There are numerous religious and non-religious organizations around the world who work to defend the human rights of vulnerable communities. However, there is an urgent need for vivid and inclusive voices from a Hindu perspective. As bigotry in the name of a (fraudulent) Hinduism has become more powerful than ever, it is time for us to speak up.

Many groups working for a just world are shaped and supported by Hindus all over the world. In general, we have been happy to be part of such groups without a specific need to claim a Hindu voice. However, as unprecedented violence against minorities (Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, and women) consumes India, and as increasing numbers of Hindus in the diaspora appear to support India’s alarming shift to majoritarian Hindu rule, we feel that it is time to proclaim ‘Not in Our Names!’ HfHR is a voice of Hindus for the good of all beings: vasudaiva kutumbakam.

We acknowledge that there are newer groups that have come into existence to defend the rights of Hindu populations in the diaspora. But considering that there are over a billion adherents of Hinduism in the world, surprisingly, there has been no major effort to organize and speak as Hindus specifically for the human rights of all.

The creation of Hindus for Human Rights USA (HfHR) is a small step to fill this vacuum and to provide a platform for creative Hindu voices in these troubling times. We are especially grateful for the opportunity to amplify brave voices from India where speech is being increasingly criminalized.

For our purposes, a Hindu is anyone who self-identifies as such — culturally, spiritually, or religiously. We celebrate the rich diversity of all of us nourished by Hinduism, and ignore those who claim the ability to impose their idea of who is and who isn’t a Hindu.

‘Hinduism’ is a gorgeous life-giving force, and it has many dimensions and many forms of beauty and power. As a deep and long-lived force, it has historically defied attempts to be limited by any single definition. 

Hinduism is both deeply personal and vastly global. There are trends that are thousands of years old, as well as innovations made last week. Some claim (inaccurately in our estimation) that innovations in the 18th century mean that Hinduism was invented then. Some claim (again inaccurately in our estimation) that Hinduism has persisted unchanged from tens of thousands of years. In our understanding, Hinduism is an offering for individual liberation and eco-social creativity that has been renewed and replenished over millennia.

Innovation has been key to the tradition — whether we consider Adi Sankara and his treatises, the bhakti movement’s call for equality and freedom, the poetry of Sarojini Naidu and Rabindranath Tagore, or the debates between Babasaheb and Gandhi.

Hinduism has spread globally through love and the blessings of Gurus: Ramakrishna Paramahansa inspiring Sigmund Freud when he talked about mysticism as the oceanic experience (via Romain Rolland), Swami Vivekananda at the World Parliament of Religions, or to our day, when numerous respected teachers connect global audiences to the depth and beauty of Hindu dharma.

At the same time, shallow versions of Hinduism abound as people work with magic and wish-fulfillment, yoga as slow motion aerobics, and bollywood bhajans. This amazing diversity of high and low, true and false, good and cruel has long been the tapestry of Hinduism — and we own it all and work from here. 

‘Hindutva’ clearly defines itself today through the words and deeds of its self-identified votaries: e.g. portraying religious minorities as less than patriotic; rationalizing or ignoring mob violence; attacking scholars, journalists, intellectuals, and others who dare to speak out in support of pluralism; imposing one’s dietary values upon others; and last but not the least, falsely claiming to speak and act on behalf of all Hindus. We are Hindus who completely reject Hindutva for what it stands for and what it has wrought.

'Hindutva’ has also been the subject of contradictory and sometimes self-serving definitions from the time that V.D. Savarkar sought to define it as distinct from Hinduism in his eponymous 1923 essay. He claimed that Hindutva was the original and Hinduism flowed from it – which is such a terrible argument that the RSS/BJP/VHP/HSS/HAF combine does not cite it anymore.

We are joyous, patriotic, and loving Hindus who shun Hindutva for its lies, violence, and hypocrisy. Note: the word shun is suggested as the Indic world uses “a” as absence – e.g. abhaya – absence of fear.

We truly believe that our puranas and folklore, which abound in stories that exemplify peace, justice, kindness, compassion, and inclusion, can be a major source of strength for our collective commitment to work for the welfare of all communities in the world.

