Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians

The Indian general elections, to choose 543 members to the lower house (Lok Sabha) of the parliament are set to commence on April 19^th 2024 and scheduled in seven phases until 1^st June. It is the largest democratic exercise of world, with more than 970 million eligible voters. The 2019 Indian general elections witnessed a voter turnout of 67% from 912 million eligible voters, and a record in women’s participation with 67.18% (298 million). The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, led coalition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 45 percent of total votes, 353 parliament seats and a second term in government. Narendra Modi’s BJP emerged as the single largest part in parliament with 37.30 percent votes and 303 MPs. Under the neoliberal, ultra nationalist rule of BJP, India has slid backwards in all indices  of democracy-from suppression of freedom and expression to unlawful imprisonment of dissenting activists, students, journalists and politicians.

Fast forward to 2024, the world’s largest democracy is set for another general elections, with Modi and his Hindu nationalist party aiming for an easy win for third term, and a more unified coalition of opposition parties (INDIA Alliance), in their do or die effort to stop BJP returning to power. All opinion polls published by corporate owned media houses of India are predicting BJP, a landslide victory. However, India, with its complex and diverse domestic politics, has a track record of post-election results that often contradict pre-poll surveys.

Everything is not in favor of Modi, and BJP as portrayed by the mainstream media for the following reasons.

• Anti-incumbency factor towards a government in power for the last ten years, who cannot tackle rising unemployment rates, and post covid cost of living. The BJP have already denied seats for 63 of its current MPs (21% of total MPs), to mitigate the anti-incumbency sentiments. The party have so far only published a list of 265 candidates, and number of current MPs going to lose their seats is likely to go further up.
• All sectors of society including workers, farmers, women, youth and small t medium businesses have suffered from the pro-corporate policies of this BJP government. The massive farmer protests, youth protests, controversial Agnipath scheme of temporary recruitment to armed forces, and protests by women wrestlers have caused serious damage to BJP’s ambition of a third term in government.
• The discriminatory citizenship law CAA, and pogrom of Indigenous Christians in the BJP ruled state of Manipur, have wreaked havoc in the consciousness minorities, and pro-democratic secular masses, who are expected to poll in large numbers against BJP.
• The NDA alliance led by BJP is cracked and weakened with multiple parties leaving the coalition due to the authoritarian approach of BJP leadership.
• Giving a huge set back to NDA, after the BJP broke the Shiv Sena, the second largest party in the coalition, into two factions in the state of Maharashtra in 2022 to subvert the democratic process and form its own majority state government there, the Uddhav Thakeray faction of the Shiv Sena joined the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDA Alliance). This faction of the Shiv Sena will put up a tough fight in the state of Maharastra, where NDA won 41 parliament seats in 2019.
• Other minor parties like Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), All India Dravida Munnetta Kazhagam (AIDMK), have also left the coalition.
• The most recent Electoral Bond scam have put BJP under pressure, that its main funding sources including controversial mining corporations, and big businesses who were on the radar of various investigation agencies, got clean chit after they donated BJP.

What potentially favours Modi?

• Domination in owned mainstream media, and social media spaces, helps the party to set nationalistic narratives and shape public opinion.
• Implementation of communal and divisive policies like CAA, abrogation of Article 370 of Indian constitution that ensured semi-autonomous status for the Muslim majority state of Jammu & Kashmir, and consecration of Ram temple on the site of Babri Masjid mosque demolition, have placed Modi as the undisputed Führer of Hindu nationalists.
• Another narrative of Modi is that India is set to become a global superpower under the leadership of Modi, also supported by both India and western capitalists whom Modi offers unchecked access of resources of India, by weakening environment and employment laws.
• Being a favorite of Western neoliberal governments, Modi and BJP gets enormous support from leaders like Anthony Albanese in 2023, praised ‘Modi is the Boss’ in front of a hyper nationalist Indian crowd in Sydney, and Joe Biden who hosted a white house state dinner for Modi.
• BJP, with its gigantic corporate funding, continues to have unimaginable upper hand in campaign trail by buying out any space available.
• High octane party machinery, cadre base of BJP, and its parent organization Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), and foreign funding from Nonresident Indian (NRI) ultranationalists are add on.
• The machinery is expert at distracting through outrageous statements and constantly bringing up Pakistan as a threat.

However, during the last ten years BJP has successfully dismantled almost every independent democratic institution like universities, the Election Commission, Reserve Bank, Economic Planning Commission, courts of justice, and law enforcement bodies, to suit their totalitarian governance style. Opposition leaders, their public and personal life are constantly under surveillance of government agencies. Two sitting chief ministers were recently arrested while the homes many new candidates of the INDIA Alliance are raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the pretext of accepting bribes.

