Who is lobbying for India’s Modi government on Capitol Hill?

On a Wednesday greeting successful September 2022, a lobbyist reached retired to a legislature staffer successful Washington, DC. He wanted to acceptable up a gathering connected behalf of his lawsuit to sermon immoderate quality rights concerns successful Pakistan and a recently introduced solution successful the United States House of Representatives regarding spiritual minorities successful India.

During the gathering a fewer weeks later, the lawsuit made an appeal: Could the legislature bureau wherever the staffer worked backmost a prohibition connected sustainment packages for F-16 combatant jets sold to Pakistan owed to that country’s alleged persecution of its Hindu minority?

This lawsuit was not a overseas authorities oregon a defence argumentation deliberation tank. It was a home nonprofit called the Hindu American Foundation.

The staffer was taken aback. Despite being acquainted with the radical and its advocacy connected behalf of Hindus successful the US, the staffer did not expect it to beryllium truthful profoundly progressive successful geopolitics.

The Indian authorities astatine that clip had been publically pushing backmost against a $450m F-16 bundle for Pakistan. India’s defence curate had expressed concerns astir it to his US counterpart, and the outer affairs curate had openly disparaged the US authorities for the package.

“In that moment”, the staffer said, “it became wide to maine that the Hindu American Foundation was acting connected behalf of the Indian government.”

The foundation, besides known arsenic HAF, emerged 2 decades agone arsenic a dependable for the Hindu assemblage successful the United States. It wasn’t formed to champion the Indian government.

But since Narendra Modi became premier curate successful 2014, HAF has ramped up its governmental activities successful favour of the Indian government, which is led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

It has emerged, contempt its claims of “nonpartisanship”, arsenic an effectual advocator of the BJP, attempting to power the US authorities done meetings with members of Congress to propulsion for the transition of aggregate pieces of authorities connected captious aspects of US overseas argumentation related to India.

Its founders, committee members and a parallel governmental enactment committee – the Hindu American PAC – person made important contributions to the predetermination campaigns of legislators who person successful crook supported HAF’s lobbying efforts connected these issues.

Throughout this time, HAF has maintained a cosy narration with the Modi government. It has acted successful the US to antagonistic the Modi government’s critics, collaborated with the Indian embassy connected events and programmes, and corresponded with the embassy connected delicate matters.

Yet successful public, HAF distances itself from the Indian authorities and the BJP. It vehemently refutes allegations that it acts connected their behalf, reiterating that its members are simply Hindus engaged successful the US governmental process and calling immoderate allegations of authorities collusion “dual loyalty slurs”.

HAF appears to beryllium treading a good line. Its activities successful favour of the Indian government, coupled with its continued collaboration with the Indian embassy, rise questions arsenic to whether it should registry arsenic a overseas cause nether the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938.

Registration arsenic a overseas cause is required immoderate clip an entity represents the interests of a overseas main earlier immoderate bureau oregon authoritative of the US connected the principal’s behalf.

The explanation of a overseas cause successful US instrumentality includes “any idiosyncratic who acts … astatine the order, request, oregon nether the absorption oregon control, of a overseas main … and who straight oregon done immoderate different idiosyncratic engages wrong the United States successful governmental activities for, oregon successful the interests of specified overseas principal.”

“Lobbying for circumstantial overseas argumentation issues would intelligibly suffice arsenic ‘political activities’ nether FARA,” said Benjamin Freeman, manager of the Democratizing Foreign Policy programme astatine the Quincy Institute deliberation tank. “The threshold successful the statute is simply doing enactment astatine the ‘request’ of a overseas principal,” helium added.

But HAF is not registered nether FARA, adjacent though it has pushed the BJP government’s docket earlier members of the US government.

“The specified information that our positions overlap with those of a overseas main is not capable to amusement that we are a overseas agent,” Mat McDermott, HAF’s elder manager of communications, said successful an email. “HAF is not affiliated with the Indian authorities oregon the BJP successful immoderate manner.” (HAF‘s afloat effect to Al Jazeera tin beryllium work here.)

The aboriginal years

One of the archetypal governmental activities undertaken by HAF took spot successful 2005 erstwhile the US Department of State denied Modi a visa aft interreligious violence erupted portion helium was main curate of the Indian authorities of Gujarat. HAF issued a connection condemning the decision, calling it the merchandise of a “coordinated campaign” by the Indian left-wing and their US supporters to vilify Modi and the BJP.

“It was evidently a horrible section successful Indian history. But you conscionable person this absorption connected Hindu violence, but not Muslim violence,” Suhag Shukla, enforcement manager of the Hindu American Foundation, told this newsman successful an interview.

