Ritu Jha–
Hindu advocacy non-profit organization Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA) CoHNA’s Cleveland chapter volunteers protested against the “teach-in” workshop “Holi Against Hindutva” event which was planned at Oberlin College in Ohio, and was sponsored by the college’s Muslim Students Association and the Asian American Alliance on April 21. However, the speaker at teach-in event called the claim by CoHNA ridiculous.
“The claims that this event was ‘Hinduphobic’ or was intended to shame or denigrate Hindu festivals are completely ridiculous, and do not in any way reflect the substance of the event itself,” Pranay Somayajula, Director of Research and Advocacy Campaigns, Hindus for Human Rights and one of the speakers, told indica.
But CoHNA alleges that their goal was to tarnish, co-opt and politicize a 2000-year-old Hindu festival for their own political propaganda. And to create hate against students who may want to openly profess their Hindu faith and traditions such as Holi.
“We will not remain silent when people co-opt and desecrate our religious festivals, symbols, and figures for their political agenda and then turn around and accuse Hindus of being “Islamophobic” simply for raising their voices against this anti-Hindu bigotry.” said Dr. Ranjan, leader of CoHNA’s Cleveland Chapter said through a press note.
“Such attitudes and actions are perfect examples of Hinduphobia and attempts to gaslight our community for speaking up. Nobody has the right to politicize our ancient festivals. As advocates who live by free speech, we ask Oberlin to allow CoHNA to host a similar teach in-so that we have a diversity of views, which will be critical to advance to the stated goal of “eliminating baseless and divisive violence between communities.”
Somayajula told indica that this event was a teach-in, organized primarily by a group of Indian American students, designed to provide Oberlin students with a nuanced historical overview and present-day analysis of the Hindu supremacist movement in India and its presence in the United States.
“HfHR was approached by the student organizers to speak at this event and provide our perspective as a leading progressive Hindu organization that has been outspoken against the weaponization of Hindu faith and identity in service of a hateful, far-right movement like Hindutva,” Somayajula said.
On using the words that raise concern said, “While the Oberlin organizers chose the name ‘Holi Against Hindutva’ as an homage to the powerful history of student activism against Hindutva on American college campuses, the event itself had nothing to do with the festival of Holi.”
Explaining about the event he said, “It began with remarks by Professor Rishad Choudhury, who gave a talk on the historical background and present-day significance of the Ram Mandir issue as a rallying point for the Hindu supremacist far-right, and I followed Professor Choudhury’s remarks with a talk about Hindu supremacy more generally, tracing Hindutva’s origins back to the ideology of Savarkar and Golwalkar and its explicit inspiration from Nazism and Italian Fascism. In my talk, I provided an overview of the Sangh Parivar’s presence both in India and globally, and also highlighted the groundbreaking reports published over the last few months by the Savera coalition—of which HfHR is a part—which shed light on the Hindu supremacist ecosystem in the United States.”
He added, “The event was extraordinarily peaceful and respectful to all; after both talks concluded there was an extensive Q&A session where students asked nuanced and thoughtful questions of both Professor Choudhury and myself. At no point was there anything even remotely resembling discrimination or bigotry against Hindus—on the contrary, my talk was very much grounded in the fact that HfHR is itself a Hindu organization that opposes Hindutva precisely because of the values of pluralism and tolerance that our faith teaches us.”
Hindu advocacy group protests ‘Holi Against Hindutva’ workshop at Cleveland, Ohio’s Oberlin College