There is unrest in the northern region of Ladakh while China hovers on the border having entered the territory in 2020, bu the Modi government is more interested in usurping land from the indigenous Ladakhis in the name of 'development'.

The unbridled Islamophobia and oppression of other minorities continues.

It’s worth noting that the two members of Election commission of India (which has a total number of 3 members including the Chief Election commission) resigned days before official announcement of general elections.

In 2019 55% of total votes polled against BJP but were scattered among different opposition parties which secured BJP a massive win, in an electoral system of First-Past-Post voting.

The opposition is more united and the INDIA Alliance is a hope.

Now for the people of India to stop Modi winning another term.

We wrote to PM Chris Luxon about Mr David Seymour and Ms Melissa Lee attending the Ram Mandir event at Eden Park in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland.

Information about and objection to MPs endorsing Ram Mandir

Kia ora Mr Luxon
Attached is a media release from Aotearoa Alliance Of Progressive Indians, Hindus for Human Rights ANZ and The Humanism Project about the Ram Mandir celebrations in India (and Australia+New Zealand).
Please read to understand the background of this event.

We also wish to object to the presence of Mr David Seymour and Carlos Cheung MP from Mt Roskill at the celebrations on 21 January at Eden Park in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. We also wish to object the endorsement by Ms Melissa Lee via video.
The Ram Mandir, as you will read from the media release, is the culmination of a traumatic event in the history of India and will continue to hurt a vast number of Indians especially Indian Muslims. This temple does not represent Indians.

Congratulating a fascist regime and parroting lines given by its representatives is indeed participating in the terror of Hindutva which is Hindu supremacy. We suggest you inform yourself about it. Perhaps talk to SIS about it.
Mr Seymour chanting Jai Shri Ram is akin to saying Heil Hitler, if you knew how incendiary this chant is in India and for Indians

We understand you wish to visit India and finalise a trade deal. While trade has benefitted humans for millenia, we wish to caution about how your deal might affect the minority communities in India.

We are happy to discuss Hindutva and/or trade with you. After all these issues are not just centred around business and economics but real humans.

Nga mihi nui.
Team AAPI

We have not yet received any reply apart from the standard response you get when you write to a member of Parliament or minister.

We know Mr Luxon was at Rātana today but and he might have missed the brouhaha. After all he was facing tough questions about te Tiriti referendum that ACT have proposed.

So we will wait and update if his office does get back to AAPI.

Meanwhile here is some more reading and watching.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-01-2024/why-two-government-ministers-presence-at-a-hindu-nationalist-rally-is-causing-concern

https://mickhall.substack.com/p/seymours-use-of-chant-mainstreams

https://feijoa.substack.com/p/new-zealand-ministers-praise-modi

Post from an AAPI activist.

Triggering content.

I am writing this blog feeling utterly disturbed, disappointed and unsafe in this multicultural country many of us, including myself, call home. A year ago, when I arrived in this small (and seemingly peaceful) country, I never thought that Hindutva (a political ideology that believes in the superiority of Hindus) would be so rampant and ingrained in the Indian diasporic community in New Zealand. As a researcher on Hindutva, it’s my responsibility to share with our community the imminent threats of violence surrounding us. While I have been working on this article and collecting these posts for months, there could not be a better time than now to publish it. Within the context of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the Hindu right is spreading most of the anti-Palestinian disinformation. An example of anti-Palestinian posts in this group is

Even though the post is less violent than many others that we see on the internet these days, the anti-Palestinian sentiment is clear. There are several other similar posts which reflect the support for Israel, that mirror India’s stance on the issue. However, that complex discussion is outside the ambit of this blog. 

In this blog post, I will reveal and discuss the misogynistic and Islamophobic content circulated openly on Facebook groups. This blog will only focus on one such group called Hindus in New Zealand; however, it should be noted that several other and more radical groups exist openly online. The blog post has been written after my 6-month digital ethnography of this Facebook group. 

The first post attacks both Muslims and “liberals” (read: anyone who propagates anti-Islamophobia). The creator makes fun of the “liberal” perspective that locates terrorism within the global context of colonisation and imperialism. This narrative is problematised and homogenised by the creator by painting Muslims as “terrorists” (and at the same time spreading disinformation about the Quran suggesting genocide of infidels). This plays into popular misinformation circulating for decades in Hindutva and Western discourses. The isolated verse is circulated (without context) in right-wing extremist groups that perpetuate Islamophobia (The verse was spoken in the context of a battle between Muslims and Muskriks of Mecca, who broke the peace treaty). 