“All of a sudden, [the narrative] shifts to ‘Hindus are unsafe and violent, and they’re anti-Muslim.’ It’s decidedly compiling and compounding the antagonistic portrayals of India.”

This was HAF’s archetypal foray into Indian politics. In the years that followed, it mostly focused its attraction connected home advocacy for Hindu causes.

In May 2005, HAF and different Hindu groups proposed ​​more than 117 edits to California textbooks that tackled India and Hinduism.

In 2007, the radical rallied astir a House solution that for the archetypal clip would recognise the festival of Diwali. In 2008, it launched the Take Back Yoga run to beforehand and publicise the Hindu roots of yoga.

However, 2013 marked a noticeable displacement successful HAF’s lobbying efforts connected Capitol Hill successful favour of Modi, the premier ministerial campaigner for the BJP successful the upcoming Indian nationalist elections.

Gaining ground

HAF connected its website says it is politically agnostic and nonpartisan. Its presumption arsenic a nonprofit bans it from making donations to candidates.

Its committee members and executives, however, are connected the committee of the Hindu American Political Action Committee (HAPAC).

“There is nary functional overlap betwixt these 2 autarkic organizations nor meaningful communication. It is communal and wholly wrong the confines of US 501(c)(3) instrumentality for members of nonprofit boards to besides service connected boards of governmental enactment committees successful their idiosyncratic time,” McDermott said.

Although the 2 groups are not officially affiliated with each other, each but 2 committee members of HAPAC are portion of HAF successful immoderate capacity.

HAPAC has spent astir $200,000 connected run contributions since it began making donations successful 2012.

Donors to HAPAC implicit the years see galore of HAF’s committee members, specified arsenic co-founder Mihir Meghani and his household members.

Meghani was besides a co-founder of the Hindu Students Council, an organisation affiliated with the BJP. He was HAF’s apical donor, according to its 2018 taxation disclosures successful Florida. He donated much than $500,000 that year.

Shekar Reddy, a trustee of the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, was the second-largest donor. In 2022, that radical was recovered to beryllium raising wealth for the demolition of “illegal” Christian churches successful India.

Like Meghani and Reddy, different affluent Hindu Americans person contributed to governmental campaigns done HAPAC. These see Ramesh Bhutada, an industrialist who has pledged much than $1m to Hindu organisations and causes, including HAF, done his household foundation.

Bhutada is besides a manager of Sewa International and erstwhile vice president of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh. Both organisations, which run successful the US, are portion of the “Sangh Parivar”, a radical of organisations affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.

These governmental donations person helped rally enactment for Hindu and Indian geopolitical causes.

HAF’s founders and donors person besides campaigned for governmental candidates.

“Ro Khanna is moving for the US Congress against Mike Honda. Honda wrote a missive asking the State [Department] to contradict Modi a visa,” Mihir Meghani wrote successful a 2013 email connected a Google group.

“It is imperative that arsenic Indians and Hindus that we enactment Ro. As portion of my commitment, I person fixed the maximum donation of $5,200 to lone [two] candidates this twelvemonth – Tulsi Gabbard and Ro Khanna, and I anticipation that you volition springiness your maximum enactment to him arsenic well.”

Meghani did not respond to aggregate requests for an interrogation sent via email and the societal media level X.

Making mode for Modi

Even earlier Modi was officially announced arsenic the BJP’s premier ministerial campaigner successful September 2013, the tide was turning successful his favour. The Brookings Institution deliberation vessel called him India’s astir admired and astir feared politician, and a fig of sentiment pieces astir his popularity featured prominently successful US and planetary media.

But astatine the aforesaid time, the Hindu-Muslim riots successful his authorities remained a acheronian stain connected Modi’s record.

In 2013, Representative Joseph Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania, introduced a solution reaffirming the US government’s determination to not assistance Modi a visa. According to an unnamed legislature staffer who spoke to India’s Outlook magazine: “Each bureau who signed the solution received a sojourn from HAF … HAF is not promoting Modi, but they are trying to undermine anyone successful Washington who is captious of Modi.”

On May 26, 2014, Modi was sworn successful arsenic premier minister. Soon after, his visa prohibition was lifted.

The archetypal term

HAF stepped up its pro-Modi activities erstwhile helium was elected premier curate successful 2014. In 2016, it organised a league telephone with Representative Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota and 1 of the 25 lawmakers who had sought a prohibition connected Modi’s visa, “to clarify his contested grounds implicit authorities regarding India”, according to the India Post. The telephone included a fig of organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, a US-based nonprofit.

It besides featured a antheral named Bharat Barai.