The fact is that for millions, Hindu dharma is a way of life – and a powerful and loving way to inquire into better futures. For sure, this majority is also influenced by various levels of Islamophobia and casteism, which is a reality we must deal with, just as we are grappling with the fact that racism is alive and well in the U.S. In our opinion, attempts to label groups as ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ or ‘in-between’ is not helpful in dealing with the larger enemies in our midst today: Hindutva Nationalism in India and White Nationalism in the U.S.

We are committed to the vision of a casteless society, and we stand ready to do our bit to accelerate the end of the oppressive system that is the cause of so much discrimination and violence, and has stymied opportunities and mobility for many. Caste, or jaati, varna, etc., are constitutive of many aspects of the Hindu experience and philosophy. While the lived experience has varied over the millennia, in today’s world caste is an invidious and cruel system, and we reject it totally.

Specifically, we shall:

• Speak out against caste-based discrimination within our own families and circles of friends, and support inter-caste and inter-faith unions.

• Actively oppose efforts to justify and/or sugar-coat the Varna and Jaati systems.

• Support social and economic policies that are designed to mitigate bigotry against Dalits, other 'lower castes', and Adivasi communities.

• Endorse and support organizations working for equality and diversity in all parts of the world, especially when there is an intersection with caste.

• Support the education of our future generations about the caste system in the same manner as we seek to educate them on racism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and gender discrimination.

Absolutely, YES! Our commitment to human rights demands that we speak up for the rights of all vulnerable minority groups wherever they are: Hindus in Bangladesh, Hindus and Christians in Pakistan, Sikhs in Afghanistan, and yes, children locked up in cages on our Southern border.

However, given the dangerous backslide of India’s pluralistic ethos that many of us grew up with, we are focusing our energies today on the dire situation in India. But that has not prevented us from speaking up and acting against persecution in other parts of the world.

We recognize that the topic of Kashmir and its political status is a highly fraught question that carries great emotional and personal significance for many people. We recognize also that while there is a diversity of opinion within the HfHR community on this question, we ultimately have both the privilege and the responsibility as Hindus to speak out in defense of the human rights of all people—including Kashmiris.

Unfortunately, an immoral and illegal policy of collective punishment has been imposed upon millions of Kashmiris, particularly since the BJP government’s revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, in the name of national integration. This is due in large part to the fact that the region is majority-Muslim, and the BJP government’s Hindutva ideology inherently sees all Muslims as threats to be dealt with by any means necessary. As Hindus for Human Rights we firmly reject both this indefensible policy, and the hateful ideology that motivates it. Beyond constituting an egregious violation of basic human rights, such draconian and authoritarian steps by any government, anywhere in the world, can inevitably lead only to further disintegration and violence.

In debates over Kashmir, people on all sides often attempt to convey a homogenized, flattened image of what a “real” Kashmiri looks like in order to serve a specific political or national agenda. In addition to undermining the cause of peace and justice for all people, these attempts sadly ignore and erase the rich diversity that has characterized Kashmir and its people for centuries. The Indian-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are home to a combined 12.5 million people, with millions more living in parts of the Kashmir region that are currently administered by Pakistan and China. Within these millions there are Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Christians, who speak a diverse array of languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Dogri, Kashmiri, Tibetan, Ladakhi, and Balti. From this diversity, a powerful ethos of religious and cultural syncretism has emerged, which for generations before the advent of conflict enabled the people of Kashmir to live together in peace, harmony, and dignity, learning from and respecting one another rather than being divided along religious or communal lines.

To be clear: we firmly believe that it is the inalienable right of Kashmiris to speak for themselves and decide their own future. This, however, can only be achieved through a peaceful, democratic, and deliberative process, where all Kashmiris are able to come together to begin the difficult but necessary work of healing the wounds of the past and shaping a just and peaceful future for all.

For this to happen, it is necessary for the Indian government to lift its draconian crackdown on the people of Kashmir, end its brutal militarization of the territory, and cease all human rights violations immediately. Achieving a truly just future for Kashmir and its people also requires facilitating the safe and long-overdue return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland, from which far too many Pandits have lived in unjust exile for far too long. Kashmiris of all backgrounds and religions have called for the Pandits to be allowed to return to their homes in peace, and Indian leaders have a moral obligation to facilitate this return in a manner that ensures justice for all, rather than using Pandits as convenient pawns in service of a nationalist political agenda.

