IAMC calls for protection of Rutgers’ right to hold academic event criticizing Hindu supremacist ideology
Washington D.C., (October 27, 2025) — The Indian American Muslim Council today called for the protection of all organizers, academics, and students involved in Rutgers University’s October 27 event “Hindutva in America: A Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism”, an academic discussion of a recent report released by Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR) that documents the multifaceted harms perpetuated by supporters of Hindutva, or Hindu supremacy, in the US. These harms include rising anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh hate, defenses of caste hierarchy, and intimidation of critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
IAMC also expressed its alarm over the violent hate speech being directed towards this event and its organizers. Dr. Audrey Truschke, a professor of South Asian history at Rutgers and vocal critic of Hindu supremacy, posted on X that she and her co-panelists had received death threats over their participation in the event, including one call to “burn the speakers alive”.
“It is a fact, not an opinion, that Hinduism as a religion is entirely separate from the violent supremacist ideology of Hindutva, which has not only led to the ongoing collapse of democracy in India, but has also allied itself with far-right supremacist movements here in the United States,” said IAMC President Mohammed Jawad. “Raising awareness about Hindu supremacists’ growing influence in the US is not only protected free speech, but it is necessary to protect the many American minorities who are impacted by their hatred, harassment, bigotry and violence.”
Amplifying the bad-faith criticism of the event and further conflating Hinduism with Hindu supremacy, Congressmen Stanford Bishop, Suhas Subramanyam, Rich McCormick and Shri Thanedar released a joint statement claiming that the report “conflat[ed] religious based organizations with nationalist groups” and might “single out and target Hindu American individuals and organizations”, instead calling for Rutgers to “celebrate… diverse perspectives.”
Similar outcry against academic discussions of Hindutva was weaponized against the 2021 Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference, which was co-sponsored by 53 universities across the world. As a result, speakers were the target of a vicious online hate campaign that was encouraged by Hindu supremacists in the United States and India alike, including death threats, rape threats, and slur-filled messages.
The sentiment expressed by these members of Congress have been roundly criticized by academics and activists, including many Hindu Americans, who recognize that the conflation of Hinduism with Hindu supremacy is a far-right tactic aimed at silencing Hindutva’s critics. Additionally, academic institutions and human rights organizations globally – including the Southern Poverty Law Center and Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative – have noted the well-documented links between prominent far-right Hindu American organizations and violent militant groups in India, as well as American groups’ facilitation or support of transnational repression by the Indian government against other minorities.
“For four members of Congress to call on Rutgers to treat this bigotry as a mere difference in opinion only serves to further silences those affected by Hindu supremacist violence – including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and progressive Hindus – as well as embolden Hindu supremacists who are sending horrific death threats to the organizers of such events,” Jawad said. “We call on American civil society to stand by Rutgers University and the right to free speech and academic integrity.”
