HINDU FUNDAMENTALISM RIFE! For Dissent Against Hindu Extremism by Angana Chatterji July 28, 2002 The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, and other Hindu extremist organisations, collectively known as the Sangh Parivar (Hindu fundamentalist family of organisations), are utilising religion to foment communal violence toward organising ultra right, non-secular and undemocratic nationalism in India. Once again, this year has borne heartbreaking testimony to this. As the Sangh Parivar goosesteps to a future predicated on injustice and bigotry, we, as ordinary citizens, must not be lulled into complacent comfort that denies our own complicity. Minorities in contemporary India are becoming the evil ýotherý that must be annihilated or assimilated. For those of us not explicitly under attack, it is time to examine our privilege and use it to empower the conscience of a democratic and secular India, where necessary religious and social reforms are enacted. Hindu fundamentalism is well funded by Indians abroad. These organisations receive substantial contributions from Hindus in the United States and elsewhere. Outlook Magazine in its July 22, 2002, issue published an article by A. K. Sen, titled, ýDeflections to the Rightý highlighting a component of the chain of funding that sustains Hindu extremism. The article states that the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) is one of the more conspicuous charity organisations that fundraises in the United States to support RSS battalions in India. IDRF lists Sewa International as its counterpart in India. Sewa International and the various organisations that it oversees receive over two-thirds of IDRF funding. Sewa International, in its mission to transform India, states on its website in a section on ýExperiments and Resultsý with ýSocial Harmonyý that social consolidation can be achieved through social cohesion. Among other things, their website quotes Manya H. V. Sehadarji, Sarkaryawah of the RSS: ýThe ultimate object of all these endeavours is Hindu Sangathan -- consolidation and strengthening of the Hindu society.ý Hindu extremism, like other xenophobic movements, functions through carefully fashioning exclusionary principles whereby all non Hindus, and dissenting Hindus, identified as Hindu traitors, become second class citizens. In addition, justification of caste inequities, subordination of Dalits (ýlowerý caste communities), women, adivasis (tribal) and other minorities, and the consolidation of a cohesive middle class base are critical to its momentum. In the United States, where substantial funding is raised for Hindu extremist agendas, the government must act to ensure that organisations that broker terror should not continue to enjoy their non-profit status within the country. It is interesting that in 1999, the VHP failed to gain recognition at the United Nations as ýa cultural organizationý because of its philosophical underpinnings. However the VHP of America is an independent charity registered in the United States in the 1970s, where it has received funds from a variety of individuals and organisations.