April Roundup Newsletter

May 3, 2023

HfHR's Monthly Newsletter serves as your guide to our progressive Hindu advocacy over the past month! Read on to learn about our webinars, podcasts, articles, advocacy updates, anti-caste initiatives, and more.

Dear Friend,

In April, we released the "Prema Yatra - Pilgrimage of Love" report, which has generated media attention in both the USA and India. During our travels across India, we met with numerous Hindu religious leaders who were recommended to us by our partners. Although we encountered a pervasive sense of resentment towards the Muslim minority, we also found reason for hope in the religious leaders who oppose Hindu nationalism and advocate for a path forward grounded in peace, justice, truth, and non-injury. Prema Yatra offers insights into the complex dynamics of religious identity in India and highlights the need for continued engagement and dialogue. We encourage you to read our report.

April was also when we made bold strides forward by standing in solidarity with coalition partners to protest the increasing violence against religious minorities in Pakistan, advocating for protections against caste discrimination in California, and lending our unique voice to faith-based organizations speaking up for reproductive freedom. We added three new staff members to expand our work for pluralism, LGBTQ+ equality, civil rights, and human rights for all – building unique HfHR connections between movements in the Global North and South and crossing national and sectoral divides. Keep reading and watching to learn more about our work below!

Hindus for Human Right has just completed what it calls a prema yatra “searching for hindu religious leaders who are concerned about the state of affairs in India today”

Desh Videsh Conversations: Kashmir Part 2

Join us for the second part of our Bay Area Desh Videsh Conversation Series on Kashmir. In March We organized a successful Desh Videsh Conversation on "Untold Stories from Kashmir" and now in May this important conversation continues with "Untold Stories from Kashmir Part 2" with Kashmiri Muslim voices!

Fight for Reproductive Rights and Justice

HfHR member Sandhya Gupta represented the organization at an interfaith prayer gathering for reproductive freedom organized by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The prayer gathering was held at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, DC, on Saturday April 15th, and was co-convened by Catholics for Choice, Faith for Black Lives, National Council of Jewish Women, Heart, Sacred, Women of Reform Judaism/Religious Action Center, and of course, Hindus for Human Rights. Below is an excerpt from Sandhya's speech.

"Since the faith and interfaith spaces are the ground zero for the assault on our democracy and the human and civil rights we hold sacred, we must ensure a robust, unwavering, and indivisible interfaith resistance to it.

Whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu, the religious right is exclusivist and strives to divide us and move us to mistrust, hate and harm towards each other. The most formidable resistance to the religious rights and the hate it pedals in, is to be undivided from each other, across our differences. To be a rainbow alliance of resistance rooted in justice and love."

Read more of what Sandhya shared here!

And, in light of the recent Texas court decision, denying FDA approval for a safe and effective abortion drug —and ultimately outweighing medical professionals’ evidence-based judgement—we appeal to you in support of reproductive rights. Together we can work towards equitable access to medication and effectuate policies that safeguard medically sound outcomes while protecting our right as individuals to make choices regarding healthcare decisions. Join Hindus for Human Rights and add your name to Planned Parenthood's People's Brief now.

Opposing Caste Discrimination

HfHR joined a coalition of Ambedkarite, Dalit, and other South Asian organizations in Sacramento to support California State Senator Aisha Wahab and SB 403's passage through the Senate Judiciary Committee. We succeeded in our advocacy, as SB 403 passed committee unanimously, and will now be sent up to the Appropriations Committee, where once it passes, it will come up for a floor vote in the California State Senate. If all goes well, we repeat this process in the Assembly. This win could not be possible without our robust coalition. We are so proud of our community and our coalition partners including

Ambedkar International Center, and Ambedkar King Study Circle, for standing on the right side of history. And of course, we thank Senator Aisha Wahab for her fearless leadership on this bill.

As Hindus of conscience, our dharma guides us to oppose all forms of oppression and discrimination, especially caste discrimination. #SB403 does not harm us, it only strengthens our fight for anti-caste Hinduism.

Take Action:

Join the Email Campaign:

The California Coalition for Caste Equity urges you to take 2 minutes to send an email to all of the California legislature so that they know why caste equity matters to you!

Rising Religious Violence in Pakistan

Hindus for Human Rights and coalition partners have released a press statement on the growing violence against religious minorities in Pakistan. Join us in advocating for:

Repeal of Pakistan's blasphemy laws
Fair portrayal of religious minorities in Pakistani school textbooks
Protection of all religious minority places of worship

Read and share the letter to raise awareness.
Let's promote peace and understanding among different communities!

Other Advocacy

Hindus for Human Rights and the Indian American Muslim Council jointly released a statement expressing concern about Georgia Assembly's House Resolution 701 condemning Hinduphobia. They urge the Assembly to reconsider the resolution as it may lead to attacks on academic freedom and violence against critics of Hindu supremacist policies. The organizations remain committed to promoting pluralism, civil and human rights, and social justice for all people in South Asia and North America.

Meet Our New Staff

We're excited to introduce some great new talent to the Hindus for Human Rights team! Join us in welcoming saahil m., our Education and Outreach Director; Angelica Razak-Francis, our Administrative Coordinator; and David Kalal, our Communications Director.

Community Updates

This past month we've had the opportunity to gather with many of our coalition partners in DC, New York, and the Bay Area! We've come together with our friends from Indian American Muslim Council, India Civil Watch International, our new staff members, and friends from other advocacy partner organizations.

We'd also like to wish a bittersweet farewell to our Deputy Executive Director Nikhil, who after 2 years with HfHR, is moving on to new adventures. Nikhil joined as HfHR's first staff member in 2021 and worked to build up our organization into what it is today. We are so grateful for Nikhil's contributions and leadership, and we'll miss him dearly as he embarks on his next big journey!

HfHR in the News

It's been a thrilling month of progress and positive change here at Hindu for Human Rights, with your support driving us to create an ever-more bold, inclusive public platform advocating human rights for all.

We look forward to our continued partnership in the future as we strive together towards making marginalized communities' voices heard. Let us move onwards into this journey united: please donate generously today so that we can make each step count on the way there!

With immense love and appreciation from HfHR Board & Staff members - thank you again heartily for being part of these incredible strides forwards.

Angelica, Bidisha, David, Deepak, Harita, Nikhil, Preeti, Punya, Raju, Ria, saahil, Shanti, Sravya, Sunil, Sunita, Swati, Swathi, Urmila, Vijay

Join Us

Interested in co-creating a pluralistic, inclusive and compassionate world based on human rights and values?

Come, join us as a donor, staff, volunteer, or even as a blogger by writing to us at info@hindusforhumanrights.org!

We urge those of you who can to become monthly subscribers, for at least $50 per month for the next year. Sustained financial support from progressive allies like you is more crucial than ever to ensure that we can do this work without interruption, and without being intimidated by the resourced right wing.

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