Barai, who would aboriginal sponsor a fundraiser for HAF and registry arsenic a overseas cause connected behalf of the consul wide of India, “specifically asked Ellison astir his diatribe against Narendra Modi and happenings successful Gujarat”, India Post reported. He offered to question to Washington to speech to Ellison’s unit to springiness them a “clear picture” of however Modi handled the riots.

People celebrated successful Times Square aft the groundbreaking ceremonial of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi successful August 2020 [File: Frank Franklin II/AP Photo]

On a cloudy Sunday day successful June 2017 successful Washington, DC, the Indian embassy organised a invited reception for Modi. More than 70 volunteers helped retired astatine the event. Some were from the Washington Leadership Program, a nonprofit dedicated to placing South Asian students successful legislature internships. Others were from the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, the planetary limb of the BJP’s ideological parent. The remainder were from HAF.

“​​Congrats​ ​to HAF, HSS and WLP​ leadership​ for the coordination efforts,” Roopal Shah, 1 of the coordinators of the event, wrote successful an email addressed to the volunteers. “Grateful to the Embassy and to the Indian Government for allowing america to beryllium a portion of this event.”

McDermott denied that HAF had ever collaborated with the Indian embassy for Modi’s visits “in immoderate circumstantial way”.

He maintained that HAF would invited leaders of immoderate Indian authorities careless of enactment affiliation.

The BJP has nary shortage of allies successful the US. One of them, the Overseas Friends of BJP, a registered overseas agent, has the stated nonsubjective of “projecting a affirmative and close representation of India and its radical successful the US and overseas media and correcting immoderate distortions successful the media’s reporting of existent events taking spot successful India”.

While this is the Overseas Friends of the BJP’s stated purpose, it is besides a strikingly close statement of HAF’s activities.

In February 2017, arsenic the Modi authorities was being criticised for fanning spiritual ethnonationalism and fomenting unit against spiritual minorities successful India, HAF wrote to the US Commission connected International Religious Freedom. It requested the retraction of its study connected the persecution of Indian spiritual minorities. It besides requested the commissioners to prosecute with HAF’s leaders “regarding the Commission’s continued misrepresentations of India’s spiritual diversity, ineligible system, and governmental dynamics”.

In July 2018, alongside the commencement of Modi’s re-election campaign, HAF released a argumentation connection astatine a Capitol Hill briefing. It elaborate the ways successful which the authorities of India had provided “unprecedented spiritual accommodations to its spiritual number population”.

HAF’s study provided a robust defence of Modi’s policies and denied wide reports that minorities were being persecuted.

But it denied having acted successful collaboration with the Indian government.

“We person antithetic members of HAF unit who astir apt person relationships with members of the Indian government,” McDermott said. “But determination are nary weekly, monthly oregon yearly calls. There is nary coordination whatsoever.”

The Overseas Friends of BJP did not respond to an interrogation petition submitted done its website.

Back successful office

A period aft Modi was sworn successful for his 2nd word arsenic premier minister, HAF conducted its yearly Advocacy Day connected Capitol Hill, during which much than 80 of its representatives held meetings with much than 100 House and Senate offices.

In those meetings, these representatives urged legislators to walk a solution that would elevate India to a large non-NATO state (MNNA) of the US. Attempts by the Indian authorities to beryllium elevated to this peculiar presumption person not been made nationalist though pro-BJP Indian deliberation tanks person been campaigning for specified a move.

In addition, HAF’s representatives, arsenic the organisation said connected its website, met dozens of senators conscionable “hours before” they began debating the National Defense Authorization Act. One of the amendments – to bolster US-India relations – was successfully passed.

“India’s designation arsenic an MNNA, whenever that happens, volition beryllium a symbolically important propulsion wrong American bureaucratic decision-making to prioritise India,” Sameer Patil wrote successful July 2019. Patil is simply a erstwhile chap of the International Security Studies Programme of Gateway House, a overseas argumentation deliberation vessel successful Mumbai.

Soon aft Modi’s re-election successful 2019, HAF, successful collaboration with the House India Caucus, conducted yet different Capitol Hill briefing attended by staffers from much than a twelve House and Senate offices and national agencies. The House India Caucus is simply a radical of legislature representatives with the shared nonsubjective of legislating connected issues related to India.

Titled “India’s Democracy successful Action”, the briefing provided an investigation of the precocious concluded wide predetermination successful India. The lawsuit featured remarks from a caput of the Indian embassy.

HAF, successful effect, had provided a level for an Indian authorities authoritative to conscionable with US legislature staff.

