SACRAMENTO, CA, USA—U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard continues to face challenges over her links to militant nationalist organizations in India.
“We remain deeply disturbed by Gabbard’s friendship with fascist leaders in India who promote Hindutva and seek to exterminate non-Hindus from the country,” comments Arvin Valmuci. He is a spokesperson for Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI), which just released a new four-minute video documenting Gabbard’s ties to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a paramilitary, and the RSS’s political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Gabbard was announced in November 2017 as the chair of the World Hindu Congress (WHC) 2018. At the time, she issued an official video, stating, “I am so honored to be joining you as the chair of the upcoming 2018 World Hindu Congress to be held in Chicago.” Featured keynote speakers at the WHC will include Mohan Bhagwat, the Supreme Leader of the RSS, as well as controversial BJP politicians Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi.
The WHC conference is being organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA). VHPA is a branch of India-based VHP, which was declared a “militant religious group” in the CIA’s 2018 World Factbook. The VHP was founded in 1965 by M.S. Golwalkar, who was then Supreme Leader of the RSS. According to OFMI’s new video, the RSS was directly inspired by Nazi Germany in both its ideology and structure. In his 1939 manifesto, We or Our Nationhood Defined, Golwalkar wrote,
“Race Spirit has been awakening…. The world has to see the might of the regenerated Hindu Nation strike down the enemy’s hosts with its mighty arm…. The ancient Race Spirit, which prompted the Germanic tribes to over-run the whole of Europe, has re-risen in modern Germany…. German race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here.”
“Representative Tulsi Gabbard shamelessly embraces friendship with Hindutva leaders from India who engage in pogroms against minorities and seek to exterminate Indian Christians and Muslims,” remarks Bhajan Singh, OFMI’s Founding Director. “The WHC recently announced MIT Professor S.P. Kothari will join as a chair, but news articles and promotional materials continue to circulate which feature Gabbard as the chair. We are calling on Gabbard to publicly reject her invitation to the VHPA’s World Hindu Congress and reject all ties to the fascist leaders of the RSS and BJP.”
Earlier in April, OFMI issued an open letter to Gabbard urging her to end her relationship with groups that promote Hindu nationalism.
The Congresswoman is not chair.
Namaste
It gives me great pleasure to announce the highly distinguished and world renowned Dr. Sriprakash Kothari as the Chairman for the World Hindu Congress 2018. Dr. Kothari is Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
With close to two decades at this premier institute, he recently completed a six-year stint as Deputy Dean at the Sloan School of Management. He is Co-Chair of the Board of Governors of Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, faculty director of the MIT-India Program and an editor of the world-renowned academic publication Journal of Accounting & Economics.
Attached is a short greeting from Dr. Kothari for the WHC 2018 organizing team.
He is aware that organizing team has been working to develop the agenda for the seven parallel conferences, media, PR, worldwide mobilization, funds, sponsorships, publications, and local arrangements. And as we move forward we will keep him informed of the progress and seek his advice and inputs.
Once again, we are thrilled to have Dr. Kothari on the team and look forward to working with him for a successful World Hindu Congress 2018.
With kind regards
Dr. Abhaya Asthana
Convener, WHC 2018
[email protected], 508-314-6069 ©, 508-875-0432 (h)
Proud of you
Every person who believes that all human beings are equal should unite their hands against the communal forces otherwise people like Hitler will continue to kill people.
The people who are trying to follow Hitler should understand he killed himself at the end.
This is just a begining . Our next aim is to have new hindu president
Raj karega hindutva , Har Har mahadev
It is good to keep pressure on the Congresswoman. RSS is probably the biggest terrorist organisation in the world and their activities should be exposed .
The Congresswoman is NOT the chair. See below.
Also, her statement about RSS:
QZ: A report in The Telegraph, an Indian newspaper, referred to you as the mascot for the right-wing RSS in India. How do you respond to that? Do you think that is true and would you like to be associated with the RSS?
TG: Both in India and here in the US, I have held meetings with members of both the BJP and the Congress Party. As a member of the US Congress, my interest is in helping produce a closer relationship between the United States and India, not just between the United States and one political party of India.
I have no affiliation with the RSS. Sometimes people on both sides, for their own purposes, try to say I somehow favor, or am part, of the BJP or take photos of me at Indian events and circulate them for their own promotional reasons. But the fact is, I’m not partial to BJP, the Congress Party, or any other particular political party in India.”