The next post should be examined within the context of the protests that arose from the shooting of an Algerian-descent teen boy. In June 2023, the 17-year-old was fatally shot by a French police officer. The incident “shook” the nation as the protests turned violent, with cars and buildings being set on fire and thousands of people arrested. The shooting highlighted the police brutality and ill-treatment of Arab and African migrants. The meme translates to, “You shelter me, and I will give you the same what I am giving France.” Using sarcasm and satire, the meme asks countries not to give refuge and shelter to Muslims by portraying Muslims as “terrorists”. The image of the pig is also used derogatively for Muslims (Pork is forbidden in Islam, and the image of the pig is intentionally used to offend Muslims).

The next image contrasts Hindu festivals and Muslim festivals. Firstly, there are questions about the image's veracity and, more importantly, the image stereotypes Muslims as murderous killers while Hindus as peaceful. Even though meat-eating is highly common amongst Hindus (like most other religious communities), the image plays the devil's advocate by isolating Muslims (and one of their festivals associated with meat-eating). Many festivals (including Christmas and Thanksgiving) centre around meat-eating practices, but the image targets Muslims. It also does another job of playing into the “us” vs “them” rhetoric, with the “us” being peaceful/colourful and the “them” being barbaric/dangerous. When circulated within the diaspora, the image paints “Hindus” as model minorities while Muslims as the dangerous “other”. 

The next two posts should be looked at simultaneously within the context of murders of women (between 2019 and 2023) by their romantic partners (who also happen to be Muslim). Here, it should be noted that intimate partner violence is widespread in India (as all over the world), with 40-100% of women murdered by their former/current romantic partners (38% worldwide). The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reports that a woman is murdered by her intimate partner/family every 11 minutes. Without normalising this horrendous violence against women, I draw these statistics to suggest that violence against women is widespread (all over the world), and the narrative drawn by the Hindu right to blame a particular religious community is not only flawed but also highly dangerous. Again, I want to emphasise that the narrative of Muslims as “oppressors, dangerous to women” is not just vested in the Hindu right but also embedded in the White supremacist discourses furthered by the West. The convergence and intersections between the Hindu right have solidified, especially after 9/11.

The first image shows women murdered by their romantic partners (who also happen to be Muslim), reiterating the same narrative of Muslims as “barbarians”. 

The next image depicts a girl saying, “Mera Abdul Alg Hai” (My Abdul (Muslim boyfriend) is different). And then she’s murdered in the very next panel - again reiterating the narrative of “love jihad” (a conspiracy theory according to which Muslim men woo Hindu women to convert them to Islam) and Muslims as “dangerous” or “barbaric”. The circulation of these images not only spreads misinformation about Muslims but also dangerously paints them as violators, murderers and oppressors. At the same time, these posts strip women out of any agency - depicting them as “naive, gullible and stupid,” bringing danger to themselves by being/loving a Muslim man. Instead of acknowledging the structures of violence against women, these posts “blame” women for the violence. This clearly aligns with the broader discourses of shame and safety, where any onus of their safety is vested with women (and the failure to do so is seen as a failure). As such, the posts are deeply misogynist and sexist as well.

Even though I have tens of such images/memes circulating similar anti-Muslim discourses, I cannot show them due to time, space and emotional bandwidth constraints. I, on behalf of AAPI, want to urge what Anjum Rahman, Founder of Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono and Spokesperson for Islamic Women’s Council, has already been demanding  a country-wide law to monitor hate speech online. Without a law, such harmful images will continue circulating online, feeding into the already existing Islamophobic rhetoric.

AAPI would like to highlight that this Islamophobia is not in a vacuum but has grown in the white supremacist society of Aotearoa that has anti co-governance tours, where MP and leader of New Zealand First Winston Peters indulges in dog whistling to his racist followers and another MP, leader of ACT Party David Seymour stays silent on the murder of Palestinian children as if they do not matter.Or where acting Prime Minister Chris Hipkins thinks a ceasefire in Gaza is not realistic.

Statement from Sikh Council Of New Zealand regarding the murder of Canadian-Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.

AAPI stands in solidarity with the Sikh Council and the wider Sikh diaspora affected by this incident. We have always spoken about the presence of Hindu extremist organisations across the world and their interference in the democratic processes of the countries in which they have set up shop. Hindutva methodologies are varied, wide and multi-pronged. They use the concept of multiculturalism and inclusion to promote Hindu supremacy. While concrete evidence about such activities, as required from a Western perspective are not always available, it is simple to join the dots and deduce from the pattern. For that, one must know and understand Hindu fascism.

Or partners-in-hate.

In quite a few of our blog posts we have shown direct and indirect slink between white supremacy and Hindutva. We have written many times about how Australia’s resident Hindutva ideologue Sarah L Gates, a white person calling herself a yogini, targets ethnic migrant Indian activists and academics deliberately inciting violence.

