context-dependent, shaped by India’s pluralistic yet fragmented society and its history of external domination. Far from being supremacist, it reflects a pragmatic response to historical challenges, with a global outlook that critics overlook. The principle swadesho bhuvana trayam* exemplifies…
By Madhu Hebbar This is a 3-part series: Part 1, Part 2 (this article), Part 3 Left-leaning academics, particularly in Western and Indian secular institutions, frequently criticize Hindutva as a monolithic, aggressive ideology that marginalizes non-Hindus, especially Muslims and Christians. This critique, often rooted in postcolonial, Marxist, or secular universalist frameworks, reveals a native bias within academia—a predisposition to view…
By Madhu Hebbar This is a 3-part series: Part 1 (this article), Part 2, Part 3 Nationalism, a force that binds people through shared identity, culture, or values, takes diverse forms across the globe, each shaped by its historical and cultural context. From the civic nationalism of the United States to the ethnic nationalism of 19th-century Europe, from Swami Vivekananda’s…
By Madhu Hebbar Western academia and media exhibit a stark double standard in their treatment of world religions. Islam, with 1.9 billion adherents across 57 majority-Muslim countries, is often handled with caution, shielded by accusations of “Islamophobia” and “orientalism,” even when addressing its deficits in gender equality and democracy. Hinduism, practiced by 1.2 billion people, mainly in India, faces…
By Anant Kumar On May 7, 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor, a series of precision strikes targeting nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, mostly Indian tourists from India. The operation, which neutralized key terror infrastructure linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM),…
In spring 2025, a dangerous conflict flared up along the border between Pakistan and India in the Jammu & Kashmir region, a disputed area known as the Line of Control (LoC). This violence, which shattered a 2021 peace agreement, began after a deadly terrorist attack on April 22, 2025, in Pahalgam, India, where 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, were killed.…
