In the aftermath of the Epstein files (documents that expose a sprawling, elite, Western ecosystem that enabled one of the most grotesque sex-trafficking rings of our time), ultra-woke feminist Chinmayi Sripaada chose an oddly familiar target. Not the billionaires, the institutions, or the liberal salons that shielded Epstein for decades but Hindu bhajans, “dharmic” practice, and the caricature of a Babaji.
Her post’s implication was unmistakable: had Epstein worn a saffron costume and sung bhajans, “this country” would have celebrated him. She didn’t argue, she sneered. A sneer that collapses a civilisational faith into a cheap gag and paints Hindus as credulous worshippers eager to sanctify monsters.
Targeting Symbols, Not Systems
If the concern were genuinely about abuse and impunity, Epstein offers a brutal case study in how Western power networks—finance, politics, royalty, media—protect predators. That story demands courage because it names power. Instead, the post detours to Hindu symbols, as if devotion itself were the crime scene.
That move does three things at once:
- Equates Hindu devotional culture with predation, turning “Babaji” into a default slur.
- Smears Hindus collectively, suggesting a nation would cheer an Epstein if he merely performed religiosity.
- Signals disdain for the sacred, implying bhajans are costumes for criminals rather than expressions of a serious ethical tradition.
Accountability doesn’t require civilisational insult. This did.
Selective Courage, Familiar Targets
Notice the pattern that repeats whenever global scandals erupt:
- The crime is Western, elite, and institutional.
- The punchline lands on Hindu practice – safe, fashionable, and consequence-free.
That isn’t “speaking truth to power.” It’s punching down at a majority faith that has become an acceptable object of mockery in certain cultural circles. Real courage would interrogate the universities, charities, political patrons, and media ecosystems that normalized Epstein. Mocking bhajans is easier.
From Critique To Self-Disgust
Hindus don’t owe blind loyalty to abusive godmen. Many have exposed, protested, litigated, and reformed precisely because dharma demands ethical accountability. But there’s a line between calling out specific offenders and treating everything “inherently Hindu” as inherently suspect.
The post crossed that line. It wasn’t about a criminal. It was about displaying distance from one’s own civilisational roots – a reflex to perform sophistication by sneering at the sacred, to prove you’re not “one of those” bhajan-singing masses.
You Can Fight Abuse Without Spitting on Your Roots
Demand investigations. Name perpetrators. Dismantle cover-ups – religious and secular. Do all of that without telling a billion Hindus that their devotion belongs in the same sentence as a child-trafficking ring.
When a Western predator is exposed and your first instinct is to mock Hindu symbols, the question answers itself: who is the target, really? It isn’t Epstein. It’s Hinduism.
And that’s not moral clarity. That’s self-loathing dressed up as progressivism.
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