(RNS) — In late October, Rutgers University, New Jersey’s flagship state school, held an academic panel on the rise of Hindu nationalism in the United States. The conversation between a South Asian history professor and a graduate student traced how Hindutva — a far-right political ideology distinct from Hinduism — influences politics in the sprawling Indian diaspora.
The topic has been a focus for scholars of Indian history and politics since 2014, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won national elections and named Narendra Modi, BJP’s leader, prime minister of India. But the topic is also a sensitive one for Hindus, who worry that talk of Hindu nationalism might brand them as biased. The day of the panel, a small group of students silently protested outside of the university’s Alexander Library, holding signs that read “Hindu rights are human rights” and “American Hindus are not foreign agents.”
Ayushi Sharma, a Rutgers senior who attended the protest, said a man began filming the group, calling them “terrorists” and threatening the students in English and Punjabi. As the protest escalated, campus police broke it up. “That incident really shook me to my core, because, like, that’s the first time I’ve ever experienced something so blat …
