HINDUPHOBIA

On December 9, 2021, Toronto Public Library and Ryerson University conducts an event: “Modi's India: How Hindu Nationalism Has Eroded the World's Largest Democracy” with speakers Christophe Jaffrelot and Sanjay Ruparelia. The description of the event uses the words like “militant Hindu” and “growing intimidation and violence” and “why do so many citizens in India continue to support the leader of the BJP” – insinuating that people who vote for BJP are “militant Hindus” and perform intimidation and violence. The series named as 'On Civil Society,' which houses 9 events to date, this event is the only one that goes beyond domestic politics, technology and global health-based fault lines. Christophe Jaffrelot, the main speaker at the TPL event, was also a speaker at a recent conference that called for the dismantling of Hindus and Hinduism and singled out five Hindu last names, deeming them as purveyors of violence and hate. He never condemned the remarks made at the conference or distanced himself from them.

Responding to a tweet on animal cruelty, Durdana Najam, a columnist in Tribune in Lahore, Pakistan, with more than 3,500 followers on Twitter, tweeted: “So what, start worshipping Dogs. It would be a good addition to the list of animals you Hindus worship...from snake to monkey to elephant to rat and not to forget the sewerage laden waters of Ganga.”

An attempt is made to paint Hinduism as promoting a discriminatory practice which is carried abroad when students go to Western universities. Citation is given to Equality Labs which has a large history of deliberate misinterpretation of Hindu scriptures and blatant Hinduphobia.