We have earlier shown evidence of how Professor Mohan Dutta, researchers at the Centre for Culture-centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), and activists at AAPI, mostly Indians, and a number of us Hindus, have been harassed by far-right Hindutva trolls driven by Gates.  

She was a central player in the Hindutva role in the communal violence in Leicester and regularly appears on far-right Hindutva propaganda platforms in India. The popularity gained by Gates in the far-right hate ecosystem is a direct product of her targeting of Professor Dutta, CARE, and Indian diaspora activists.

Now Gates is indulging in conspiratorial collaborations with far-right white supremacists in Aotearoa New Zealand who have been targeting Professor Dutta.

Pay attention here to the conspiracy theory spun by the far-right The Platform, which, as expected becomes the fodder for far-right white supremacist Twitter handles such as @PCVBJF targeting Professor Dutta. And Australia’s resident Hindutva troll Sarah L Gates shows up like clockwork.

Elsewhere, @PCVBJF is seen promoting far-right hate.

Here’s another far-right account targeting Professor Dutta’s lecture on decolonisation.

Our resident Hindutva self proclaimed yogini pops up again to demonstrate her white supremacist credentials. Her method is to build her influence by pitching herself as an expert on decolonisation and dharma while aligning with far-right hate narratives attacking academics doing the actual work of decolonisation.

The white Hindutva decolonisation perpetuated by hatemongers like Gates is the Brahmanical way. Appropriating academic language to talk about colonisation of India by Islam in pre-British times, selectively extracting from Hinduism and unleashing violence on those Hindus that uphold Hinduism’s core ethos of pluralism and syncretism while upholding and propagating white privilege. Essentially forging together Hindutva and white supremacy into a singularity.

After all Hindutva is based on Nazi ideology and the founders were inspired by Hitler and Mussolini.

In settler colonial contexts such as Aotearoa and Australia then, this intersection must be highlighted as it harms their indigenous people the most.

And Hindutva’s sham of decolonisation must be called out each time we witness it.

This post here talks about white Hindu colonisers and their 'decolonisation projects'. https://www.aotearoaprogressiveindians.org/our_whakapapa_and_resisting_white_colonialist_attacks

On 22 July 2023 the New Zealand Herald carried an article about Hindu temples across Aotearoa receiving letters that were critical of idol worship and seemed to carry quotes from the Quran. AAPI wrote an open letter to journalist Cherie Howie, New Zealand Herald and other media including Radio New Zealand and their new Indian division critiquing this story and how such ‘receiving anonymous letters but implying it is the Muslim community’ is classic Hindutva methodology. (Letter included further in this post.) 

Gaurav Sharma, senior Indian journalist at RNZ who does digital stories for their new RNZ Asia funded by NZ On Air’s Public Interest Journalism Fund, contacted us to talk to someone about this issue. We directed him to one of our activists. However Gaurav Sharma did not speak with this person. Instead the RNZ website carried a story quoting spokespersons from fascist organisation Hindu Council of New Zealand with the slightly shifting, obfuscating manner that is also classic Hindutva methodology. We wish to point out here that Gaurav Sharma used to edit Indian News, a hard right Hindu platform whose current editor Yugal Parashar openly abuses Indian activists. He called Professor Mohan Dutta a communist rat and despite a complaint to the Press Council had not taken down the article from his website at the time we write this.

But before we question Radio New Zealand on their questionable journalists and complicity in platforming a Hindu fascist organisation we want to break down the stories and show how the kōrero shifts to maintain the façade of decency while also being Islamophobic at the same time. 

Even before that we wish to inform once again about the fascist origins of the Hindu Council Of New Zealand. It is the diaspora avatar of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that has been deemed a terrorist organisation. We also urge you to look at their exclusive definition of Hindu in the image below. Finally we ask you to read through our blog to understand how this organisation and affiliates function in Aotearoa. 

https://www.aotearoaprogressiveindians.org/blog

 As we publish this blog the VHP is busy with genocidal acts against Muslims in the Indian state of Haryana with impunity.

The Herald article.

We draw attention to the words ‘intimidating anonymous’ letters with ‘several passages quoted from the Quran, Islam’s holy book. And that Multicultural New Zealand organised a meeting with Hindu and Muslim community leaders. Also highlighted how the story quotes Pancha Narayanan about both Hindus and Muslims condemning the letters.

AAPI’s response below expresses our concerns about this story. We won't repeat it again separately in the blog.

The Radio New Zealand article.

On 31 July the RNZ website carried a story, without a byline, about the letters to Hindu temples. (The story was later posted on their Facebook page with comments turned off.) This time, representatives of fascist organisation the Hindu Council are quoted in the story. 