As Hindus for Human Rights, we stand in firm solidarity with the people of Kashmir in their fight to secure basic human rights—the same basic rights that all people, everywhere, should be able to enjoy.

One of the secrets to the flourishing and enduring Hinduism is its openness throughout history to reformers and dissenters who questioned the status quo. Yes, some were persecuted, many were acknowledged and respected, and no one was able to dislodge the entrenched Varna and Jaati system. But society did not succeed in trying to simply dismiss them as ‘anti’ this or ‘anti’ that, and some of their reforms have indeed endured. We aspire to make our voices heard and bear on the reality that there are people abusing our religion.

Hinduism as a tradition, as a way of transformation, and as a way of life has survived centuries of change – new ideas and technologies, invasions, foreign rulers, and colonial subjugation – unlike ways of life in many other parts of the world subjected to similar onslaughts.

Saint philosophers like Jillelamudi Ma, Sri Ramanuja, Basaveshwara, Dayananda Saraswati, Mahadevi Akka, Meera, Lalla, Surdas, Kabirdas and many others were dissenters in their own right. Mercifully, they did not have to face trolls from the BJP IT Cell. Likewise, Indian art today includes Buddhist cave paintings, Jaina temples, Mughal tombs and palaces, and amazing local handicrafts and styles. All of these contribute to an ongoing and invigorated society.

India is a land of many peoples, born out of a decolonial movement and founded on principles of pluralism. The concept of a Hindu Rashtra stands in direct opposition not only to these political ideals, but to the values of our faith. An ideology that asserts Hindu supremacy does not make Hindus safer, and we need only look to Zionism and Israel to see this is true. Israel was created by the British to absolve Western powers of their antisemitism and without the input of the Palestinian people. From the 1948 Nakba to the current genocide in Gaza, Israel’s survival and identity requires a system of apartheid and dispossession of Palestinians. We see echoes of these policies in India’s persistent marginalization of Adivasis, Dalits, and other oppressed communities. We are firmly opposed to all forms of ethnic or religious nationalism, and we see the direct connections between Zionism and Hindutva as a call to action for all Hindus of conscience to organize for Palestinian liberation and the end of all forms of supremacy—including Hindu nationalism.

Just like we are committed to fighting for a secular, democratic, pluralistic India where all citizens, regardless of faith, are entitled to equal rights and equal justice, we support a liberated future for Palestine where all the land’s inhabitants—Muslims, Christians, Jews, and everyone else—are able to live together as free and equal citizens, from the river to the sea. As Hindus who stand against caste and Hindutva, we take inspiration from our anti-Zionist Jewish siblings who are fighting the forces of hate and far-right nationalism within their own community.”

It is indeed a sad chapter in India’s history that many of the elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, seem to think that getting elected somehow means that they have earned a vajrakavacha (immunity) against all public criticism. Speaking out under these circumstances is the essence of patriotism, and not doing so “in the interest of the nation” is jingoism.

The alarming trend in today’s politics is the dramatic rise in the number of instances of politicians filing defamation and sedition cases against their opponents and against the media. In the normal course of democratic checks and balances, the public may be able to fight against such a menace, but in the case of a majoritarian government and a compliant law enforcement machinery (as exists in India today), this poses a major threat to democracy.

Democracy - and Indian ways of governance - are all about voice. Our focus is not on any specific government or group; our focus is on building a strong and compelling voice and narrative on real Hinduism so our traditions can continue to inform a generous and loving worldview.

We do not take sides in politics outside of human rights - e.g. in India, we would not comment on demonetization or offer political support to the AAP. In the US, we don’t talk about the Fed’s easy money, or the Ukraine scandal. In both nations we are concerned about bigotry (Hindu and Christian), Islamophobia, violence against 'others' (Dalit and Black, Adivasi and Native American), gender violence, cruelty at the borders, and so on.

