IAMC condemns VHPA’s propaganda report as a dangerous attempt to smear critics and enable India’s transnational repression
Washington, D.C. (August 25, 2025) — The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) categorically rejects the so-called “research report” released by HinduPACT, the advocacy arm of the Hindu supremacist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA). The report baselessly labels IAMC and our coalition partners as “anti-Hindu,” “anti-India,” and “pro-Pakistan,” in a deliberate attempt to smear human rights defenders and silence criticism of India’s ruling Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
This report is nothing more than a propaganda exercise designed to vilify diaspora organizations that have documented the Modi government’s campaign of transnational repression impacting American citizens. By falsely branding peaceful dissenters as enemies of Hindus and India, HinduPACT is placing a dangerous target on the backs of critics and their families, exposing them to harassment and violence.
Equally troubling, the HinduPACT report dismisses the lived realities of journalists, academics, activists, and civil society members who have been harassed, surveilled, threatened, and punished as part of India’s years-long campaign of transnational repression. Their testimonies and experiences have been well documented by the mainstream media, government agencies and respected bodies such as the Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and various other international bodies. By whitewashing such documentation and vilifying those who bring it to light, groups like VHPA in fact aid and abet this ongoing cycle of repression against American critics of the Indian government.
HinduPACT’s report is part of a broader disinformation effort aligned with the Modi government. As the Washington Post reported in December 2023, HinduPACT has been tied to amplifying disinformation campaigns run by Disinfo Lab, an entity connected to Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the foreign intelligence agency of India.
Even the US Department of State cited this operation in its Human Rights Practices Report, noting that, “In December 2023, The Washington Post reported that an organization called Disinfo Lab was allegedly being run by an Indian intelligence officer to research and discredit foreign critics of the government. The article noted the Disinfo Lab combined fact-based research with unsubstantiated claims to paint individuals, including Indian American rights activists, as part of a “conspiracy” against the country.” HinduPACT’s latest publication follows the same dangerous playbook.
The VHPA itself has a troubling record. According to the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University, VPHA is a Hindu far-right organization and the US offshoot of India’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), designated as a “militant religious organization” by the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) World Factbook for a number of years. VHP also accused of orchestrating the violence during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat state, killing over 1,000 Muslims. A UK government inquiry into the pogroms found that the violence was pre-planned and that “the VHP and its allies acted with the support of the state Government.” In recent years, VHP leaders have been advocating for the genocide of the country’s Muslim citizens.
VHPA’s leaders have a history of making anti-Muslim remarks, it has platformed far-right Hindu nationalists and recently has targeted American Muslim politicians and rights organizations who call attention to the persecution of Muslims and rising Hindu nationalism in India.
The group also actively collaborates with Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF), that publishes discriminatory, inflammatory, and intolerant content about Christianity including claims that Christianity spread “through deception, force, killings, rapes, torture, stoning, insulting other faiths, attacking other religious God images and Places of worship” and that Jesus created “division, enmity and hatred” and was a “vicious, detestable, despicable, angry, wrathful, hateful, and a killer.”
In 2023, HinduPACT Executive Director Utsav Chakrabarti was caught filming protesters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s U.S. visit, mirroring the intimidation tactics used by Chinese and Iranian operatives against dissidents abroad.
The baseless accusations against IAMC follow a well-worn Hindu supremacist strategy: portraying Indian Muslims as having “dual loyalty” to Pakistan. This Islamophobic trope not only delegitimizes Indian Muslims as “real” Indians, but also fuels calls for their ethnic cleansing and genocide.
IAMC categorically affirms that it is an independent American human rights organization with no ties to the government of Pakistan or any Pakistani groups. The organization receives no foreign funding; all of its support comes from American donors. Its credibility has been established through years of engagement with U.S. government institutions. IAMC has been cited in official reports, including those of the U.S. Department of State.
Advocating for the rights of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other marginalized groups is not “anti-Hindu” or “anti-India.” It is a defense of democracy, pluralism, and human rights. HinduPACT and VHPA’s attempts to dismiss this work as “anti-India” are a distraction from the very real oppression and violence unleashed by Hindu nationalist policies in India.
IAMC calls on the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate VHPA’s connections with the Indian government and its role in enabling transnational repression and disinformation campaigns against American citizens — actions that infringe on First Amendment freedoms and place diaspora communities at risk.
