by South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC) and CERAS (South Asia Forum)

For immediate release

South Asian communities and allies call for listing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates in Canada as hate groups/far right extremist entities.

October 30, 2024. Twenty five (25) South Asian communities and allies sent an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau calling for listing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates in Canada as hate groups/far right extremist entities.

The recent RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) announcement has revealed the “involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity in Canada” and that the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies in Canada have investigated and charged a “significant number of individuals for their direct involvement in homicides, extortions and other criminal acts of violence.”  The assassination of a Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, and its alleged hand by India’s Hindu nationalist government appears to be the tip of the iceberg.

The Guardian [1] reports that the “allegations of an India campaign of transnational violence and harassment have emerged not only in Canada but in the US, UK and Pakistan, where prominent Sikh activists say they have received threats to their lives.”

An extensive report [2] published in March 2023, among other reports, has linked anti-Sikh violence in Canada to extremist groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and their family of organizations, Sangh Parivar. “The presence of Sangh Parivar and RSS-related groups sadly but predictably overlaps with various incidents of Hindu supremacist rhetoric and actions in Canada,” states the report.

Let us recall that the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in India is the political arm of RSS –  which is a paramilitary organization which promotes hindu nationalism, inspired by European Fascism. Founders of RSS explicitly espoused Fascist ideology [3]. In the ten years of BJP rule in India we have seen blatant examples of this, as the government takes India toward their goal of making the country ‘Hindutva’, a Hindu ethno-nationalist state in which the 200 million Muslim population and other minority populations such as Sikh, Dalit, Adivasi (indigenous peoples), and Christians are made second class citizens.

Under this Hindu nationalist government, atrocities against minorities in India have been carried out with impunity and often with complicity. The evidence in recent reports confirm a network of these extremist groups are targeting Sikhs and other diasporic Indian minority communities and activists in Canada and the US. The extensive network of Hindu nationalists and their affiliates(a) in Canada and worldwide [4] is well documented, and now we know this network in Canada is involved in a disturbing pattern of coercion, organized crime and deadly violence (b).

They call on the Canadian government to:

1. Extend protection to South Asians and other minority communities at risk.
2. Investigate the human rights violations and influence of the RSS and its affiliates in Canada.
3. List the RSS and its affiliates in Canada as hate groups/far right extremist entities. These actions would further serve to protect Canadian minorities.

The letter is also sent to relevant ministers and all federal party leaders. (i)

(a) HSS-Canada [5], VHP-Canada [6], Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA)-Canada [7] and Canadian Organization for Hindu Heritage Education (COHHE) [8], SEWA International [9].

(b) These groups often deflect criticism by invoking “hinduphobia”[10], which has been profusely debunked [11, 12].

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Source:
South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)
CERAS (South Asia Forum)

SIGNATORIES:
Academics for Palestine – Concordia
Association des Femmes Musulmanes de Québec
Canadian Council of Indian Muslims (CCIM)
Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Montreal
Canadian Forum for Human Rights and Democracy in India
Canadians Against Oppression and Persecution (CAOP)
Canadians for Indian Democracy (CID)
Canadians for Peace and Justice in Kashmir (CPJK)
Centre sur l’asie du sud (CERAS)
Critical Diasporic South Asian Feminisms
External Affairs – Students’ Society of McGill University
Femmes de diverses origines/Women of Diverse Origins
Hindus for Human Rights
International Council of Indian Muslims (ICIM)
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
Justice For All Canada
Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU)
Quebec Public Interest Research Group – Concordia (QPIRG)
Rang Collective: Arts for Solidarity
Solidarity Across Borders

South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network-Canada (SADAN)
South Asian Diaspora Action Collective (SADAC)
South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC)
Tadamon!
Teesri Duniya Theatre

(i)
The Honourable Bill Blair – Member of Parliament
Minister of National Defence of Canada

The Honourable Melanie Joly – Member of Parliament
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada

The Honourable Arif Virani – Member of Parliament
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

The Honourable Kamal Khera – Member of Parliament
Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities of Canada

The Honourable Jagmeet Singh
Leader Of The New Democratic Party

The Honourable Pierre Poilievre
Leader of The Conservative Party Of Canada

The Honourable Yves-François Blanchet
Leader Of The Bloc Québécois

Endnotes

[1] Allegations Suggest India is Now Part of The Assassination Club, 20 Oct 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/Oct/20/Allegations-Suggest-India-Is-Now-Part-Of-The-Assassination-Club

[2] Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Network in Canada, 2023, https://www.nccm.ca/rss-in-canada/

[3] In The Shadow of The Swastika: The Relationships Between Indian Radical Nationalism, Italian Fascism and Nazism, 2020, https://www.routledge.com/In-the-Shadow-of-the-Swastika-The-Relationships-Between-Indian-Radical-Nationalism-Italian-Fascism-and-Nazism/Casolari/p/book/9780367508272

[4] How Far-Right Hindu Supremacy Went Global, October 26, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-far-right-hindu-supremacy-went-global/

[5] Factsheet: Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh (HSS), 04 Jan 2024, https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-hindu-swayamsewak-sangh-hss/

[6] Factsheet: Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), 25 May 2023, https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-vishwa-hindu-parishad-of-america-vhpa/

[7] Factsheet: Coalition Of Hindus of North America (COHNA), 27 Jul 2023, https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-coalition-of-hindus-of-north-america-cohna/

[8] Weaponizing “Hinduphobia” To Suppress Dalit and Caste-Oppressed Voices, April 26, 2024, https://local-news.ca/2024/04/26/Weaponizing-Hinduphobia-To-Suppress-Dalit-And-Caste-Oppressed-Voices/

[9] Covid Relief Donations Are Supporting a Project To “Hinduize” India, June 08, 2021, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/covid-india-charity-sewa-hindu-nationalism.html

[10] Petition: E-4507 (Civil and Human Rights), July 19, 2023, https://www.ourcommons.ca/Petitions/En/Petition/Details?Petition=E-4507

[11] We Must Oppose Indian Hindu Nationalist Forces in Canada, October 5, 2023, https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/we-must-oppose-indian-hindu-nationalist-forces-in-canada/article_f3911d19-3d62-53bc-8380-0709907718c4.html

[12] Sadan: Opposition to Hinduphobia Petition In Canada, September 10, 2023, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d41KjHGfrnJlbM0fLLMJlGADOku4sOu_/view

This story was originally published in mediacoop.ca.