Wishing you a Happy 2023 & Revisiting a successful 2022!
January 1, 2023

Dear Friend, 

New Year greetings from Hindus for Human Rights!

Continuing our tradition of long-ish year-beginning newsletter, we're excited to share our wins of 2022 and aspirations for 2023. We hope you're equally excited to read on.

WE WON!- Our lawsuit victory against Hindu American Foundation

We received the best end-0f-year gift in the form of our legal win against the Hindu American Foundation, which in 2021, filed a lawsuit against our co-founders Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal, and 3 other defendants (Rasheed Ahmed, John Prabhudoss, and Audrey Truschke), baselessly accusing them of "defamation and conspiracy to defame".

In a remarkable judgment, the court dismissed HAF’s lawsuit using forceful language:

""HAF fails to plausibly plead that any statement made by any defendant is verifiably false," the court said. 

We couldn't be happier as this is a huge victory for all of us who believe in religious pluralism, civil rights, and human rights in India, and across the Indian diaspora! 

Thank you for standing with us! 
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Growth and Base-Building
  • We hired 3 full time staff and 9 part time staff
  • We received 52 submissions from South Asian students from 19 American states and 9 Indian states for our second annual Civil Rights essay and art contest
  • 431 people attended our in-person events in Washington DC, New York, and the Bay Area
  •  19 organizations co-sponsored our first-ever Multi-Faith Deepavali Celebration on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
  • We were invited to Diwali celebrations hosted by the White House and the U.S. State Department
  • Annual Strategic Retreat: From August 4th - August 8th, HfHR Staff and Board members gathered in Taos, New Mexico for our annual retreat. We discussed the future of our organization, and outlined strategies for advancing different parts of our work
  • Year-end Gala Night: More than 90 participants gathered virtually last night to celebrate HfHR's third annual gala, the Celebration of Hope. The event raised over $50,000 dollars, and  HfHR also presented the 2022 Swami Agnivesh Memorial Award to Khudai Khidmatgar and Mirza Ghalib Victor Begg at the event.
  • Donor briefings & Community Open House:In order to know our donors and supporters better, give timely work updates, debate and discuss our work, and understand suggestions on bettering our work, we held many donor briefings and 4 community open houses. 
Advocacy

HfHR dedicatedly and fearlessly raised voice against Hindutva and the rising hate-mongering in India.

  • We brought together 18 Hindu organizations and 42 Hindu religious leaders from 6 countries to issue a historic statement of solidarity against Hindutva and Islamophobia
  • We held 20 Congressional briefings on human rights issues in India with 19 other human rights organizations, featuring 96 frontline activists from India and the diaspora
  • We had 98 face-to-face meetings with government partners
  • We worked with our Congressional partners to influence 4 pieces of legislation, including a proposed amendment to the defense budget.
  • 1,806 people took action through our online petitions.
  • 3,786 letters sent through our online petitions
  • We organized a 'Save Hasdeo' protest outside the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. and held a special Congressional Briefing on Human Rights Violations Against India’s Indigenous Peoples
  • HfHR revived the #HoliAgainstHindutva campaign with a special webinar event co-hosted by HfHR, SAHI, and Sadhana.
  • HfHR Board member Vijay represented HfHR at International Partnership Religion & Sustainable Development's (PaRD) "Annual Forum on Religion and Sustainable Development" by organizing a panel discussion on "Role of Religious Traditions in addressing Climate Action" in Bali, Indonesia. 
  • HfHR Policy Director Ria Chakrabarty met with United Nations staffers and country representatives at the UN Office in Geneva to highlight India’s egregious violations of human rights .
  • HfHR and International Commission for Dalit Rights launched a new report on India's temple-building industry "Built by Injustice: South Asian Migrant Worker Exploitation at Places of Worship" .
"Built by Injustice"- click to read the full report.
On Rising Hate in India
HfHR Deputy ED Nikhil Mandalaparthy participated in a Salaamedia discussion titled "Impunity Drivers Expanding Hindu Nationalist Violence, In Light of the Ongoing Extremism in India" about escalating Hindutva hatred and violence in India. 
On the Hijab Ban
HfHR co-organized several Congressional briefings on the topic including “Hindu extremists for a genocide of Muslims in India” with panelists such as Govind Acharya, Gregory Stanton and our very own Sunita Viswanath.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Dalit Panthers' founding and 97th birth anniversary of Malcolm X, HfHR co-sponsored a powerful conversation between Dalit Panther Movement co-founder J.V. Pawar and renowned scholar-activist Dr. Cornel West on the history and legacies of Black-Dalit revolutionary solidarity. 
As a part of the Coalition for Minority Rights, HfHR organized a webinar “Reversing the Trend: Minority Rights in India” to discuss how the international community can support efforts towards a more inclusive, pluralistic and multi-faith society in India.
Media Advocacy: Confronting Hindu Nationalism and Caste in the Diaspora
  • We published 21 articles in 16 different media outlets, including the Nation, Foreign Policy, and Religion News Service
  • In 2022, we were mentioned in 214 articles in 104 news outlets 
  • We received 437,057 views on our “Ulti Pulti Baat” series on YouTube (10 episodes)
  • We saw a 243% increase in Instagram followers, 193% increase in Twitter followers
  • HfHR, Dalit Solidarity Forum, and our partner organizations, organized the 3-day second annual Reclaiming India conference, with the topic: Confronting Caste in Education.
  • We launched the second series of our Ganesha's Tusk podcast, hosted by a 12-year-old Indian American named Samara, which provides a fresh perspective on Hindu epics, history, and mythology!
  • ULTI PULTI BAAT: In 2022 we launched Ulti Pulti Baat series: a joint project between Hindus for Human Rights and People's Association In Grassroots Action and Movement (PAIGAM), consisting of a series of short, accessible videos aimed at debunking widespread myths and misinformation.
Listen to Ganesha's Tusk!
Watch our latest Ulti Pulti Baat episode "Can BJP ever be defeated in Indian elections?”
Hindus for Human Rights to Keep Lobbying US Congress, Govt against India's Treatment of Muslims.

Reclaiming India Conference:
Confronting Caste in Education (Day 1)

Reclaiming India Conference:
Confronting Caste in Education (Day 2)
What We Wrote in 2022
Chapter Updates 
The efforts of HfHR's Australia-New Zealand chapter led to multiple universities and corporations disaffiliating from an event that had invited far-right, Islamophobic BJP politician Tejasvi Surya as a speaker. HfHR ANZ member Shanti Raman appeared on ABC TV's new show, India Today, representing HfHR!  HfHR ANZ chapter celebrated several festivals such as Interfaith Holi and Ramadan with the Muslim community. 
Continue Supporting Us!

With your support, we hope to double our staff, double our budget, and thus double our impact. Please consider making a New Year's donation to HfHR today!

HfHR Board and Staff
Bidisha, Deepak, Harita, Nikhil, Punya, Raju, Ria, Sravya, Sunil, Sunita, Swati, Swathi, Tara, Urmila, Vijay
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