Ever since we spoke about Rakesh Naidoo and his Hindutva politics after the Labour list was dropped on 5th June 2026, there has been a deluge of ‘sceptical’ queries seeking ‘evidence’ of that politics and offering justifications as to why Rakesh would interact with fascist Hindu organisations wearing his police uniform.
It has been interesting but not surprising to see liberals and ‘inclusive’ types doubt a collective of Indians with varied lived experience of Hindutva in India and Aotearoa, working at grassroots level, developing safe and trusting relationships with our people (and other vulnerable South Asians), meticulously documenting and archiving this fascism on this whenua.
Those who forget the simple acts of listening and showing solidarity.
Because why would anyone call out a high-ranking police officer guaranteed to become an MP for his Hindutva politics just as a joke?
The issue here is that it is not Indians or other South Asians who doubted us but the non-Indians and non-South Asians. Yeah, because they know ‘non-Hindutva’ Indians and South Asians who have worked with Rakesh Naidoo who do not think he is a Hindu fascist. So why have these ‘non-Hindutva’ Indians and South Asians not publicly supported Rakesh? Surely there is no risk for their whanau back home in championing a high-ranking police officer/politician here is there? Not like those vulnerable Indian minorities particularly Muslims whose families have been threatened and intimidated and therefore who cannot raise concerns about Rakesh publicly. So let us see these ‘non-Hindutva’ Indians who deny Rakesh Naidoo’s Hindutva politics.
The issue also is when liberal and ‘inclusive’ types forget about the silenced marginalised and then turn around to reprimand them if they dare to raise their head one way or another. Show us the evidence, never mind your lived experience.
We stand by what we say and here is a 101 breakdown why Rakesh Naidoo attending Hindutva events in his police uniform under the guise of his ‘job’ is a dangerous problem.
1-Let us assume Rakesh attended Hindutva events over multiple years without knowing their fascist roots. Innocent Rakesh. Imagine a police officer in charge of ethnic communities not knowing what global intelligence agencies have been sharing with each other for decades. Especially since VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and other Hindutva orgs from India have been off and on various terror watch lists for decades. Imagine not reading up on the histories and politics of the ethnic and faith communities you interact with. What does that say about doing a job properly?
2-Now let us assume that Rakesh knew all along about the violent Hindutva organisations whose events he attended in police uniform. And he also encouraged other police to do so. How horrifying. A police officer deliberately going into extremist spaces and behaving like it is all ka pai. Then talking about how said, on-terrorist-watchlists organisations can collaborate with the police. Why would he do that? To normalise their terror and Islamophobia? To legitimise the fascism? To blunt any potential criticism from vulnerable communities? To covertly intimidate Indian Muslims and other minorities? Because nothing says cahoots than a high-ranking police officer in uniform hobnobbing with Islamophobic Hindus.
3-But then the argument presented is, what else can Rakesh do if not go into Hindu extremist spaces because there are no other ‘Hindu spaces’. Therefore, he does not have a choice but be there. An NZ Police superintendent for ethnic communities who is so weak he cannot call out violent fundamentalist Hindu organisations but happily goes into their spaces because there is no alternative! Like, Rakesh could not initiate a secular South Asian collective space because he does not have the power to do so? What does that say about doing a job properly?
Our vulnerable Indian minorities, especially our Muslims, have already experienced men in uniform collaborate with the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and their affiliates in India to bulldoze, lynch, push across the border and kill people so how would they respond to an Indian origin police officer in these spaces in Aotearoa? Be traumatised, triggered, fearful, anxious. Feel unsafe. Unable to speak because they cannot trust the police.
Now let us dwell on feelings. When we say we are afraid and angry and anxious, you ask us for evidence. These emotions do not implicate Rakesh. They are just emotions. Gut instinct, discomfort, inherently recognising hegemonic power play because we have seen this before…all meaningless for the liberals and ‘inclusive’ types. Does not translate into the tangible and acceptable. Like, sorry Rakesh in Hindu Council photos is not proof of his fascist ideology. He is just doing his job. It is a photo-op.
(Remember how the wider Muslim community kept warning about an impending harmful event but not one listened because their observations and inferences were not ‘evidence’?)
Hindutva is not black and white like white supremacy. The saffron scarves, the flags, the slogans, the forehead marking, Hindi imposition, forced vegetarianism…all come after the ideology is well established and embedded socially and in the power structures.
To understand how Hindutva functions one must know the methodologies and manifestations.
Hindutva operates at multiple levels. While there is a ‘high command’ (RSS), it is also decentralised, mobilising at grassroots level through cultural work, entering social spaces and climbing up into power structures. Hindutva strategically adapts to audiences, giving them what they want while integrating ethno-nationalism in everything. A ‘double-sidedness’. Projecting ‘a "respectable religious conservatism" to middle-class and international audiences, while concurrently promoting aggressive Hindu majoritarianism at the local level.’ (Chapter 5 in The New Experts Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi's India by Anuradha Sajjanwar.)
It is what Australian academic Felix Pal calls it ‘organisational diffusion’. Which works in three ways:
1-Creating large number of proxy organisations to ‘simultaneously appeal to multiple audiences; saying all things, at all times, to all people; greatly expanding their constituencies and resource bases into otherwise mutually exclusive audiences’.
2-Controlling reputation through ‘a switchboard mechanism, the production of diffuse interorganizational networks allows for the episodic obfuscation and revelation of interorganizational ties, enabling far-right actors to strategically distance themselves from violence and illicit activities in their networks, while also taking collective responsibility for legitimizing activities like charity or service provision.’
3-Leadership accommodation in which allows for diffusion of leadership positions.
It is within this structure that Rakesh Naidoo can operate with impunity. If you cannot discern and pick at this diffusion then you will never know. And you can recognise that diffusion only if you are immersed in it or study it deeply.
Which our liberal interrogators and their ‘non-Hindutva’ friends have not. Hence, they cannot see Rakesh’s deceptive politics or that there is a power imbalance due to which our vulnerable Indians/South Asians cannot speak up. Hence, for them, our anxieties as invalid.
We stand by what we say about Rakesh Naidoo being a Hindutva operator.
The kōrero in the South Asian community now is that if we have a Labour government then Rakesh will either be a Minister of Police or Minister for Ethnic Communities. Letting the Hindu establishment flourish and silencing our Muslims even more. There is real discomfort and nowhere to go. Labour cannot be trusted.
Rakesh Naidoo at the 2nd NZ Hindu Elders Conference in Wellington, October 2024.
