Community Backlash Forces Minnesota Senators to Reconsider Hindu Nationalist Bill
Diasporal Coalition Says Indian Government’s Plot to Kill U.S. Citizens Makes CoHNA a National Security Risk
St. Paul, MN: April 17, 2026 — Multiple Minnesota State Senators are reconsidering a controversial resolution pushed by the Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA), a U.S. group with documented ties to India’s Hindu supremacist movement that persecutes millions of Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians in that country.
The reconsideration follows weekslong meetings between lawmakers and diverse representatives of an Indian American diaspora coalition, which raised concerns that CoHNA might be a national security risk, given its closeness to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Indian supremacist movement, which is also the ideological and foundational parent of India’s ruling party, the BJP.
The delegation informed the Minnesota Senators of the guilty plea entered by an Indian citizen in February in New York City accepting he was plotting to assassinate a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil at the behest of an Indian government official. That case has been brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. The delegation also informed the senators that the Canadian government has accused the Indian government of assassinating Canadian citizens.
Following this awareness campaign, several Senate offices told diaspora leaders they will support the resolution only after they are convinced it has wide support from the Indian American Hindu community and is not opposed by the non-Hindu Indian Americans.
The coalition that met the Senators included representatives from the India Coalition of Minnesota, the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), and Hindus for Human Rights.
They provided Senators with evidence-based research on CoHNA from authoritative sources including the Center for Security, Race and Rights of New Jersey’s Rutgers Law School; the Bridge Initiative of Georgetown University in Washington, DC; and Savera, a U.S.-based multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition.
On April 16, the IAMC, India Coalition of Minnesota, the Dalit Solidarity Forum, Hindus for Human Rights, the Sikh Coalition, and #SaveAmericaFromHindutva also hosted a briefing.
Speaking at the briefing, Ajit Sahi, IAMC’s Director of Public Relations, called upon the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate CoHNA and other groups such as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu American Foundation, the Hindu Students Council, Seva International, and the Overseas Friends of the BJP, which is a registered foreign agent, “for possible and potential links and connections, direct and indirect, with the Indian government and with the RSS.”
These groups “are intimately and unquestionably connected with India’s RSS,” Sahi said. “These groups should be seen by legislators in Minnesota as a national security risk.”
Speaking at the briefing, investigative journalist Pieter Friedrich said 71 percent of CoHNA’s Advisory Council had verified ties to RSS-affiliated organizations, BJP officials, or the Overseas Friends of the BJP. As much as 50 percent of CoHNA’s Board had documented connections to the same network. CoHNA’s Vice President had founded a political action committee in 2020 that has disbursed more than $200,000 to American politicians, Friedrich said.
“Not one office in this building has been told who they are,” Friedrich said. “The organization that drafted SF 4115, testified before the Judiciary Committee, brought the Maple Grove Police Chief to the Capitol, and is hosting legislators today in the governor’s dining hall.”
“Opposing a harmful ideology is not the same as opposing one’s faith,” said Suleiman Aden, Deputy Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota (CAIR-MN), who spoke in solidarity with the coalition.
Raj Rajan, a Lakeville environmental engineer and founding member of the India Coalition of Minnesota, turned to the term itself. “The term ‘Hinduphobia’ is a dog whistle, popularized by groups that support Hindu nationalism,” he said. “Use of this term makes thoughtful and compassionate Hindu Americans feel very unsafe, because it is used to discredit them when they are critical of discriminatory practices.”
Rajan described how CoHNA bundled three unrelated incidents — a 2006 act of teenage vandalism at a Maple Grove temple, a 2024 jewelry burglary, and recent hate speech directed at temple-goers in Edina — under the ‘Hinduphobia’ label to justify SF 4115. “Grouping all these events under the toxic ‘Hinduphobia’ label does not help tackle real crimes — vandalism, burglary, and hate speech — driven by mainstream, anti-immigrant, and xenophobic rhetoric,” he said.
“Any resolution claiming to be done on the Indian American community’s behalf must include the full breadth of constituents — not just members of one group like CoHNA,” concluded Rajan. “From our stance, the proposed bill on anti-Asian hate is the appropriate way to address the concerns of the Indian American community.”