• See how they now say the letter mentions saints and Jesus but yet call it vague. 
• Then they go on to say the letters could have been written by anyone adding that the Muslim community had reached out.
• The organisation further says that ‘imported international tensions…can play up’. This alludes to not only Leicester but also India. 
• The Hindu Council, particularly Selva, who is from Malaysia, has always preached to Indian activists that they should keep their concerns about the failing Indian democracy in India and not speak about it in Aotearoa.
• Finally, Tandon of the Hindu Council raises the bogie of Hinduphobia by talking about ‘alienation’ of the Hindu community saying they have asked other religious communities to look out for ‘suspicious’ characters. As if a shady person in ‘Islamic clothes’, beard, fez and all is lurking around writing letters to Hindu temples. This harks to Narendra Modi in 2019 when he alluded how Muslims could be identified by their clothes. Tandon is the caricature of a Sanghi WhatsApp Indian uncle with this statement. 

Did you notice the shifting narrative in the two stories? 

• From ‘intimidating’ to ‘vague’
• From strongly implying that a Muslim wrote it to ‘anyone’ could have written it. 
• From seeking a meeting with Muslim leaders to ‘not pointing fingers’ at anyone. YET, saying that the Muslim community had reached out to express their support. 

We reiterate here that the Indian Muslim community has not participated in this process of meeting or expressing support. Unlike the Hindu fascists that went to town about the Lynmall horror, the Indian Muslim community has stayed silent. 

Most disappointing though is how this Radio New Zealand journalist has not attempted to speak to any member of the Indian Muslim community, not questioned the obfuscation from the Hindu Council, nor asked the police how it intends to investigate.

Instead, RNZ platformed a fascist Hindu organisation with terrorist roots. Would Radio New Zealand platform a Christofascist organisation? Would they platform a Chinese communist organisation? Would they have platformed the protestors outside Parliament?

Radio New Zealand has no cultural expertise on India, no pedagogy to lean on, no understanding. And if they are going to seek Gaurav Sharma’s expertise, who as we mentioned earlier, worked for hard right Hindu platform Indian News, then what weight would Radio New Zealand carry as a national broadcaster? 

Now that their independent editorial audit has made 22 recommendations will RNZ investigate their journalist Gaurav Sharma’s connections with hard right Hindu platform Indian News and the Hindu Council that has well documented terrorist roots?

Will RNZ walk the talk or continue to be complicit with Hindutva ultimately losing all credibility and harming the wider Indian community?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to start his official state visit to the United States on 22 June 2023, where he will be addressing the joint session of Congress and attending a state dinner at White House. Prime Minister Modi says the visit is aimed to “deepen India-US ties in key sectors like trade, commerce, innovation, technology and other such areas”.  However, Reuters last week reported that the US is pushing India to seal a big armed Sea Guardian drone purchase worth $2-3 billion. Earlier this year Air India (previously a public sector company) now owned by Indian Conglomerate Tata Sons, signed an agreement to purchase 200 aircrafts from the US manufacturer Boeing. President Biden described the deal ‘reflects the strength’ of Indo-US economic partnership, and was looking forward to strengthening this relationship even further, as both countries continue to ‘confront shared global challenges’- China?

Is this the shared global challenge that makes Joe Biden and the U.S. receive Narendra Modi despite his abysmal track record of human rights violations and democratic degradation of India or is it because Modi will allow trade deals that benefit American corporations?

Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States comes in the backdrop of turbulent and volatile internal politics of India. The Northeastern state of Manipur which has a government of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is witnessing an ongoing ethnic violence that has already killed more than 100 people predominantly Christians that belong to the Kuki tribe and thousands have been displaced from their homes.

India’s Olympic medal winning female wrestlers are protesting since January demanding a proper investigation into the sexual assault complaints made against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, senior BJP leader and parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Singh. The actions of Delhi police who tried to intimidate the wrestlers by forced detention and suppress the protest has derived condemnation from wider Indian public and international sports fraternity.

Narendra Modi has kept his usual silence in both the issues, and his government maintained its usual inaction. Narendra Modi and his BJP are expert at using his foreign visits to divert public attention from crucial internal issues whenever the government comes under fire.

On May 13^th 2023, Narendra Modi and BJP faced an unprecedented defeat in the Karnataka State elections. Prime minister Modi was leading BJP’s elections campaign in Karnataka and attended 19 rallies and 6 roadshows. However, the people of Karnataka overwhelmingly rejected Narendra Modi, and BJP lost its only stronghold state in South India. The main opposition Indian National Congress bagged a thumbing victory and formed a government in Karnataka. BJP’s defeat in Karnataka sent shock waves across the top leadership of BJP as they fear this is the beginning of the end of Modi’s stardom that alone was supposed to be enough for them to win elections. Ten days after the Karnataka election defeat, Modi flew into Australia even after the QUAD summit was cancelled when Joe Biden pulled out to focus on debit talks. Modi in Australia, without any major official agenda on his list, attended a pre-planned private PR event at Sydney organized by his party men and hundreds of right-wing followers chanting Modi, Modi. Anthony Albanese attended this aggrandizing event as a guest in his own country and was seen saying ‘Modi is the Boss’.

