Sunita Viswanath

Afghanistan, New York, United States

Articles

An Interfaith Dispatch From the West Bank

Sep 5, 2024 | thenation.com | Sunita Viswanath

The Nation WeeklyFridays. A weekly digest of the best of our coverage. By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Afreen Fatima is an Indian Muslim human rights activist whose family home was bulldozed two years ago.
Janmashtami in Gaza, the World’s Largest Open-Air Prison

Sep 2, 2024 | transcend.org | Sunita Viswanath

Sunita Viswanath | After the Truth Shower - TRANSCEND Media Service GAZA Casualties – Live Statistics26 Aug 2024 – As Hindus the world over observe Janmashtami, and meditate on the significance of the life of Shri Krishna, we must ask ourselves how we feel about the genocide that Israel has been waging against the people of Gaza for ten months, with no end in sight. I have arrived in Palestine on Janmashtami, Lord Krishna’s birthday.
Palestine Diary: Where the Gaza Genocide Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Aug 30, 2024 | thewire.in | Sunita Viswanath

Hindus for Human Rights has been an active participant in the mass movement calling for a ceasefire, an arms embargo and an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. We see common cause with anti-Zionist Jews because we too are fighting the extremists of our faith — including India’s Hindu supremacist government, which has sent arms to support Israel’s genocide on Gaza. When Rabbis for Ceasefire invited us to join them in an interfaith peace delegation to Palestine, we readily agreed.
Ram Mandir in the NYC India Day Parade is a symbol of hate, not heritage

Aug 16, 2024 | religionnews.com | Sunita Viswanath |Rizki Fauzi

(RNS) — This year’s India Day Parade in New York City on Sunday (Aug. 18), traditionally a celebration of India’s vibrant democracy and cultural diversity, will be marred with a float of a model Ram Mandir, the controversial temple to Lord Rama in Ayodhya, India. Organizers who included the float insist this is an expression of Hindu heritage in India, but this structure signals a divisive ideology that threatens the very values the parade seeks to celebrate.
Ram Mandir in the NYC India Day Parade is a symbol of hate, not heritage

Aug 16, 2024 | flipboard.com | Sunita Viswanath

Ram Mandir in the NYC India Day Parade is a symbol of hate, not heritageAs Indian Americans become more visible in politics and public life, there is a growing need to reflect on the kind of legacy we are building. (RNS) — …
Unsealed: Suhag Shukla’s Deposition in Hindu American Foundation’s Failed Defamation Case Against Us

Jun 29, 2024 | americankahani.com | Sunita Viswanath |Raju Rajagopal

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) filed a defamation lawsuit against the two of us, as well as against three others, Rasheed Ahmed, John Prabhudoss, and Audrey Truschke, on May 7, 2021. HAF’s claims arose from our statements to an Al Jazeera journalist about the federal emergency COVID-19 funding garnered by several Hindu nationalist organizations in early 2021, including the HAF: Sunita in Al Jazeera, Apr 2, 2021: “All these organizations are sympathetic to the Hindu supremacist ideology.
Voters in Ayodhya have shown what it means to be Hindu. Indian-Americans must learn

Jun 6, 2024 | flipboard.com | Sunita Viswanath

Opinion: Opinion | Nine Things That May Explain the 2024 MandateComing just days after the exit poll claims, the results of the general election may come as some sort of setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party …
Voters in Ayodhya have shown what it means to be Hindu. Indian-Americans must learn

Jun 6, 2024 | theprint.in | Sunita Viswanath

Despite the BJP’s best efforts, the Indian people have voted for democracy and the human rights of all citizens. If the elections had been truly fair, perhaps the BJP would have been roundly trounced. “We The People” are awake, and the Indian democracy envisioned by its founders, MK Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, BR Ambedkar, and so many others, is alive and kicking.
The Hindu Leaders Fighting Hindu Nationalism

Mar 21, 2024 | yahoo.com | Sunita Viswanath

BJP supporters greet Prime Minister Modi during a rally in Arambagh, India, on March 1. Credit - Debajyoti Chakraborty—NurPhoto/Getty ImagesAs India hurtles toward the world’s largest elections next month, I mourn for the democracy of my homeland that once was. The press is increasingly muzzled, dissent is met with incarceration, and a palpable climate of fear pervades society. My country is inching closer to becoming a Hindu supremacist state, as Muslims are getting more excluded by the day.
The Hindu Leaders Fighting Hindu Nationalism

Mar 21, 2024 | flipboard.com | Sunita Viswanath

As India hurtles toward the world’s largest elections next month, I mourn for the democracy of my homeland that once was. The press is increasingly muzzled, dissent is met with incarceration, and a palpable climate of fear pervades society. My country is inching closer to becoming a Hindu …