“Whenever you’re putting radical successful the aforesaid country arsenic US officials and you’re trying to power the officials successful narration to a overseas argumentation with a overseas government, that is simply a immense FARA trigger,” Freeman of the Quincy Institute said.

Over the years, HAF has besides conducted closed-door sessions for members of Congress. In 1 specified league successful 2022, it presented 4 Kashmiri activists who supported the repeal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted semiautonomy to the authorities of Jammu and Kashmir earlier Modi’s authorities revoked it successful 2019 – a alteration ineligible experts termed arsenic unconstitutional.

This league came connected the heels of 60 incidents of crackdowns connected Kashmiri journalists recorded by Amnesty International and an net blackout that lasted 18 months – 1 of the longest successful history.

“Be remainder assured that the authorities of India is doing everything it tin to support the rights of women,” 1 of the Kashmiri activists, Yana Mir, said during a session. Mir is joined to Sajid Yousuf Shah, who heads the BJP’s media section successful Kashmir. “Be remainder assured that the authorities of India is doing everything it tin to support the rights of journalists.”

In effect to a petition for comment, McDermott told Al Jazeera successful an email that the “description of Yana Mir arsenic an activistic is inaccurate. Yana Mir is chiefly a journalist. Because she whitethorn person a antithetic viewpoint connected Kashmir and the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution than you oregon Al Jazeera precise good whitethorn marque her nary little of a reporter. Your statement of Mir arsenic an activistic present comes crossed arsenic condescending and pejorative, and we judge it is intentional.”

Notably, HAF’s website describes Mir arsenic being 1 of 4 activists, and Mir’s X bio shows she is the vice president of a societal payment organisation.

In December of the aforesaid year, Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington authorities and a Hindu of Indian origin, introduced House Resolution 745, “urging the Republic of India to extremity the restrictions connected communications and wide detentions successful Jammu and Kashmir arsenic swiftly arsenic imaginable and sphere spiritual state for each residents”.

In response, HAF led a run against the resolution, calling it “anti-Hindu” and “anti-India”. Later, the group’s website said it had “successfully prevented” the solution from being considered connected 3 occasions.

“This measure contained connection that was outrightly mendacious and nary longer relevant, fixed the authorities of India’s near-immediate lifting of communications restrictions, restoration of state of assembly, and lifting of precautionary curfews,” McDermott said.

But the net blackout successful Kashmir lasted for astatine slightest a twelvemonth aft Jayapal introduced the resolution.

In December 2019, protests against a caller citizenship law rocked India. The instrumentality granted fast-track citizenship to spiritual minorities from India’s neighbouring countries. It explicitly mentioned which religions would beryllium covered – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. It made nary notation of Muslims.

At the aforesaid time, the government’s preparations to instrumentality the National Register of Citizens were nether mode – a mechanics done which “foreigners” would beryllium identified, detained and yet deported. Coupled with the caller citizenship law, which would legitimise the citizenship claims of radical from astir religions if they were declared foreigners, galore feared that this workout was a mode to render Muslims stateless.

HAF issued a quality merchandise defending the Citizenship Amendment Act. It said the enactment was agelong overdue and necessary, providing respite for persecuted spiritual minorities who person sought refuge successful India. Since then, it has continued to advocator for this law.

A analyzable entanglement

“We person ne'er coordinated with the Indian government, done the Indian Embassy successful DC oregon otherwise,” McDermott said successful an email.

But successful a November 2018 newsletter sent to its subscribers, HAF described itself arsenic a “partner organization” of the Indian embassy successful Washington, DC.

In the summertime of 2019, HAF organised a programme that placed its interns successful legislature offices. McDermott said HAF provided lodging and a stipend to the interns, who worked connected par with different legislature interns “without immoderate oversight from HAF”.

But not each of them were placed connected Capitol Hill. One of the interns was sent to enactment with the Indian embassy.

Collaborations specified arsenic these marque it hard to gauge the quality of HAF’s narration with the Indian government, which is shrouded successful secrecy. Despite acknowledging that communications betwixt the Indian embassy and HAF exist, the embassy has denied 3 requests for the contents of these communications, invoking an exemption connected the ground of “the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, technological oregon economical interests of the State, oregon relations with a overseas state”.

Some of their communications with HAF, the embassy said, were “held by the Embassy successful a fiduciary capacity”.

An excerpt from a Right to Information effect from the Indian Embassy dated March 15, 2023

The embassy has besides refused to disclose the fig of times the parties corresponded with each other, which enactment initiated the communications and the grade of the correspondence, adjacent refusing to clarify which portion of the exemption was being invoked.

HAF besides did not remark oregon elaborate upon its communications with the Indian embassy arsenic requested by Al Jazeera.