On the contrary, with the largest Hindu and Muslim populations in the world (soon), ‘Secularism’ - i.e. peaceful co-existence, respect and equal treatment of all faiths by the state, etc. - is more important to India’s future than ever. The head of the RSS says that a Hindu Rashtra is “non-negotiable.” We say that for peace to prevail and for India to march forward, a multi-religious, pluralistic India is non-negotiable.

India’s multifarious religious, ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups, as well as the contemporaneous local rulers, came together to offer mutual covenants to create our much-celebrated constitution. They promised freedom of conscience “to every religious denomination or any section thereof,” abolished untouchability, offered equality of opportunity, and even made special provisions for women and children. They also promised limited autonomy to certain regions of the country as part of the grand bargain offered by a future pluralistic state.

This has never been easy; human beings are human beings across history. When Emperor Asoka (whose chakra is a national symbol) wrote his edicts, a central theme was asking different religious groups, including Buddhists, to disagree and debate in a non-violent manner. The tendency to be hot heads and unfair is as Indian as reasoned debate and deep love. We join the millennia-old stream of Hindus insisting on the primacy of love and togetherness.

As the Indian nation has emerged as a world power, our egalitarian constitution has strengthened it. India's diversity has always been its strength. Unfortunately, a militant parochialism now threatens the very nature of India’s polity. Reasoned political discourse reverts to myth, and the policies of Hindu supremacy abjure all fact, both historical and scientific. Instead, Hindu supremacy has become merely an ideological ploy to manufacture hate and anger in order to win votes.

Sadly, from the perspective of many communities, India has already become a de-facto Hindu Rashtra, or more accurately a Hindutva Rashtra, (see https://thewire.in/communalism/hindu-rashtra-india-constitution). Hindu cultural and religious symbols have increasingly permeated all walks of life, including within the government, which in the past had respected the religious and cultural space for the minorities. Today, those spaces seem to be shrinking, and many minorities live in existential fear.

Our work - all of our work - is to create a genuine Hindu comity and polity: generous, abundant, loving, and free.

The India that we know and love is a generous, creative and successful nation. We have dramatic challenges, amazing potential, and powerful gifts. Speaking out against the rising tide of violence against minorities, which is against the spirit and substance of India’s much-celebrated constitution that promises freedom of conscience “to every religious denomination or any section thereof,” is the essence of being pro-India.

For most of us, India is our first home, our love, our family. Trolls ask such questions because they don’t understand love. Love makes us willing to ask difficult questions and not accept silly explanations (e.g. “we always have some violence”, or “all politicians are bad,” etc). Our critique of the often politically-motivated violence in India is no more ‘anti-India’ than similar critique of our adopted country for its rising White Nationalist violence making us ‘anti-America.’

This type of question highlights one of the issues we all face. Anyone asking this question seems to have some deep insecurity or a cynical view of India. Our constitution abolished untouchability and set forth programs for equality well before any modern nation. Insisting that we live up to the promises we have made is only about integrity, which again is pro-India.

It is important to expand the relatively parochial Western underpinning behind “human rights.” In our Hindu perspective, “human” is not just a bipedal organism with limited cognitive capabilities. All of reality is full of life – whether human, animal, plant, clouds, stars, and so on. We acknowledge that a myopic focus on “human’ has accelerated the climate crisis that threatens life as we know it, and a true Hindu perspective must correct this falsehood.

At the same time, “rights” is also an incomplete construct. In the Indic ways, this concept shames someone to be treated as one who has rights but no duties. We are all capable of agency, of making change, of creating a better world. The Hindu perspective says that all of us must support each other in creating a better world - from within our consciousness and in the conventional world – so that we all co-create a better reality for the flourishing of all beings.

We support the right of nations to control their borders and make reasonable rules to control immigration. However, we are opposed to laws that discriminate on the basis of faith or ethnicity, and we condemn the inhuman treatment of immigration/asylum seekers and brutalizing of children.

It is important to note that most nations skew their immigration to their internal needs and are usually hypocritical in the way their values clash with their priorities. However, cages for children are not acceptable – and it is clear that the current U.S. regime is ignoring its own laws and international treaties for a jingoistic and cruel political strategy.

