Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the keynote speaker at the World Hindu Congress (WHC), a gathering in Chicago from September 7 to 9, being organised by groups associated with the Sangh Parivar. There has been no announcement yet on the Vice-President’s travel by the Ministry of External Affairs or the Indian embassy in Washington.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale are among the speakers at the event that coincides with the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s address at the parliament of religions in 1893.
Abhaya Asthana, President of the World Hindu Council of America (VHPA) and the convener for WHC, said Mr. Naidu would attend an event specifically meant to commemorate the anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s speech.
The organisers say the event is “for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good.” “It offers Hindus an opportunity to introspect towards improvement and tap into our collective resources to seek tangible solutions to the most pressing issues of our age,” according to its website.
The event features several respected names from the fields of science and business but the likely participation of several controversial figures known to have promoted communal hatred has triggered protests from activists. A coalition of South Asia civil society groups asked American Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in an open letter to completely delink from the event. Ms. Gabbard was earlier named chair of the conference. She recently stepped down but remains linked to the event. MIT professor S P Kothari is now the chair. The letter signed by organisations such as Sadhana: A Coalition of Progressive Hindus, Alliance of South Asians Taking Action and Ambedkar King Study Circle said the organising council of the event was primarily members of the American branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a group affiliated to the RSS.
“VHP-A is the American arm of the nefarious Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an organisation whose role in various incidents of communal violence in India is very well documented. VHP is also officially classified as a “militant religious organisation” by the U.S. administration,” the letter said.
The Coalition for the Defence of the Constitution and Democracy (CDCD), a coalition of South Asian human rights, Muslim, Dalit, and secular activist groups, will hold a press conference in New York City to protest against WHC on September 6, it said in a statement. The group said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also participating in the WHC, but there was no confirmation of this.
The list of speakers on the event website include actors Anupam Kher and Mohanlal, Madhu Kishwar and Vivek Agnihotri. Rajiv Malhotra, an Indian-American Hindutva campaigner released a video that sought to push back against criticism of the event. He says in the video: “The U.S. is pluralistic place and there is no reason why Hindus should be ashamed.. Hispanics, Blacks and Muslims are celebrating their events… As long as you are practising mutual respect you are OK … More and more Americans are becoming vegetarian, the whole ecofeminism movement was started by Vandana Shiva based on Hindu ideas,” he said, asking Hindus to be proud of their achievements. Mr. Malhotra, one of the speakers, had asked people to donate only to Hindus in Kerala in the aftermath of its worst floods in a century last month, as Christians and Muslims were taken care of. After public outrage, he deleted the tweet.
