Champions of RSS, VHP Hindutva  Re-invent Themselves as Champions of Asian Americans in the US

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The India Observer, TIO:  Ever since several civil rights activists, South Asian progressive activists, and protestors against the Donald Trump administration in the US and the Narendra Modi regime in India, including the Alliance to Save and Protect America from Infiltration by Religious Extremists (ASPAIRE), have sharpened their efforts to expose several prominent and politically ambitious Indians in the US and their links with the far-right Hindu extremist’s groups in India, efforts are on by those exposed to cover up their association with these groups.

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They however do so without formally denouncing these hate groups, also referred to as  Hindutva (not to be confused with Hinduism) which started spreading its wings in the US, a couple of decades ago. They have become more aggressive after Narendra Modi, who is also a product of these extremist groups, became the Prime Minister of India in 2014.

One of those exposed was Sonal Shah, who has now surfaced as the founding President of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF), launched on May 3. TAAF describes her as a “ foremost global leader on social impact and innovation”. Efforts seem to be on by her to connect with the larger and therefore influential Asian American community, leaving behind the narrower Hindutva identity.

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She shot to the limelight in November 2008, when the newly elected President Barack Obama nominated her for the post of energy secretary. However, she had to settle as director of the White House office of social innovation and civic participation, a department created by her after she was called off for her Hindutva links.

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Recently when  Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, withdrew her nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) amid bipartisan opposition in the Senate, as President Joe Biden was announcing his team, Shah’s name too surfaced for the post.

However, Shah was again called out for her links with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a strident Hindu extremist group in India, and VHP-A (America) its sister organization in the US. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had in its World Factbook of 2018, labeled VHP as a militant group.

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This group was instrumental in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, in which more than 2000 people were brutally killed and about 200,000 people were rendered homeless, triggering national and international outrage.

Ms.Sonal Shah was the national coordinator for VHP-A  to raise funds for the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims, which was accused of helping only Hindu victims and not the Muslim victims. She has also been associated with Ekal Vidyalayas, a movement founded by the VHP to counter Christianity among Adivasis (forest people) in India.

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Her father Ramesh Shah was the vice-president of the Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP) and had campaigned extensively for L K Advani, prime minister aspirant and architect of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, which has seared the Hindu-Muslim unity in the country like none other.

The Hindutva groups who aggressively pursue their minority rights here, very conveniently ignore minority rights violations in India. They also actively defend these violations, with fake narratives. Off late, since the attacks on American Asians grew, after the covid crisis, these Hindutva groups have started associating themselves with the wider Asian American and Pacific Islander community (AAPI), to tag along as victims as well.

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According to Pew research, Asian Americans have the fastest growth rate of any major racial or ethnic group, 3.5 times faster than the overall U.S. population. The U.S. Asian American population grew from nearly 12 million to over 20 million from 2000 to 2012, a 72% increase. American Asian Pacific Islanders (AAPI), form the 3rd largest demographic in America.

Ms. Sonal Shah, as the only Indian in the top management of TAAF, in the company of other prominent and accomplished Asian’s including Li Lu, Founder and Chairman of Himalaya Capital, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm, and Joseph Y. Bae is Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR), a global investment firm with over $365 billion in assets under management, smacks of opportunism.

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Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, and  Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN, are amongst some of TAAF’s American Indian advisors.

“The right way to reinvent herself would be to publicly denounce all her links with Hindutva and publicly call off the atrocities happening in India, under prime minister Narendra Modi. Associating with an organization like this, with a mission to address and protect the rights of the Asian Americans, is nothing short of hypocrisy if she cannot call off the human rights violations, in her home country first”, said Dr. Ubaid Shaik, co-chair of ASPIRE.

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“Second-generation Indian Americans like Sonal Shah, cannot claim to be unaware of the hatred and violence spread by the Hindutva groups in India and in the US, when they are associated with these groups, in leadership roles, carrying on the hateful legacy of their parents, despite leading a privileged existence in the US,” said  Masood Rab, Founder of the Coalition of Americans for Pluralism in India (CAPI) and also co-chair of ASPIRE.

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