In 2022, the Saraiya Family Foundation donated $50,000 to HAF, portion of which was allocated for the improvement of infrastructure to “track anti-Hindu elements successful the media”. The foundation’s president, Chandresh Saraiya, is the erstwhile president of the South Florida section of the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, a subordinate of the RSS family.

HAF is 1 of the organisations that person arisen successful the West successful caller years to run against what it calls Hinduphobia.

When it met the legislature staffer successful 2022 regarding the $450m F-16 woody with Pakistan, it had besides pushed backmost against House Resolution 1196, which condemned quality rights violations against spiritual and taste minorities successful India.

“They wanted america to insert ‘Hindu’ into that measure arsenic different oppressed group,” the staffer said. “I was like, ‘I’m a Hindu too, and I don’t deliberation that’s credible.’ Would you privation to accidental that ‘Black Lives Matter’ should see achromatic lives, too?”

Angana Chatterji, a student astatine the University of California astatine Berkeley, pointed retired that portion radical of Hindu descent whitethorn acquisition racism, Hinduphobia is not a modern question oregon a rising interest similar that of Islamophobia. “Hinduphobia acts to align diasporic Hindu majoritarian campaigns with those of Hindu nationalists successful India,” she said.

In September 2021, HAF led a run against an world league called “Dismantling Global Hindutva” and utilized societal media posts, wide emails, petitions and quality releases to represent it arsenic an onslaught connected Hindus. “Hindutva,” meaning “Hinduness” is simply a Sanskrit word utilized for the Hindu supremacist ideology.

“It’s an world workout to critique, possibly adjacent to deconstruct, but dismantling is precise squarely a governmental activity,” HAF’s Shukla told The Washington Post.

The run and resulting backlash rapidly snowballed with the scholars scheduled to talk receiving a barrage of online hatred messages, adjacent decease and rape threats.

A 2022 study traced patterns successful users of Twitter, present known arsenic X, whose tweets and retweets featured circumstantial hashtags, retweets, bots, and the frequence of their tweets and retweets implicit clip and linked HAF to an online web of far-right Hindu groups and the BJP that targeted the conference. The survey recovered Shukla to beryllium the “largest idiosyncratic amplifier of attacks” against the event.

While the league did yet instrumentality place, galore participants withdrew retired of fear. HAF was credited for its efforts.

“Dismantling Global Hindutva was publicised to beryllium a thunder, but ended up successful a whimper, acknowledgment to [the] efforts of @HinduAmerican [and] different Hindu groups,” Ram Madhav tweeted. Madhav is simply a subordinate of the National Executive of the RSS.

He did not respond to a petition for comment.

Before the conference, HAF conducted an online event. Shukla received an assemblage question, which she rapidly summarised.

“Someone has asked if we person informed the authorities of India astir this peculiar situation,” Shukla said, referring to the conference. “We have.”

The “situation” successful question that HAF had informed the authorities of India about, McDermott clarified successful the email, was that the league “was being falsely promoted arsenic having authoritative backing oregon endorsement of the 60+ universities listed, erstwhile successful information it didn’t”.

The 3rd race

In the run-up to this year’s wide election, successful which Modi sought a 3rd term, HAF continued to echo the BJP’s talking points.

So far, it has successfully managed to evade scrutiny for its actions.

Screengrab from a webinar organised by the Hindu American Foundation successful April 2024 titled, ‘Avoiding Legal Trouble successful the Mega Election Year’

“At the precise least, I deliberation HAF’s actions would rise superior questions astatine the Department of Justice astir whether HAF should beryllium registered nether FARA,” the Quincy Institute’s Freeman said.

The Department of Justice, however, prioritises cases successful which wealth has changed hands oregon determination is an existent declaration betwixt the main and the agent. In the 20 letters of determination issued by the department’s FARA portion since 2017, determination was either a declaration successful place, a fiscal narration oregon the proprietor of the cause entity was a overseas national.

In the lack of communications betwixt HAF and the Indian embassy, determination is nary grounds that this is the lawsuit with HAF.

“When it comes to overseas power successful the US, the Department of Justice is drinking from a firehose and has to play triage, focusing connected the astir egregious violations,” Freeman said. “To hole this, the DOJ needs much resources from Congress and the instrumentality needs to beryllium modified to region a fig of FARA loopholes.”

Mukta Joshi is simply a lawyer trained successful India and an investigative newsman astatine Mississippi Today. Dhrumil Mehta and Sriharsha Devulapalli contributed reporting.

This nonfiction was supported by the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism astatine Columbia University’s Journalism School.