The people of Karnataka who defeated Narendra Modi even after him attending 19 rallies and 6 massive road shows, proved to be a hundred times more democratic and politically conscious than Anthony Albanese who played second fiddle to Modi at this right-wing paid PR event.

Is it surprising then that when the people of India are democratically rejecting Modi, Western neoliberal masters like Albanese and Joe Biden project him as the ‘Boss’ because the last thing these leaders would want is for Narendra Modi to lose the next Indian general elections with a left leaning government in New Delhi that prioritizes the people of India over corporate interests.

After all the Russian crude that India buys has many takers across the democratic ‘anti-war’ Western world, the leaders of which have turned a blind eye to ongoing Chinese incursion on Indian soil.

A year ago, far-right Hindu extremists, driven by their ideology of Hindutva, launched a vicious disinformation campaign targeting academics, a large majority of them Hindu, who had come together for a conference titled “Dismantling Global Hindutva.” The far-right Hindu extremists labelled these academics as “Hinduphobic” (a made up term equivalent to White Lives Matter), and targeted them with threats to their jobs, threat of rape and violence including murder. Mirroring the strategies of the white extremist far-right, Hindutva-related organisations launched letter-writing campaigns targeting the academics and the institutions that employed them.

Professor Vinayak Chaturvedi, Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine wrote about these attacks on academia: 

“In the United States, “Hinduphobia” has become a term deployed to denounce anyone who is concerned about inequality based on class, caste, race, religion, gender, and sexuality in India. Any less-than-celebratory study of the history and politics of India is branded as “Hinduphobic.” Academic research that provides a critique of Hindutva is often condemned for “hurting the sentiments of Hindus”—a clarion call dating back to the early 20th century.”

The Guardian and Al Jazeera, also covered these threats.

That Aotearoa New Zealand is not immune to the disinformation and hate ecosystem of Hindutva became amply evident when Professor Mohan Dutta, Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) at Massey University came under attack. These attacks were led by a white Australian Hindu supremacist Twitter account over a white paper Professor Dutta wrote titled Cultural Hindutva And Islamophobia and CARE’s participation as a sponsor of the “Dismantling Global Hindutva” conference.

The Twitter assault as well as a petition organised by the white Australian Hindutva supremacist were picked up by the global Hindutva hate ecosystem including in India and was weaponised here in Aotearoa New Zealand by organisations like Hindu Youth and the Hindu Council of New Zealand (or, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of New Zealand, a militant organisation. See link towards the end of this post.). Professor Dutta was and still is the target of rape threats, death threats, and disinformation campaigns run from anonymous websites.

We note here with deep alarm that the same white Australian Hindu supremacist hate account as well as the anonymous twitter accounts and websites were connected to the recent Hindutva-led violence in Leicester.

Here’s an analysis by Professor Dutta of how the disinformation was mobilized by co-opting democratic and institutional processes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

At the crux of the disinformation campaign was the framing of Professor Dutta, a practicing Hindu, as Hinduphobic. (We would like to remind here that Hinduism is a pantheist, pluralistic religion where practices, rituals and prayers are vast and varied. There is no monolith, no singularity. Therefore, one person’s practice may not be the same as another’s).

As part of the disinformation campaign here in Aotearoa, the Indian media platform Indian Newslink put up a press release from Hindu Youth. It says at the top of the article "Editor’s Note: The following is a Press Release. Indian Newslink is contacting Professor Mohan J Dutta of Massey University for an interview." There is no follow up to that statement. At the time of writing this post we asked Professor Dutta if Indian Newslink had asked him to comment. Professor Dutta said that the editor did a lengthy video interview with him that was never published! We, as members of AAPI, had written a counter response to the Hindu Youth press release that was also never published. We point out here that in carrying a propaganda piece by Hindutva, Indian Newslink ditched even their usual façade of journalistic ethics and note with grave concern that it has continued to carry the disinformation piece even a year after its propaganda has been thoroughly debunked.

The original post of the press release tagged Dr. Pushpa Wood, a Massey academic and community leader who positions herself as representing the Hindu community.

In an earlier analysis by AAPI activist Oscar Romero of the disinformation spread by Hindu Youth that we published on our platform, Romero argued,

“In conflating Hindutva with Hinduism, the Hindu Youth press release mirrors the strategy of Hindutva organizations in India and in other parts of the world, producing the smokescreen of Hinduphobia to silence the criticism of a fascist ideology.  They even throw in a term Hindumisia that is in vogue in the Hindutva twitter sphere.”

