In this roundtable, a group of South Asia historians analyze the increasingly aggressive tactics used by Hindu nationalists who attempt to control and silence academic discourse on certain aspects of Indian history. Hindu nationalists—who advocate a narrow and hateful ideology of Hindu supremacy known as Hindutva—have tried to exert influence within the Indian and American academies for the last several decades. Emboldened by the BJP landslide electoral win in India’s general elections in May 2019, their attempts have accelerated. Using a range of tactics—including smear campaigns, intimidation of individual scholars, bringing representatives of groups such as the RSS and ABVP to American campuses, pressuring university administrations, and giving strings-attached financial donations—advocates of Hindutva ideology seek to constrict academic discourse and silence historians, especially those who work on certain topics. Such aggressive tactics have been deployed with remarkable success against the Indian academy in recent years, and they are now gaining steam on American soil.

This roundtable analyzes the methods, goals, and outcomes of a range of the politically-motivated, anti-intellectual campaigns spearheaded by the Hindu Right. Ananya Chakravarti and Vinayak Chaturvedi will each examine efforts to influence the shape of the US-based academy. Ananya will focus on attempts to silence discussions of caste in the US academy, questionable sources of funding, and the platforming of Hindutva in US universities, particularly those without traditional strength in South Asian Studies in a rush to create programming related to India. Vinayak will discuss the role of organizations in India and the US that have promoted the creation of endowed chairs in universities for the studies of Hinduism, Sanskrit, and India, dating back to the 1930s. He will examine the arguments presented by the Hindu Mahasabha and their links to contemporary Hindutva organizations that seek to shape the direction of knowledge formation in the US academy. Hafsa Kanjwal will discuss how certain narratives of Kashmiri history are deployed by the Hindu Right (and the broader Indian American community) in the US, especially after recent steps by the Hindu nationalist government to revoke the region's autonomy. Hafsa will also discuss the kinds of attacks that scholars of Kashmiri Muslim origin, in particular, face in their public engagement on Kashmir. Audrey Truschke will likewise speak to the challenges that individual historians face, focusing on the misogyny often embedded in smear campaigns that intend and, often, succeed in dissuading female scholars from engaging in public history related to India. Audrey will also analyze recent attempts to inappropriately influence university administrations in pursuit of Hindu nationalist goals.

As a whole, the panel aims to highlight and better understand the threat that this growing trend of attempted Hindutva interference and intimidation poses to the field of South Asian history and to South Asia-focused historians.