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Published on Saturday, January 18, 2020 by Common Dreams

Hindu Fascism: AnAll-American ThreatWe, as Muslim and Hindu women ofcolor, have watched in horror as both thecountry of our ancestors, India, and thecountry of our birth, the United States,have devolved into nationalism andfascism.by Sameena Mustafa, Arti Walker-Peddakotla

Like all cities with large Indian diasporas,Chicago has Devon Avenue where purveyors ofIndian clothing, food, and wares congregate.Chicago’s obsession with honorary street signsgives away the sectarian divisions that festerboth here and “back home.” The signs “GandhiMarg” and “Mohammed Ali Jinnah Way,”referring to the revolutionary leaders duringIndia’s independence from Britain, one Hindu

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and one Muslim, echo the religious split stokedby the British persists to this day. Now, ahomegrown movement has taken up the mantlein an insidious and deadly way that threatensU.S. democracy as well.

The leader of India, Prime Minister NarendraModi, has been groomed by the right-wing,xenophobic and Islamophobic RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) along with itspolticial arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).While known as the world’s largest democracyand founded as a secular one per itsconstitution, India with a large Hindu majorityhas re-elected him, a well-documented fascistaligned with a group that destroyed a 16thcentury mosque and sanctioned mass killings ofMuslims in the state of Gujarat. The formerChief Minister of Gujarat and now PrimeMinister Modi joined the RSS in his youth (likeBrett Kavanaugh joining the Federalist Society)and oversaw the Gujarat massacre. (For a deep-dive into Indian political history, refer to thisoverview by Arundhati Roy in The Nation.)

We, as Muslim and Hindu women of color, havewatched in horror as both the country of ourancestors, India, and the country of our birth,the United States, have devolved intonationalism and fascism. As activists andpolitical candidates, we expected resistance toour political work from outside and within ourown communities because we have challengedthe status quo that many Indians willinglycapitulate to in their eagerness to live up to thewhite-supremacist model minority stereotype.Sameena ran against an incumbent forCongress, while Arti was elected as the onlywoman of color on her local Village Board.While we differ in our religious beliefs, we sharea commitment to progressivism, anti-racism,anti-casteism, and secularism. We have been

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disappointed that a vocal upper caste IndianAmerican minority has operated with a“business as usual” attitude, attempted tosilence us, or, even worse, aided the expansionof the RSS/BJP ideology within America.

Unfortunately, this expansion has boosted thefortunes of Trump and the Republican Party.Right-wing Hindu Americans took center stagewhen the Republic Hindu Coalition held a rallyfor Trump in October 2016 in New Jersey. AFacebook graphic (insert) from the OverseasFriends of the BJP boasts of its reach into 30 U.S.cities along with millions of calls to Indian-American voters, a mobilization that will likelyramp up in 2020 to boost Trump’s re-electionchances.

The RSS/BJP collaboration has been a bipartisaneffort. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. RajaKrishnamoorthi has built up his reputation as aTrump critic on the House Oversight Committeefor the U.S. press and a champion for religiousfreedom, while cultivating a base of supportwith Hindu nationalists that actively wish tosuppress religious minorities in India and theU.S. Progressive Hindu and Muslim activistswrote an open letter urging Raja, as he directspeople to call him, to cancel his appearance atthe World Hindu Congress convening inLombard, Illinois last year and chastising himfor past efforts to advance their fascist agenda.The event, organized by the RSS, drewprotestors who ended up being assaulted by

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attendees and called “dirty Muslims.”

Raja’s office not only failed to issue an apologyfor these hate crimes, but then he attendedModi’s joint rally with Trump this pastSeptember in Houston. Billed as “Howdy Modi,”with an audience of over 50,000 IndianAmericans, Raja embraced Modi, who later heldhands with Trump at the same event. Trump andModi have both issued Muslim bans, Trump byexecutive order and Modi with the aid of hisBJP-controlled Parliament passed theCitizenship Amendment Act.

As first-generation Indian American activists,we are dismayed by the lack of outrage from ourfellow South Asians, Hindus and Muslims whenwe have called out the “open secret” of Modi-supporting U.S. based Democrats and voiced ouropposition to Modi. As the world rages inprotests against fascist dictators, we urgeconscientious South Asians, Democrats, andprogressives to call out and challenge electedofficials like Raja who support dictatorialregimes.

Modi’s actions, coupled with his imposition ofmartial law in Muslim-majority Kashmir andnow with the Citizenship Amendmen Act, havedrawn massive global protests, reported to be inthe hundreds of millions. To show our solidaritywith anti-Hindu fascists in India, an interfaithintergenerational coalition across castes andclasses, we have joined Equality Labs’ nationalday of action on Sunday, January 19th, with theChicago protest taking place on Devon Avenue.

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to puta check on fascism and authoritarianism byprotesting Modi and defeating Trump in 2020.Staying silent while Muslims, Dalits (lower casteHindus), students, and workers get attacked by

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Indian police and the RSS for the simple act ofprotesting these hateful laws further enablesModi’s regime of hate and bigotry, andstrengthens the relationship of these twohateful dictators. To defeat evil, we must takeaction to fight it in all its forms, both here andabroad.

Sameena Mustafa is a host of the “HandHer the Mic” podcast, past Congressionalcandidate, and first-generation IndianAmerican Muslim.

Arti Walker-Peddakotla is a Oak ParkVillage Trustee, U.S. Army Veteran, andfirst-generation Indian American Hindu.

Our work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to

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