After Narendra Modi rose to power — becoming the PM of India — in 2014, as a result of the BJP gaining political power, there has been a sudden shift against Hindus in America as a political identity.

We have seen that the progressives have made accusations against regular Hindus in America, calling us Hindu Nationalists, Muslim haters, people who want genocide, and more. Although the majority of Hindu Americans support progressive causes, they are still labeled as fascists and “far-right”, whilst the data points to the contrary.

College campuses have been just as affected by this witch hunt movement, and it isn’t hard to see. Professors like Audrey Truschke, who have obvious anti-Hindu agendas, are fueling this fire against innocent Hindus who just wish to practice their faith in peace.

But this isn’t stopping them from comparing Hindus to literal Nazis. One person on Twitter made the comparison of Jai Shri Ram — victory to Lord Ram — to Sieg Heil, a victory salute used by Nazis.

It doesn’t matter that Hinduism is arguably the most peaceful living religion in the world, which spreads its knowledge and philosophy through love and compassion rather than the sword. It doesn’t matter that Hindus were the ones being persecuted for 1000 years of invaders. It doesn’t matter that there has been a systematic genocide against Hindus by these invaders.

This is pure bigotry. The denial of truth, and making us seem like we are the oppressors, is absolutely racist.

And no wonder more and more Hindus are getting afraid of this.

At Rutgers University, Professor Audrey Trushke uses her “scholarship” to show that even the most “educated” of historians can still conform to biases, and completely rewrite history based on their own convenience.

This isn’t a new thing either: colonial historians such as Max Muller used their biases of White supremacy to twist true Indian history into suiting their narratives, such as the Aryan Invasion Theory and the idea of rigid caste systems — the polar opposite of the real varna system, which was based on aptitude for jobs — to prove that Aryans were the supreme race in Indian society as well.

When one twists the truth about Hinduism — which is what Professor Trushke is doing — and makes it look like an evil religion, it can seriously hurt the impressions of Hindus on campus. It isn’t a joke to be taken lightly. As people, one of our biggest links is culture.

And when someone makes your culture look evil, misogynistic, racist, and every other possible bad descriptor, it has real-world consequences for those who are part of that culture. People can get attacked, hurt, and maimed, as the Dotbusters (a racist hate group in New Jersey that targeted Indians in the late ‘80s) did.

The biggest solution to this is a systematic debunking of everything Audrey Trushke claims is true. The best way to win an intellectual war is to spread truth through intellectual means. But until then, Hindus on university campuses will be afraid of how they are thought of, just because of racism, bigotry, and very little awareness of their true culture.

It is imperative that Hindus support each other in their pursuit to be treated fairly by academic institutions, and demand that lies not be spread about the real Sanatan Dharma.

Har Har Mahadev

Sri Gurubyo Namah

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