An angry Muslim resident tells media to leave, alleging that they distort the facts, while Muslim-owned shops are demolished in New Delhi’s northwest Jahangirpuri neighborhood on April 20, 2022, days after violence shook the capital during a Hindu religious procession. Authorities on bulldozers razed a number of shops before India’s Supreme Court halted the demolitions. A Frisco-based national Hinduism group has been promoting the demolition of churches in India, our columnist say..(Altaf Qadri / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

These hateful and provocative statements would shock anyone. But what’s even more shocking is that they come from a nonprofit organization based here in the Dallas area. The Global Hindu Heritage Foundation is a Frisco-based nonprofit that just hosted its end-of-the-year gala dinner Nov. 27. The dinner’s agenda items included seemingly innocuous-sounding items like food distribution and COVID-19 relief, alongside more alarming topics: demolition of “illegal” churches in India and the conversion of Indian Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.

The GHHF isn’t a new organization — it has been operating out of Frisco for 15 years, with a long track record of spewing hatred against Christians and Muslims along the way. The fact that the GHHF has been able to operate for so long without drawing attention to its incendiary rhetoric tells us a lot about the growth of Hindu nationalism in America. It’s time for all of us to take note and stand up to this hate in our community.

Last week, Indian American activists from different faith backgrounds attended a Frisco City Council meeting demanding action against GHHF.

Our organization, Hindus for Human Rights, reached out to GHHF for a comment but did not receive any responses.

GHHF and rising Hindu nationalism in America

GHHF was founded in 2006 by a group of Hindu Americans from the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with the goal of advocating for various policies in India that advance the political ideology of Hindu nationalism. Hindu nationalism is an ideology that aims to transform India from a secular democracy to a Hindu nation. In recent years, under the rule of a Hindu nationalist party, India has seen a rise in attacks on religious and cultural minorities, including Christians, Muslims and Dalits, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

This story was originally published in dallasnews.com . Read the full story here