California: Nearly 60 Indian American Hindus converged on Little India for a rally to condemn the “Dismantling Global Hindutva” academic conference. Participants from diverse backgrounds gathered in the hot sun in the Little India enclave for over an hour.
Ironically being held on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the “Dismantle Global Hindutva” conference “aims to ostracize Hindus and Hindutva (essence of Hinduism), in the name of ‘academic freedom of speech’,” said the release. Poster slogans at the rally revealed the protesters’ demands, such as “Protect Hinduism,” “Attack on Hinduism is Attack On Humanity,” “Condemn Conference Against Hinduism and Hindutva,” with the protesters saying the real meaning of “Hindutva” means the essence of Hinduism. According to the release, the protesters also repeatedly shouted loud chants of “Condemn Conference, Protect Hindus!”
Geeta Bhatt, a lead organizer, said, "We condemn the ‘Dismantle Global Hindutva’ conference. We would like to warn the sponsoring universities that we Hindu Americans will boycott the universities that have sponsored this conference or allowed it to take place, as a way to ostracize our Hindu religion. We will not send our children to the sponsoring universities.”
Subhash Bhatt, a co-organizer, stated, "Hindutva believes in peace and in non-violence and we are here to bring awareness of Hindutva and Hinduism. It has been deliberately mislabeled by non-Hindu communities to give it a negative connotation."
"This protest rally was conceptualized and organized by ordinary Indian Hindu American citizens and concerned people like you and me, and was well-attended by representatives from 15-20 unique organizations honoring the diverse Indian American community of Southern California," stated Bhatt, adding: “I was crying when I first saw the conference flyer listing the title as ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’. What will I tell my children and grandchildren? I said I must do something about it. Our clear and strong message to these universities is: ‘Do not spread the wrong information about Hinduism. Hinduism believes in peace, live and let live’.”
The initial effort to send emails to university presidents delivered slightly more than 928,000 emails in the span of 48 hours, with the final petition count at 10,360 signatures. The petition requested the universities to: 1) ask the event organizers to remove university names and logos from the event website and promotional materials; 2) ensure the safety and wellbeing of the Hindu students, faculty, and staff on campus who may feel targeted, threatened, or face hostility or harassment as a result of the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference.