Hindumisia is another false construct; a neologism derived from Greek mȋsos or hatred. Consider the direct cut-and-paste of the Hindutva propaganda targeting the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference, by the Hindu Youth press release:

“What is more shocking is that Massey University is co-sponsoring a highly controversial and Hinduphobic Conference ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva,’ a Conference aimed at vilifying the global Hindu community. Many reputable University’s names have been tarnished because of the association of their department’s participation in this Conference. There have been numerous requests from various Universities globally to take down their logos, multiple edits to the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ website as universities withdraw, a legal challenge from Harvard University for using its name to scam people. This is the kind of Conference that Massey University is co-sponsoring. Seeing Massey University endorse a Conference such as this is a blot on the legacy of the University and demonstrates the University’s endorsement of Hindumisia.”

Observe the disinformation spread by the Hindu Youth. For instance, contrary to their claim, the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University continued to remain a sponsor of the conference despite an aggressive hate campaign targeting it.

But returning to Dr. Wood, we wondered, why would someone that offers much rhetoric about interfaith and occupies spaces of interfaith in Aotearoa let themselves be tagged through their Facebook page to a Hindutva disinformation campaign and not decry it? Instead, Dr. Wood made a public Facebook post ( not currently publicly accessible so, it’s either deleted or turned to a private setting) about feeling aggrieved by Professor Dutta’s white paper, further sharing the disinformation-based propaganda posted by Hindu Youth. In her post referring to the white paper, Wood writes:

“Feeling under attack for being a Hindu…But for the first time in 40 years, I feel under attack for following my traditions, continuing with my cultural practices, which I feel are integral part of me!”

We point out here the fabrication that conflates Professor Dutta’s criticism of Cultural Hindutva with her personal expression of Hinduism.

So, we ask:

• Does she think the Hindu religion and the fascist Hindutva ideology critiqued in the white paper are the same?

• Does Dr. Wood identify herself and her religious traditions and cultural practices that she depicts as being attacked as Hindutva or Hinduism?

We wish to note here that some Hindus often describe Hinduism as a ‘way of life’, also conflated into Hindutva, which is Savarna (Hindu upper caste) code to kill any discussion about the caste system, about the misogyny, the patriarchy, and proto-fascist thinking denying reform.  A topic for another blog.

Dr. Wood’s obfuscation is what Professor Dutta describes as communicative inversion in his academic work; the process of turning the truth on its head. If Dr. Pushpa Wood does not identify as being part of Hindutva or the proto fascist ‘way of life’ inversion, then she had nothing to feel attacked about.

Dr. Wood then refers directly to the white paper and the New Zealand Herald article that outlined the hate Professor Dutta was receiving. She goes on to suggest that the Herald coverage of the hate targeting Professor Dutta was somehow leading her faith to be questioned.

Once again, both the Herald article and Professor Dutta’s white paper were explicitly discussing the far-right extremist ideology of Hindutva. So, unless Dr. Wood subscribes to the Hindutva ideology, she had nothing to be concerned about. It was the Islamophobia of Hindutva that was and should be questioned, and not Hinduism. In fact, Professor Dutta and the Herald article (including the subsequent articles and media interviews) go to great lengths to make this distinction. In his white papers and in his several media interviews, Professor Dutta painstakingly delineates the difference between the two concepts and states that Hindutva is a threat to the pluralism of Hinduism.

When this distinction is pointed out to Dr. Wood on her Facebook post, she ignores and disengages the comments posted.

In fact, the interfaith activist Joseph Thomas goes to great lengths to point out the targeting of Professor Dutta, himself a Hindu and the Hindutva strategy of conflating Hindutva with Hinduism. At this point, if we assume that she is still disavowing Hindutva, then as an academic at least she would have gone on to look at the links Joseph Thomas posted. Instead, she pressed on with the propaganda.

We note with alarm that in the public setting, the post played a key part in bringing in trolls, including the white Australian Hindu supremacist. (The Facebook account Malini Sara who takes credit for raising the issue is the same person as the white Australian Hindu supremacist  Twitter account @SarahLGates1] that started the campaign targeting Professor Dutta and propagated Islamophobia after the Leicester violence. In this instance, the account directly engages with the New Zealand politician and community leader Dr. Ashraf Choudhary, demonstrating how foreign interference works. It concerns us that someone actively spreading disinformation in this instance was invited to the Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism conference that directly emerged in response to the Christchurch terrorist attack driven by Islamophobic hate.

