Organizers and allies in Montreal stand ground against attempted disruption of event calling out Hindutva fascism

Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). August 21, 2024. South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC) and CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud) organized an event [1] entitled, “The Struggle Must Continue: Hindutva fascism in India and in the Diaspora, and its impacts on minorities”, on August 15, 2024, at De Seve Cinema at Concordia University in Montreal. The event, which required extensive planning for months, was meant to better understand the Indian election in June this year in the context of rampant human rights violations [2], against Muslims and other minorities, caste-oppressed peoples, journalists and human rights defenders, condoned and even supported by the ruling BJP government in India.

The event description elaborated the rationale for the event:
“After ten years of a Hindu Supremacist government in power in India, the ruling fascist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally lost their outright majority when 640 million people went to the polls earlier this year. They lost a whopping 63 seats, dropping down to 240 out of 543. Despite these uplifting electoral results, the BJP remains at the helm and there has been no slow down of the horrors inflicted on India’s minorities, nor is it expected. Political analysts decry the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has become deeply ingrained socially and institutionally in India over the past decade.”

The reasoning is further contextualized in the description:
“Not as widely known is that the ideological parent of the BJP is the world’s largest and most enduring fascist paramilitary organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) [3], which was founded in the 1920s.”

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We learned on the evening of Tuesday August 13th that there had been a smear campaign against our event using specious claims of Hinduphobia [4]. A group, Hindu on Campus, expressed to Concordia University, on social media [5], that they were displeased about our event, This was followed by condemnations and demands that the university cancel the event by other right wing Hindu Supremacist [6] groups, like VHP-Canada, Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA [7])-Canada and Canadian Organization for Hindu Heritage Education (COHHE) [8]. These groups objected to the use of “Hindutva fascism” in our publicity material. Among other spurious allegations was that the event did not highlight the recent targeting of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority.

SADAC and CERAS are staunch defenders of minority rights and have routinely held events focusing on minorities across South Asia. The event’s aim was to address the concern of Hindutva fascism and Hindu right-wing supremacy. It was not an attack on the Hindu religion or observant Hindus. In fact,that evening, several speakers vehemently condemned the violence inflicted on Bangladesh’s Hindu minority. The accusations that our event was anti-Hindu or “Hinduphobic” [9] were baseless.

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On August 14th, the day after we learned of the rightwing smear campaign and less than 24 hours before the event, De Seve Cinema at Concordia University, our reserved venue, informed us that they canceled our reservation citing an “administrative” reason. We scrambled, booked an alternate location and succeeded in holding the event at the new venue.

On August 15th 2024, just before the event started, a mob gathered in front of the venue, intent on disrupting the event. They shouted slogans, claiming Hinduphobia. They were aggressive and violent, demanding we cancel our event and instead give them space to push their discriminatory agenda. They made misogynistic statements and attempted to intimidate organizers and attendees at the door, injuring at least one person seriously as they tried to enter forcefully. They tried to block the entrance and clog the corridor, preventing several of our invited guests from reaching the venue and entering. The organizers took numerous steps to de-escalate the situation, by trying to calmly engage with the disruptors, giving them space to protest so long as they did not obstruct the corridor and intimidate the attendees, many of who were elderly and came from communities that have been subject to relentless and dehumanizing violence. After a short delay, the event continued as planned. Then, members of the mob pulled the fire alarm three times to disrupt the speakers. This forced firefighters to arrive and the building security to call the police, who then escorted the mob outside the building.

Though the event started late, the attempts by the mob failed to stop us from creating the space to have the important conversations we had planned. In spite of the disruption, the event was successfully attended by a large number of participants who also witnessed in real time the dangers of Hindutva ideologies in practice and demonstrated their solidarity by not getting intimidated and engaging with the speakers.

This mob aggression against the event organized by SADAC & CERAS is a reminder that Hindu supremacist fascists are organizing in Montreal to silence opposing narratives. Thus, the struggle for justice and dignity must continue against the ideology of hate.

We thank everyone for their continued support – those who endorsed the event, those who volunteered and those who attended, or tried to. With this community support, the event was maintained and could raise awareness around the situation affecting religious minorities and marginalized people in India and here in our communities.

– South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC) and CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud)

1. https://www.facebook.com/events/834167702142790
2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/south-asia/india/report-india/
3. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/706808616/the-powerful-group-shaping-the-rise-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india
4. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d41KjHGfrnJlbM0fLLMJlGADOku4sOu_/view
5. https://x.com/hinduoncampus/status/1823241023977304564
6. https://www.nccm.ca/rss-in-canada/
7. https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-coalition-of-hindus-of-north-america-cohna/
8. https://local-news.ca/2024/04/26/weaponizing-hinduphobia-to-suppress-dalit-and-caste-oppressed-voices/
9. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/we-must-oppose-indian-hindu-nationalist-forces-in-canada/article_f3911d19-3d62-53bc-8380-0709907718c4.html