The stripping of Indian democracy by the far-right, Hindu-nationalist government of Narendra Modi is causing uproar in the Australian-Indian diaspora.
Countering the protests聽in solidarity with Indian farmers and workers standing up to fascism are right-wing Hindu nationalists, who are violently retaliating against those Indians they see as a threat to Modi鈥檚 attempt to forcefully conflate Hinduism with Indian national identity (Hindutva).
In New South Wales, these rising tensions have led to two attacks on聽the Indian Sikh community: one on a car driven by Sikh youth in Harris Park; and another at a car rally that .
鈥淭he assailants identified the reason they were smashing [the car], was because of the occupants being from the Sikh community, and it came from a far-right extremist political position,鈥 Greens NSW MP聽David Shoebridge on March 5.
At the forefront of this聽discussion is聽,聽which was formed in March 2020 to raise awareness about issues impacting the Indian diaspora in聽Australia, the United States, Britain and New Zealand.
Dr聽Haroon Kasim, from The Humanism Project, told 麻豆传媒 that it organised a conference last year on the impact of India鈥檚聽Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and held two parliamentary roundtables about the rise of fascism in India.
The group has worked with sympathetic politicians to draw attention聽to this growing right-wing threat.聽
Greens Senator聽Janet Rice聽spoke聽about聽聽on February 23. 鈥淭he Indian government has taken its Hindu nationalist agenda to a new level with a succession of policies that abrogate the rights of different segments of its Muslim population, threatening the democratic future of a country long seen as a potential bulwark of freedom in Asia and the world.鈥
In the NSW Parliament, Shoebridge criticised right-wing violence against the Sikh community and the infiltration of right-wing Hindu nationalist groups into religious education in public schools.
鈥淗ow did Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which is a right-wing Hindu organisation that is considered a military extremist religious organisation by the CIA聽[US Central Intelligence Agency], find themselves in New South Wales public schools?鈥 Shoebridge聽asked聽on March 3.
Murat Dizdar, said that it was left to school principles to decide.
鈥淭here is a supervisory requirement from the principal or a staff member, depending on the school,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e are not prescriptive about what that looks like. We leave it to the principal to determine what it might look like for large schools or small schools.鈥
The Public Instruction Act 1880 mandated all public schools to provide one hour of Special Religious Education (SRE) each week, while allowing parents to withdraw their children.
SRE is dedicated to teaching a single religion, unlike General Religious Education (GRE), also part of the official school curriculum, in which students explore multiple religious traditions with qualified teachers.
Historically, SRE has been limited to Christian religious teaching, but more recently some NSW public schools have begun to include other religions.
VHP鈥檚 Australian聽聽states that it is authorised by the聽NSW聽Department of Education to teach Hindu Dharma classes in聽80 public聽schools as a part of聽the聽SRE program聽and it is seeking approval to do the same in other states.
Indian lawyer and commentator Abdul Ghafoor Majeed Noorani explained in The RSS: A Menace to India that the VHP was formed in 1964 by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the aim of mobilising the Hindu community in India and around the world to 鈥渞ectify鈥 alleged past wrongs committed against Hindus by Muslims.
鈥淸In India] the VHP and its youth wing, Bajrang Dal, organise weekly training and meetings for local youths, where, in addition to religious texts, the threats posed by Muslims are a recurring topic of discussion.
鈥淪uch discussions are often accompanied by a more military type of training, in which youths are instructed on how to fight. These organisations have been very effective in spreading Hindu-nationalist ideology; the organisations now command an unsurpassed grassroots network of thousands of local activists.鈥
According to Kasim, the VHP in NSW聽has been authorised to provide SRE to children as young as聽five聽in public schools and has received up to $100,000 in funding. Yet, the public does not know what exactly is being taught.
The聽Humanism Project聽held a聽federal parliamentary briefing聽on March 15 to raise MPs鈥 awareness of human rights violations in India, especially farmers鈥 rights and attacks on minorities and marginalised 麻豆传媒, including in Kashmir. There will also be a webinar on the topic " Outlines of a strategic diasporic response to the RSS/BJP" with聽Dr. Biju Mathew on April 3, 3.30pm AEST. Registrations .
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