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A letter opposing a Rutgers U Hinduphobic event
As supporters of free speech ourselves, we do NOT ask for this event to be shut down.
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Pushpita Prasad - Fri, 24, Oct 2025
- 23:08 EDT
- 11
On Monday. Rutgers University is hosting a troubling event, “Hindutva in America: A Threat to Equality and Religious Pluralism.”Just like the Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference of 2021 this event does not reflect genuine academic discourse. Rather its a political targeting of Hindu organizations, including student groups at Rutgers. CoHNA has been leading the Hindu community’s challenge to this event. We have enabled 10,000 emails to the Rutgers administration - by students, parents and community - stating their concerns and asking Rutgers to distance itself from such hatred-but we have NOT asked for its cancellation.
In addition there have been 4,000+ emails sent to state and federal lawmakers and calls from our policy fellows. So we are very pleased to share that today in a bipartisan show of support, FOUR Members of Congress have sent a letter to Rutgers. We thank Rep Stanford Bhishop (D), Rep Suhas Subrmanyam (D), Rep Rich McCormick (R) and Rep. Shree Thanedar (D).
We specially appreciate the support for vulnerable Hindu students who may feel targeted. No surprise when their powerful tenured professors sponsor one-sided, biased events that target their faith and paint them as extremists who need to be investigated by the US government. In fact, over the past two weeks, we have heard from and counseled many students who are feeling vulnerable and concerned that their religion and identity are at risk simply for being a Hindu on campus.
We thank them for pointing out the insensitivity of using such half baked reports to target the same community that is enduring a sharp escalation of hate - both in the online and the real world.
As supporters of free speech ourselves, we do NOT ask for this event to be shut down. We simply repeat our ask to Rutgers to disassociate itself and its brand from this event–so that a clear message goes out to Hindu students on campus that the University itself does not support the anti-Hindu rhetoric being peddled via the event and the report.
America is founded on freedom of speech and religion and everyone should be concerned when the institutional power of universities, media and policy-making is co-opted to shut down speech of those that the power brokers disagree with.
Pushpita Prasad
Chief Communications Officer and BOD CoHNA
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