What Moved HfHR in March: Celebration, Courage, and Collective Action

In New York: Hindus for Human Rights was proud to help co-organize the March 26 City Hall briefing, Islamophobia in New York City: A Policy Perspective, alongside Muslims for Progressive Values, EmgageUSA, and Equitas Forum USA. The panel brought together Mahmoud Khalil, Heba Khalil, Rana Abdelhamid, Baher Azmy, Asad Dandia, and Badar Khan Suri to address the urgent need for meaningful policy responses to anti-Muslim hate in New York. Disturbingly, the event was mischaracterized on social media and by several New York City Council members as “anti-Semitic,” and panelists were verbally harassed as they left the building while NYPD stood by.

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RECAP NEWSLETTER ✨🌷 CURRENT EVENTS 🌷✨ Learn More About Our Diverse Global Community  Our Membership Drive is Live! Our membership isn't just about the perks -- it's about the community. When you become an HfHR member, you join a multigenerational community of likeminded activists, change makers, and diasporic South Asians all over the world who are committed to fighting hate, bigotry, and religious nationalism.  🌼 Join Now 🌼 April 7th, 2026 - A Feminist Ravanasan?  The Institute for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley presents a talk by Kamala Visweswaran, Professor of Anthropology at Rice University. This lecture explores the paradoxes of Periyar’s legacy in Sri Lanka and interrogates anti-caste politics through the provocative framing of a “feminist Ravanasan.” Learn more here.  April 17th, 2026 DEADLINE - SAJA 2026 Journalism Scholarship  The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) is accepting applications for its 2026 journalism scholarships. SAJA will award $30,000 to six undergraduate or graduate journalism students.  Learn more here.  April 18th, 2026 - Celebrating the 135th Birth Anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Join the community in San Jose for a special evening commemorating the 135th birth anniversary of Bodhisattva Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. This gathering will honor Ambedkar’s life, legacy, and enduring contributions through an evening of community reflection and celebration. Learn more here.  Check Out Our Full Events Calendar 🌷 MARCH RECAP 🌷   HfHR Joins the Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee   Read Our Recap On Our Blog   Our Hindus for Human Rights team headed down to Selma, Alabama for a beautiful and bittersweet commemoration of a defining civil rights moment -- the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday.  Each year, tens of thousands of activists head to Selma to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Our HfHR delegation is grateful to have joined them, and we were met with an action-packed, deeply inspiring weekend -- from gatherings at churches to meetings with local Hindu temples to celebrations of the brave Foot Soldiers who bravely and defiantly marched those 61 years ago.    🌸 Spring Mela in DC 🌸   More on Facebook   Hundreds of people joined us in DC for Spring Mela, a night of joy, performance, and community. In partnership with Khush DC, the evening featured drag performances by Aniso Exotic, Altair Antares, and Kahani, along with amazing music, and meaningful conversation about the anti-trans bill in India. It was a powerful reminder that celebration and solidarity belong together.   What Does It Mean to Celebrate Holi in a Time of War?    Explore Our Series   Holi in a Time of War brings together reflections from Hindu religious voices and community leaders recorded just as the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, escalating a wider regional war and drawing international condemnation and urgent calls for de-escalation. Across the series, speakers ask what it means to hold a festival of joy in a moment marked by grief, violence, and displacement. Their answers differ, but they offer a shared ethic: to resist the abuse of power, to honor the suffering of those caught in war, to care for one another across lines of difference, and to remain faithful to joy, conscience, and our shared humanity even in the shadow of catastrophe.   Building Solidarity Across South Asian Communities: A Convening for Collective Action   Learn more about SAC    Hindus for Human Rights was part of an impactful convening held by the South Asian Coalition, bringing together dozens of progressive South Asian organizations from across the country to build connection, deepen solidarity, and strategize around the issues shaping our communities—including immigration, Hindu nationalism, caste, Islamophobia, and surveillance. We’re grateful to SAC for creating this important space for honest conversation, shared analysis, and collective vision. In a moment that asks us to stay fragmented and fearful, gatherings like this help strengthen our movements, resist injustice, and keep building the future our communities deserve.   Intl Convening on Gender Justice, Democracy, and Faith     Hindus for Human Rights  was proud to join Converging Futures: Where Gender Justice, Democracy, and Faith Meet, a Unitarian Universalist - sponsored convening bringing together faith leaders, feminists, LGBTQI+ organizers, scholars, and funders to build shared strategy against anti-gender movements, religious nationalism, and democratic backsliding. We were honored to be in community with the Savera coalition, ICWI, Diaspora Alliance, PRA, HfHR UK, Muslims for Progressive Values, and so many others committed to gender justice, democracy, and liberatory faith.   Major Breakthrough in Global Politics as USCIRF Calls for Sanctions on the RSS   Learn More On Our Blog    In a significant development for U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has recommended targeted sanctions on the RSS in their 2026 Annual Report for their "responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom".  This is a huge breakthrough in the fight against Hindutva as government institutions begin to acknowledge what those of us on the ground -- non-profits, activists, journalists, scholars -- have been fighting against for years.   Senior Policy Director Ria Chakrabarty Named 2026 Vote is Sacred Fellow   Meet the 2026 Fellows   Last month, Interfaith America announced their 2026 Vote is Sacred Fellows, a cohort dedicated to working at the nexus of interfaith solidarity and democracy to promote fair and free elections in the US. We're thrilled that our very own Senior Policy Director, Ria Chakrabarty, is a part of this year's cohort. Ria has several years of experience both in and out of D.C. working on issues related to American democracy and policy, and we're excited to see her bring this ethos to Interfaith America's projects. Congrats, Ria!   Here's What the Inquiry Into the 2022 Leicester Unrest Tells Us   Read More   The Better Together report, is a vibrant, independent investigation into what caused the 2022 outbreak of violence between Hindu and Muslim communities in Leicester, UK. While the report finds that neither group is to blame, it stresses "that Hindu organisations need to distance their 'religious, spiritual, devotional and sampraday traditions' from political Hindutva supremacy." Hindus for Human Rights UK is proud to be the leading organization in leading this charge and creating a progressive Hindu community that rejects all forms of nationalism and violence.  Become an HfHR Member Today!   An HfHR membership gives you access to a community of progressive, change-oriented Hindus, our exclusive WhatsApp community, affinity groups, weekly community calls, merch discounts, local organizing groups, and more. Join today! BECOME A MEMBER LEARN MORE ABOUT MEMBERSHIP DONATE 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. Let us know what you think of our monthly recap! If you have ideas for news items you want to see included, or suggestions for action items or articles to highlight, let us know with the button below. 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