Hindu Extremist Chandru Acharya in the US Faith-Based Religious Council: Will His Appointment Boost Anti-islam Activities
The British Middle East Eye website said, in a report by its correspondent Azad Essa, that American Muslims sounded the alarm after a Hindu leader Chandru Acharya, residing in the United States, was appointed to the Interfaith Council of the US Department of Homeland Security.
The online news website specified that Chandru Acharya is a Hindu extremist leader and director of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), linked to a group in India that believes in the racial and religious superiority of Hindus.
Middle East Eye revealed that Chandru Acharya, who was appointed by the Department of Homeland Security in late September to advise the US government on domestic issues, is a director at Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS–USA), a group known to repeatedly defend the policies of India’s far-right Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP party.
Extremism’s Support
In April 2020, as the first wave of COVID-19 was sweeping the world, BJP leaders directly accused Muslims of being behind the spread of the virus and even went so far as to claim that Muslims were intentionally spreading the virus.
Human Rights Watch wrote that the BJP used terms such as “Talibani crime” and “Corona Terrorism” to suggest that Muslims were deliberately spreading the virus, adding that some mainstream media had resorted to using the term “Corona Jihad” until this became a label. It’s spreading like wildfire through social media.
The HSS says it is a non-political group and says it serves as a receptacle for the celebration of Hindu culture and its religious values.
In an interview with MEE, Acharya confirmed his affiliation with HSS–USA but denied having any affiliations with RSS. The organization consists of hundreds of branches spread over nearly forty countries around the world.
The faith-based Security Council of the Ministry of National Security, consisting of twenty-five members representing leaders of many religions and religious sects, was formed with the aim of advising the minister on issues related to the protection of places of worship, preparedness, and strong coordination with the religious community.
Middle East Eye stressed that it contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment but had not received a response.
Personal Background
Chandru Acharya from Michigan is the only Hindu to have been appointed to the Religion-Based mostly Safety Advisory Council of Homeland Safety. The committee includes 25 religious leaders from the USA, a media launch mentioned.
Acharya was born and raised in India. Later on, he moved to live with his wife, Smita, and their two teenagers in Canton. He is president of Imetris Corporation, an IT consulting and services company based in Saline, Michigan.
He is a yoga instructor and soccer coach. He teaches Hindu history at Canton’s Hindu Temple Balagokulam. He is often invited to explain Hinduism in nearby schools and colleges.
Yet, Middle East Eye emphasized the Michigan-based IT consultant is using his position as a leader in the Hindu community to undermine efforts to educate the public about rising religious intolerance in India.
Racial Superiority
“The RSS is the ultra-right wing Hindu extremist organization and the founding of the Hindutva ideology, which is a Hindu supremacist and Islamophobic ideology,” pointed out Ria Chakrabarty, policy director for Hindus for Human Rights (HFHR).
The RSS, formed in 1925 in Nagpur, India, is described as the backbone of Hindutva or the Hindu nationalist movement in India, and its goal is to transform India into a Hindu Rashtra or Hindu state.
Speaking to Middle East Eye, Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director of the American Indian Muslim Council (IAMC), said, “How can a member of a group whose parent organization in India is implicated in violence against religious minorities and attacks their places of worship be a good fit for this position?”
Rasheed Ahmed added that it is unfortunate that the Department of Homeland Security chose an individual who represents a group that believes in racial superiority and incites hatred.
In recent months, American Indian activists have expressed alarm at what they say is the consolidation of Hindu nationalist discourse and activism within the United States.
In August, Indian leaders in Edison, New Jersey, brought a bulldozer to the march during the annual Indian Independence Day celebration inside the town. The bulldozer is known to symbolize hostility to Muslims in India.
Organizations’ Denouncement
The Muslim Mirror Network revealed that several rights bodies of Indo-Americans, including Justice America, Indian Minorities Advocacy Network (ImanNet), and the Alliance to Save and Protect America from Infiltration by Religious Extremists (ASPAIRE), have strongly denounced the appointment of a supporter of Hindu supremacy to the religious-based advisory body of the Department of Homeland Security.
The RSS, which is considered a violent Hindu supremacist movement, aims to create an India exclusive for Hindus. Chandru’s HSS is the American wing of RSS.
The Muslim Mirror Network stressed that the founders of the RSS had established this supremacist movement after their meeting with Mussolini in Italy in 1925. They later made Hitler as a role model. They were guided by VF Savarkar, who made a famous speech explaining Kristallnacht:
“Nationality did not depend so much on a common geographical area as on unity of thought, religion, language, and culture. For this reason, the Germans and Jews could not be regarded as one nation. In the same way, India was a nation of Hindus as they were in the majority.”
