February 2, 2024 – To mark the launch of a new campaign against supremacist politics, a coalition of civil rights groups called Savera: United Against Supremacy has launched a new report, titled “The Global VHP’s Trail of Violence.” This report, focused on the VHP of America (VHP-A), highlights the growing connections between the Hindu supremacist movement in the United States and the American far-right, as well the former’s complicity in multiple instances of deadly anti-minority violence in India.
Savera is a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of organizations whose core members include Ambedkar King Study Circle (AKSC), Dalit Solidarity Forum (DSF), Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR), India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), as well as a number of other civil rights partners dedicated to combating supremacist politics in the US and around the world.
In a foreword to the report, six civil rights leaders – Peter Beinart, Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents; Carla F. Wallace, Co-Founder of Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ); Montague Simmons, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL); Bill Fletcher Jr., Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream; and Tarso Luis Ramos, Executive Director of Political Research Associates (PRA) – lauded the report and spoke to its salience, writing that “the links between white supremacists and Hindu supremacists in the US are merely one instantiation of broader affinities between far-right movements.” The foreword ends by calling those committed to democracy to “build a multi-racial coalition of our own, crossing any existing siloes, that stands united against supremacy.”
The report, which breaks new ground in placing the VHP-A within both domestic and transnational far-right infrastructures, concludes that “US civil society and political actors must be clear in seeing the Global VHP as a supremacist, anti-democratic force and a key part of the global far-right.”
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“We at the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) welcome Savera’s new groundbreaking report on the Hindu supremacist movement in the United States, which sheds light on their concerning ties to extremist actors in India, as well as their growing alignment with other far-right forces in the US,” said Wendy Via, GPAHE’s Co-Founder and CEO. “The extent to which Hindu supremacist groups are emerging as important players in global far-right and anti-Muslim networks is a matter of deep concern, and we hope Savera’s report sparks further investigation into the topic. Far-right extremist movements of all kinds are increasingly connected transnationally. We encourage all members of civil society to read this report.”
“The time has come for the real majority of Indian-Americans, whose diversity and whose commitment to pluralism and democracy is far better represented by Savera, to find our voice and express our opposition to supremacist politics of all kinds,” said Chaitanya Diwadkar of the Ambedkar King Study Circle. “We call on fellow civil society groups to engage with the report and join Savera in the path to our collective liberation.”
“This report sheds much-needed light on the disturbing connections between the VHP-A, its extremist counterpart in India, and white supremacist hate groups here in America,” said Sunita Viswanath, co-founder and Executive Director of Hindus for Human Rights. “As progressive Hindus whose faith calls us to stand against all forms of supremacy, bigotry, and oppression, we have a responsibility to forcefully speak out against those who wish to spread hate and violence in our name.”
“As a scholar of the Hindu nationalist movement for over four decades, I have had a close-up view of the movement’s growth into arguably the largest ethno-nationalist apparatus in the world,” said Christophe Jaffrelot, the Avantha Chair and Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King’s India Institute. “The rise of this movement in the Indian diaspora, and their emergence into a key player in a broader transnational ethno-nationalist axis, has also been increasingly visible in Europe, where I live and work. I am heartened to see a rigorous and well-researched report on this phenomenon in the United States, and I encourage other researchers and scholars to give the report their full attention.”
“The VHP-A has long been a supporter of and participant in hateful, casteist, anti-Muslim, and overall anti-minority initiatives in the United States,” said Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director of the Indian American Muslim Council. “This report is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the VHP-A’s supremacist ideology, as well as its collaborations with other far-right actors.”
“I’m proud to endorse Savera’s new report on the VHP of America, an organization whose destructive politics must be firmly opposed,” said Bill Fletcher, Jr., Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies. “This report is a critical read for us all, and demonstrates how Hindu supremacy continues to create new pathways for the spread of the far-right, even amongst the most reliably progressive communities. I’m excited to see Savera’s campaign develop and stand in deep solidarity with them. Their campaign is our struggle too.”
Read the full report: https://www.wearesavera.org/resources/reports/
To obtain additional information, please contact: David Kalal, Communications Director for Hindus for Human Rights ([email protected])