Student orgs, civil rights groups raises concern over UT Dallas event whitewashing Hindu militant group founder
Washington D.C., (October 29, 2025) — The Indian American Muslim Council today joined a diverse coalition of student organizations and civil rights groups in raising alarm over a scheduled book talk at the University of Texas at Dallas on a recently-published biography of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a fascist paramilitary organization widely documented as the ideological backbone of Hindu nationalism in India.
In a letter to UTD’s administration, the coalition wrote, “Hedgewar founded the RSS in 1925 with an ideological mission to transform India into a Hindu-majoritarian state. Under his leadership and its successors, this movement contributed to and continues to fuel discrimination, hate speech, and mob violence against India’s minorities… [Affiliated] groups have been tied to anti-Christian violence, anti-Muslim pogroms, church attacks, and political intimidation and violence.”
The legacy of the RSS has no ambiguity; renowned human rights groups and government bodies globally, including the United Nations, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, have identified the RSS’s Hindu supremacist ideology as the driving force behind the mainstreaming of anti-minority violence and discrimination in India.
However, the biography’s blurb glosses over the RSS’s bloody history and Hedgewar’s own reputation as a deeply bigoted figure, calling him only a “controversial, yet extraordinary man” and advertising a “nuanced perspective” on a group that modeled its ideological project off the Nazis.
Meanwhile, the book’s author, Sachin Nandha – who is not a historian, but a “self-described philosopher” – has compared Hedgewar to Jesus, claiming that he was “not a bigot”, but a “complex and subtle thinker”, and has made light of Muslims being “frightened that their identity will be subsumed” by Hedgewar’s brand of nationalism, falsely characterizing these sentiments as an opposition to “idolatry”.
The marketing for the event also fails to recognize Hedgewar’s ideology as unambiguously Hindu supremacist, instead including the misleading tagline “Why Hedgewar’s cultural nationalism matters today?”
“Presenting such a view of a fascist group in a university setting, one that is supposed to be safe and inclusive for all students, implicitly validates a worldview that denies equal dignity to minority communities and has incited real-world violence,” the letter stated. “For these reasons, we request that the University be mindful of the harmful rhetoric such an event might perpetuate, and how that rhetoric will affect Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, and progressive Hindu students. We request that the University also evaluate whether hosting a celebration of a paramilitary ideological founder aligns with its stated values of diversity, safety, and nondiscrimination.”
Despite these views, Nandha has been invited to events at Purdue University, University of Pittsburgh, and University of California, Davis, with one more event upcoming at the University of Texas at Austin. His event at UC Davis was cancelled due to opposition from a coalition of student organizations.
The letter was signed by the Indian American Muslim Council, Hindus for Human Rights, Ambedkarite Buddhist Association of Texas, Dallas Peace and Justice Center, South Asian Pre-Law Student Association (SALSA) at the University of Texas at Dallas, Red Rose Collective UTD, Rainbow Guard UTD, and Environmental Conservation Organization UTD.
The full text of the letter can be found below:
Dr. Prabhas V. Moghe
President
Dr. Inga Musselman
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Dr. Amanda Smith
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
Dr. Nils Roemer
Dean of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of the Arts, Humanities, and Technology
University of Texas at Dallas
800 W. Campbell Rd
Richardson, TX 75080
Dear Drs. Moghe, Musselman, Smith, and Roemer,
We are writing on behalf of a coalition of civil rights and interfaith organizations to raise urgent and serious concern regarding an event scheduled for Thursday, October 30, 2025, hosted by the UTD chapter of Hindu YUVA. This event, as publicly advertised, is a book event on a recently-published biography of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a fascist paramilitary organization widely documented as the ideological backbone of Hindu nationalism in India and responsible for a long, violent legacy of bigotry and persecution targeting religious and caste-marginalized communities.