It is surprising that as an academic she did not:

• publicly distance herself from disinformation or
• show concern towards a fellow academic when over 100 world renowned academics were writing in support of Professor Dutta and CARE. We at AAPI created and circulated a petition in support of Professor Dutta that was signed by over 300 people. A number of Indian organisations including Bhagat Singh Charitable Trust, Hindus for Human Rights and Indian Association of Minorities of New Zealand, Guru Ravidass Sabha, Bombay Hill, New Zealand; Dr Ambedkar Sports and Culture Association, New Zealand; Dr Ambedkar Mission Society, New Zealand; and Begampura Sikh Temple, New Zealand. (It is powerful to witness the strong presence of Dalit and minority organisations in the support for Professor Dutta. Communities excluded by Hindu organisations.)
• question comments by the white Australian Hindu supremacist who openly propagates violence and Islamophobia.

Later in an interview to Stuff in October 2021, Dr. Wood along with Manjit Grewal, each representing themselves as interfaith leaders, are witnessed stating:

“Both say no-one has ever raised concerns about Hindutva with them. They say New Zealand shouldn’t be importing other countries’ problems.”

The Stuff article notes,

“But, at the same time, they imply there is nothing to discuss.”

We find these claims by two community leaders presenting themselves to be leaders in the interfaith space (and by appearance, placing themselves to be experts in the space related to South Asia), disingenuous. One of AAPI’s activists Dr. Sapna Samant, a Hindu herself, raised concerns about Hindutva in 2007, which Dr. Wood should have been aware of as an interfaith leader and a Hindu. Indian Muslims, including Muslim community leaders, have been raising concerns about Hindutva and the Islamophobia attached to Hindutva in Aotearoa New Zealand for some time too.

Dr. Wood then goes on to offer the following criticism of Professor Dutta’s white paper:

“When we sit down to speak, along with Wellington Interfaith Council chairman Manjit Grewal, Wood has a list of points she wants to make about Dutta’s paper: it’s too short, it doesn’t give enough historical context, it does not delineate Hindutva from Hinduism, and the academic hasn’t been in the country long enough to be an expert.”

Two points to note here:

• Her criticism that the paper does not delineate Hindutva from Hinduism is patently incorrect, with the paper offering detailed references to the literature on Hindutva.
• For someone who draws on their credentials as an academic, saying “ the academic hasn’t been in the country long enough to be an expert” shine a light on her own lack of understanding about how academic expertise works. If this is Dr. Wood’s criterion of expertise then it is surprising that she feigns no knowledge of Hindutva after having lived in Aotearoa New Zealand for forty years and presented herself as a Crown expert on Indian culture! Not even after the Combined Threat Assessment Group identified Hindutva as Identity Motivated Violent Extremism (IMVE)!

We are concerned that Dr. Pushpa Wood continues to represent herself as voice in interfaith, countering violent extremism, and other spaces such as expert witness for the Crown on Indian culture while conflating Hinduism and Hindutva, while sharing a disinformation campaign led by Hindutva, while denying the presence of the fascist extreme right wing Hindu ideology in Aotearoa New Zealand in spite of clear evidence. We are concerned she associates with a white Australian Hindu supremacist figure who freely pushes violence and Islamophobia in the name of Hinduism. We are concerned that after a year since the campaign began and has been thoroughly debunked by academic experts globally, that she has not publicly removed herself from the disinformation campaign of Hindu Youth and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of New Zealand also known as the Hindu Council of New Zealand (the VHP was earlier named by the Central Intelligence Agency as religious militant organisation]).

As a collective of diverse Indians, we thus question her fitness in interfaith and countering violent extremism settings, and the lack of safety her presence creates, particularly for Indians of minority gender and faith identities.

We invite Dr. Wood to respond to this blog by writing to us on our page that AAPI will post verbatim on our website:

We ask,

1. What is her current state of knowledge about Hindutva in India, globally and in Aotearoa New Zealand?
2. Does she have a relationship with Hindutva organisations in India, globally and in Aotearoa New Zealand?
3. Does she agree with or reject her association with the extremist Hindu propaganda piece from Hindu Youth that Indian Newslink published without any semblance of journalistic ethics and balance?
4. Why did she write the Facebook post spreading the disinformation targeting a fellow academic critical of Hindutva while conflating Hinduism and Hindutva?
5. If this was a mistake, will she apologise to Professor Dutta and to those Hindus who are critical of Hindutva?
6. What does she propose is needed to counter Hindutva in Aotearoa New Zealand while working in the interfaith and countering violent extremism spaces now that the evidence about its presence is clear?
7. Given that it is now well established that the disinformation campaign targeting Professor Dutta had imprints of foreign interference into academic freedom, will she publicly reject such interference?
8. What safety does she guarantee those minority Indians in interfaith and counter terrorism spaces she associates herself with and condones the violent white Australian Hindu supremacist?