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How Western Campuses Are Becoming Undemocratic And Unsafe For Hindu-Indians

Anand Krishna

The blatant Hindumisia in western campuses continue to discriminate against Indian-Hindu students based on their belief and place of origin. On April 2, Karan Kataria, an Indian-origin student from London School of Economics (LSE) Law School, exposed Hindumisia and anti-India rhetoric prevalent on the LSE campus.  

He stated that he was disqualified from contesting elections for the LSE Student Union after a smear campaign was launched against him. He claimed that some individuals could not bear to see an Indian-Hindu leading the LSESU and resorted to vilifying his character and identity. Despite receiving immense support from students of all nationalities, he was disqualified from the General Secretary election of the LSE Student Union based on false allegations ranging from being homophobic, Islamophobic, queerphobic, and Hindu Nationalist.

He further claimed that multiple complaints were lodged against him, but instead of identifying and punishing the wrongdoers who initiated this hateful campaign, the LSESU cancelled his candidature undemocratically without providing any proof or evidence of the allegations against him. Furthermore, on the last polling day, Indian students were bullied and targeted for their national and Hindu religious identities, and the LSESU brushed aside the issue.

It is relevant to note that Karan Kataria comes from a middle-class farmer’s family in the state of Haryana and is a first-generation university-level graduate in his family. On April 3, LSE student Tejashwani Shakar, a friend of Karan Kataria, revealed how she has also been targeted based on her religious identity at LSE.

The Hidden ‘Hand’ Behind The Tirade

Despite receiving immense support from students of all nationalities, a  concerted smear campaign has been unleashed against Karan Kataria calling him a homophobic, Islamophobic, queerphobic, and Hindu Nationalist.

According to reports, Mukulika Banerjee, a professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics could be powering this hate campaign against Karan Kataria. She is a close associate of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Mukulika Banerjee reportedly went out of her way to slander and demonize Karan Kataria for having connections with the RSS. She allegedly sent messages to her students on WhatsApp, asking them to reject Karan Kataria’s candidature. A malicious organized campaign was launched against Karan Kataria on almost all social media platforms, including internal fora of the LSE.

Mukulika Banerjee is a radical leftist who is known for her Modi-baiting and has authored an article in the Sunday Times, titled, ‘Modi parades his hatred of Muslims and makes a mockery of India’s constitution’.

She is very influential in the academic circles in London and has been peddling the Left-Liberal, anti-Hindu propaganda through her courses, teaching, and writings.

She is a supporter of Rahul Gandhi and had joined his Bharat Jodo Yatra walking alongside him. She even wrote a piece hailing Rahul Gandhi in The Guardian. She had moderated Rahul Gandhi’s House of Commons event in London where he made the “Indian democracy is in danger” speech and also hosted Rahul Gandhi at London School of Economics in 2018.

She even defended Rahul Gandhi and the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Pakistan’s Dawn News channel.

Is it fair to target a student for being a Hindu and pro-India? Isn’t the cancelling of a student for his Hindu and Indian identity undemocratic?

Why The Constant Hate Against Hindus?

What happened to Karan Kataria is not a one-off incident but a recuring pattern which has been haunting Indian students of the basis of a particular faith or belief. Apart from the visible hands of anti-India lobbies, this hatred is also being fuelled as a reaction against growing clout of Indian community abroad. The incident also coincides with rising Hindumisia in Western countries putting the so called liberal-modern nations to shame. Although the preceding circumstance appears to be unrelated, its origins go deep inside the sphere of worldwide anti-Hindu propaganda.

Priyamvada Gopal, Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the University of Cambridge, had urged the US government to block the naturalization of Hindus and cancel the H-1B visas of all Hindus in response to Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.

The University of California Irvine (UCI) had turned down a $ 3-million grant it received for Hinduism and Indian studies after protests from students and scholars.