The book’s blurb, however, glosses over the RSS’s bloody history and Hedgewar’s own reputation as a deeply bigoted figure, calling him only a “controversial, yet extraordinary man” and advertising a “nuanced perspective” on a group that modeled its ideological project off the Nazis.
Hindu YUVA is the US campus chapter of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the American wing of the RSS. Despite presenting itself as a cultural student group, HSS YUVA or Hindu YUVA has been repeatedly linked to organized campaigns targeting scholars and student groups who speak critically about Hindu nationalism, Hindutva ideology, or Hindu supremacy on US campuses.
Allowing an event that celebrates the founder of a movement with such a history of organized violence sends a deeply harmful signal to Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, and other caste-oppressed South Asian students at UTD, many of whom have families directly impacted by RSS-aligned violence in India. The presence of this event has already caused significant fear, discomfort, and distress among vulnerable students on campus who feel unsafe knowing their peers are publicly venerating someone responsible for their community’s persecution.
Hedgewar founded the RSS in 1925 with an ideological mission to transform India into a Hindu-majoritarian state. Under his leadership and its successors, this movement contributed to and continues to fuel discrimination, hate speech, and mob violence against India’s minorities.
The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University notes that RSS’s militant arms include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, both designated for years in the CIA World Factbook as “militant religious organizations.” These groups have been tied to anti-Christian violence, anti-Muslim pogroms, church attacks, and political intimidation and violence. VHP is also accused of orchestrating the violence during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat state, killing over 2,000 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.
RSS’s second chief MS Golwalkar, revered as Hedgewar’s successor and ideological interpreter, held a deep-rooted disdain for India’s Christian and Muslim citizens, whom he considered the country’s top internal threats. In a 2021, Haaretz described Golwalkar as an antisemite, noting that he praised Adolf Hitler. Additionally, Golwalkar called the Holocaust “a good lesson for us in Hindusthan (India) to learn and profit by”, stating that “Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole.” His writings remain foundational in the movement Hindu YUVA seeks to celebrate on this campus.
The RSS’s violence remains ubiquitous in the modern day. In 2022, a former RSS worker filed a petition in India’s Maharashtra court, accusing senior RSS members of manufacturing explosives and targeting Muslims and their places of worship between 2000 and 2010.
Hedgewar is widely recognized as the architect of this movement. He took deep inspiration from VD Savarkar, an early proponent of Hindu nationalism, who justified the abhorrent idea of rape as a political tool.
The event at UTD features Indian writer Sachin Nandha, who has written a book sympathizing with Hedgewar and RSS’s ideological project. Presenting such a view of a fascist group in a university setting, one that is supposed to be safe and inclusive for all students, implicitly validates a worldview that denies equal dignity to minority communities and has incited real-world violence.
UTD proudly upholds free expression and academic freedom, and we fully respect those principles. But academic freedom does not extend to enabling the celebration of violent majoritarian extremism that places students directly at risk. The University has an obligation, legal, ethical, and educational, to prevent intimidation, harassment, and the creation of a hostile campus climate.
For these reasons, we request that the University be mindful of the harmful rhetoric such an event might perpetuate, and how that rhetoric will affect Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, and progressive Hindu students. We request that the University also evaluate whether hosting a celebration of a paramilitary ideological founder aligns with its stated values of diversity, safety, and nondiscrimination.
We welcome a meeting with your office to provide detailed documentation on RSS’s hate-based history, Hedgewar’s ideological role, and the serious safety concerns being expressed by students on your campus.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this critical issue. We look forward to your response and to working with the University to uphold an environment where every student feels safe, respected, and included.
Sincerely,
Indian American Muslim Council
Hindus for Human Rights
Dallas Peace and Justice Center
South Asian Pre-Law Student Association (SALSA) at the University of Texas at Dallas
Red Rose Collective at the University of Texas at Dallas
Rainbow Guard at the University of Texas at Dallas
Environmental Conservation Organization at the University of Texas at Dallas
Ambedkarite Buddhist Association of Texas
