The Diasporic Hindu Right with Savera

The rise of the Hindu right in the United States is not a distant foreign policy issue but a domestic political force with deep roots in diasporic organizing, according to Savera United Against Supremacy. In a powerful analysis, Prachi and Ram reveal how the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and other groups within the American Sangh network have strategically rebranded as 'civil rights' organizations to gain legitimacy in U.S. politics—while simultaneously defending Hindutva’s violent ideology, caste oppression, and anti-Muslim violence in India. Their 2024 reports expose a coordinated, multigenerational effort: from the 1970s’ apolitical, India-first diaspora to the 2000s’ pivot toward a 'Hindu-American identity' that weaponized American liberalism to deflect criticism. The real turning point came after 2019, when the Hindu right forged alliances with the MAGA movement, culminating in a full embrace of the multiracial far right. This shift is not accidental—it’s a calculated response to progressive critiques, especially anti-caste activism, which the Hindu right frames as 'colonial' and 'divisive.' The episode also reveals how the movement’s embrace of Zionism is not ideological but aspirational: a mimicry of Jewish on Campus by Hindu on Campus, a strategic effort to gain the same political capital and racial proximity to whiteness that Zionism has secured. Yet, as Savera argues, the real power lies not in ideology but in coalition-building.