Pranay Somayajula, on screen, remotely addresses attendees during the “Holi against Hindutva” teach-in event at Oberlin College, Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Oberlin, Ohio. (Photo by Sayanth Shajith)(RNS) — On Sunday (April 21), a group of about 40 students gathered at Oberlin College, near Cleveland, for a student-led event called “Holi against Hindutva:” a teach-in aimed at discussing Hindu nationalism’s “violent implications for Muslims worldwide and connections to Zionism.”
An initiative of this sort is not uncommon on college campuses, especially those, like Oberlin, with a historical orientation toward social justice. But this event, organized by Oberlin’s Asian American Alliance and Muslim Students Association, spurred controversy far beyond campus.
The day of the event, demonstrators appeared at Oberlin to protest, holding signs reading “Protect Indigenous Traditions,” “Preserve Holi, Reject Hinduphobia” and “Stop Spreading Hatred Against the Hindu Community!”
The protesters, according to Rakesh Ranjan, president of the Cleveland chapter of Coalition of Hindus of North America, which led the protest, were objecting to the use of Holi, a holiday that celebrates spring and promotes forgiveness and love in the manner of the deities Radha and Krishna.
“They are misusing and appropriating our sacred Holi festival for political reasons,” said Ranjan.
Numerous Indian news outlets picked up the story, and thought pieces from Hindu YouTubers and X’ers went viral.
Demonstrators with the Cleveland chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America protest a “Holi against Hindutva” teach-in at Oberlin College, April 21, 2024, in Oberlin, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of COHNA Cleveland Chapter)
In 2020, a nationwide movement called Holi against Hindutva — a word meaning “Hinduness” that has come to represent Hindu supremacy or nationalism — hit Columbia and Harvard and 19 other campuses. Many Hinduism advocates were similarly angry, charging that an anti-nationalism campaign centered on a Hindu festival was “anti-Hindu.”
In Ohio this week, Ranjan further complained that Oberlin’s discussion included no “pro-Hindu speakers.” “If you want to have a fair dialogue with good intentions, you’ve got to have all the stakeholders there.”
Pranay Somayajula, director of researc …
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An initiative of this sort is not uncommon on college campuses, especially those, like Oberlin, with a historical orientation toward social justice. But this event, organized by Oberlin’s Asian American Alliance and Muslim Students Association, spurred controversy far beyond campus.
The day of the event, demonstrators appeared at Oberlin to protest, holding signs reading “Protect Indigenous Traditions,” “Preserve Holi, Reject Hinduphobia” and “Stop Spreading Hatred Against the Hindu Community!”
The protesters, according to Rakesh Ranjan, president of the Cleveland chapter of Coalition of Hindus of North America, which led the protest, were objecting to the use of Holi, a holiday that celebrates spring and promotes forgiveness and love in the manner of the deities Radha and Krishna.
“They are misusing and appropriating our sacred Holi festival for political reasons,” said Ranjan.
Numerous Indian news outlets picked up the story, and thought pieces from Hindu YouTubers and X’ers went viral.
Demonstrators with the Cleveland chapter of the Coalition of Hindus of North America protest a “Holi against Hindutva” teach-in at Oberlin College, April 21, 2024, in Oberlin, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of COHNA Cleveland Chapter)
In 2020, a nationwide movement called Holi against Hindutva — a word meaning “Hinduness” that has come to represent Hindu supremacy or nationalism — hit Columbia and Harvard and 19 other campuses. Many Hinduism advocates were similarly angry, charging that an anti-nationalism campaign centered on a Hindu festival was “anti-Hindu.”
In Ohio this week, Ranjan further complained that Oberlin’s discussion included no “pro-Hindu speakers.” “If you want to have a fair dialogue with good intentions, you’ve got to have all the stakeholders there.”
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