America’s top-tier 40 universities such, as Columbia University, Harvard University, New York University, Rutgers University, and Princeton University, among others, sponsored the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference’ which openly spread Hinduphobia among the American academia.

There are some strands in the air which are hard for a prudent person to not notice. Under Modi’s leadership, Hinduism’s great history and culture are being revitalised. Hindu youngsters are now enjoying the splendour and grandeur of our culture and recognising that it is unique; this instils a sense of pride in Hindus. The inaccurate British-centric history, as well as the humiliating history of India, which was constructed over decades by our own liberals and intellectuals’ community, is finally being undone.

It is now being revealed that this was an ‘Ideological Subversion,’ which has been manufactured over a thousand years by vested interests which despise the rise of people of this land. Knowing their scientifically established cultural and traditional heritage, as well as their beautiful past, India’s young are inadvertently converging towards a single identity as Hindus. This infuriates the anti-Hindu powers, particularly Muslims, Liberals, and Christians, who subsequently attempt to slander Hindus and Hinduism via different channels. They would put aside their personal differences and get together to fight the Hindus and the incident in LSE is reflects exactly that.

For example, recently, Germany and the United States have recently raised the matter of Rahul Gandhi’s exclusion from the Indian parliament, but they have never addressed the ill-treatment of Hindus in England. England is also frequently seen discussing alleged Muslim persecution in India. Would these countries ever have the fortitude to speak out against the maltreatment of dark-skinned people in other countries and Hindus in British universities? Can the screams of these distressed Hindu students be heard by Western human rights experts or their blind Indian followers?

UK: A Cradle Of Anti-Hindu Hate Crime

Being a cradle of modern Universities with vast number of Indian students, the situation is particularly grim in UK. The UK has seen a rise in hate crimes against the Hindu community, which has been attributed to the growth of Islamic radicalisation and the pursuit of appeasement politics by the political establishment. The number of hate crimes against Hindus has increased by almost 200% between 2017-18 and 2020-21, as per data from the UK Home Office. These crimes include racial abuse, violent attacks and vandalism of temples and properties. The trend of Hindu phobia has further increased during the farm laws and CAA agitation in India, with Muslim and other adversaries attacking Hindus over issues central to their culture. Reports suggest that Hindu phobia reflects the deep-seated fear and hatred of Islamists towards the Hindu civilization, and this has contributed to a 9% rise in religious hate crimes in the UK in the last year.

Time To Acknowledge And Stand Up Against The Hate

What happened to Karan Kataria is similar to Rashmi Samant’s case, in which she claimed in 2021 that she was forced to quit as Oxford University’s students’ union president due to her religious convictions, sparking an outcry about “Hinduphobia” on campus. Rashmi also comments on the newest event, saying, “When I was harassed, abused, and ridiculed for being born in Hinduism and belonging to the background… I believed that all of this should not happen in any other scenario.” Yet Karan’s narrative and experience are heartbreaking once again.” 

But little do the media or anyone reports that these incidents are part of a larger scheme to slander Hindus and it seeks of the pattern of violence against Hindus. I feel the need to not indulge in listing out the incidents of violence against Hindus in Western nations but it seems pertinent to point out that there is a larger conspiracy at play which want to unleash the hatred on the community.  Whether it is conferences like ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ or LSE elections, these perpetrators do not rests or ponder on their actions and neither shall Hindus rest on face of this cruel onslaught on their faith and belief.

Every Indian believes that with such occurrences making the rounds on a regular basis, India’s foreign affairs ministry should intervene. This will strengthen non-resident Indians’ conviction that the Indian Government is on their side. Anti-Hindu groups on foreign land should ponder before persecuting Hindus, if this is to be done, the Indian government should oppose the notion of ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ publicly through its diplomatic channels. This in and of itself would pave the path for the ‘Unapologetic Hindu’ movement defending Hindu interests abroad. If such ideas are fostered and supported, the day when Hindu students study without fear in Western nations would not be far off. 

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