In India, we oppose the cruel and immoral idea of placing the burden upon every family – 73 years after independence – to prove their citizenship to the state yet again. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a program that has been supported by many political parties over time, and it comes from a very troubling and non-Hindu idea of how we belong to each other. This troubling initiative has already rendered millions of people stateless overnight in Assam, including thousands of genuine citizens who were unable to produce the documents demanded by the government.

Whether in India or in the U.S., we strongly oppose separating families and placing people in detention camps, and we support a pathway to citizenship to all those who have worked all their lives to contribute to the society they live in.

Human rights are being violated every day in many parts of our world and no single organization can realistically or effectively speak for all the victims; nor is it possible to address every individual violation. But here are some broad principles that guide our choices of when and where we speak up.

• Our geographical focus areas are India and the U.S., but we do not ignore other regions.

• Our voices are to counter majoritarianism and authoritarianism, where the primary victims are more likely to be minority communities, whatever may be their faith, race, ethnicity, sexuality, or gender identity.

• Attacks on women, children and the LGBTQ+ community are particular areas of concern given the deep structural violence against them in all parts of the world.

• Our highest priority is systemic violations of the rights of a specific community, especially if local law enforcement and justice systems appear to be failing them.

• In India, in the current environment, we are especially likely to be speaking up for the rights of Muslims, Dalits, women/children, and the LGBTQ+ community. In the U.S., we are especially likely to be standing up for the rights of Indian-Americans, African-Americans, and immigrants. And in other countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc., we are most likely to be speaking about the rights of Hindu and other minorities.

• We draw a clear and firm line connecting the authoritarian and majoritarian tendencies across a swath of the world – from Trump in the U.S., to Johnson and Patel in the U.K., to Le Pen in France, Wilder in the Netherlands, Salvini in Italy, Orban in Hungary, Erdogan in Turkey, Netanyahu in Israel, Assad in Syria, Putin in Russia, Sissi in Egypt, Modi in India, Sui Kyi in Myanmaar, Xi in China, and so on.

• It is vital to speak up for the health of our world. Climate change is a deep and long crisis and is the greatest violation of the human rights of our future. We support activists in this arena and are encouraged by the increasing voice of children claiming their future despite the trolls and cowards.

Acknowledging the limits of any one organization and the overwhelming flow of events, we know that there will always be incompleteness in our actions. This is a core part of Hinduism – an inverse if you will of the space we always keep for God/dess as the unexpected guest. We trust that as we all grow and share together we will be able to create a wonderful choral symphony that inspires change and a more joyous world.

Generally, we are open to a dialogue with any individual or organization – even those who may disagree with us if the communications come in the spirit of engagement and are likely to advance the cause of human rights.

Celebrating the potential of all beings and resisting the will-to-power of the State or goons requires broad alliances and partnerships. We at HfHR are happy to work with other organizations and individuals who broadly share our mission and values, even if we are not 100% aligned on all matters. Having said that, we will not partner with organizations whose history, values, and actions run counter to the idea of defending the human rights of all.

We will also not engage with trolls and those who resort to abusive language or engage in personal attacks. And we reserve the right to suspend communications with such individuals and block them as we see fit. We also ask that people who make claims use supporting data; we are not interested in fact-free discussions as these lead nowhere.

Hindus for Human Rights is deeply concerned that Hindus globally face varying levels of discrimination:

1. Discrimination faced by Hindus living in the global diaspora, based on the experience of being a religious and/or racial minority in their respective societies. In the United States and Western countries, this means majority-white, majority-Christian societies.

2. Discrimination and/or violence faced by Hindus in South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka, where there is a documented history of systemic and sometimes state-endorsed violence and persecution of Hindus and other religious minorities.

We reject the notion of systemic Hinduphobia in the United States or India with any equivalence to Islamophobia or anti-Semitism. We recognize that the term “Hinduphobia” has been popularized among right-wing Hindu Indians in the United States -- not by persecuted Hindu populations in Pakistan or Bangladesh, who face the most dire forms of violence based on their religious identity.

In light of recent events threatening freedom of speech, we emphasize that mere criticism of caste, Hindu nationalism, or Hinduism itself -- especially when it comes from marginalized communities -- should not be construed as anti-Hindu sentiment.