Lying Religiously: The Hindu Students Council and the politics of deception

A report by Campaign to stop funding hate


Contents:

* PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1: THE PUBLIC FAÇADE OF THE HINDU STUDENTS COUNCIL
o 1.1 "LIBERAL" HINDUISM?
o 1.2 SOME REASONABLE CONCLUSIONS

* CHAPTER 2: THE HIDDEN BODY
o 2.1 OF WELL-DEFINED LINEAGE
+ 2.1.1 The Birth of HSC
+ 2.1.2 Entanglements Without Escape
o 2.2 DECEPTIVE "FREEDOM"
+ 2.2.1 A Façade of Autonomy?
+ 2.2.2 Crisis, Celebration and Unity
o 2.3 HSC LEADERSHIP: A GROOMING SPACE?
+ 2.3.1 Early Leaders, Later Patriarchs
+ 2.3.2 All in the Family
o 2.4 INCOMPLETE ERASURES: FLIPPING THE LOOKING GLASS
+ 2.4.1 HSC Ten Years Later: Still Very Much a VHPA Project
+ 2.4.2 Fundraising and Networking
+ 2.4.3 HSC’s Role in Building Sangh Electronic Infrastructure

* CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION – HSC AS A FULL MEMBER OF THE SANGH
o 3.1 THE ELECTRONIC INFRASTRUCTURE
o 3.2 THE REALIGNED INSTITUTIONS

* APPENDIX A: KEY TO THE IP MAP
o SECTION 1 – CATEGORIZED BY TYPE OF ORGANIZATION AND/OR AFFILIATION
o SECTION 2 – LIST OF SELECTED SANGH WEBSITES ON THIS NETWORK WITH BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
o SECTION 3 – FULL LIST OF WEBSITES ON THE HINDUNET NETWORK

* APPENDIX B: RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH: A PRIMER
o ORIGINS & IDEOLOGY
o THE SANGH AND VIOLENCE
o THE INSTITUTIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF HINDUTVA

* APPENDIX C: THE SANGH ON DHARMA, CASTE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY
o DHARMA: ANOTHER WORD TO UNIVERSALIZE HINDUTVA
+ Step One: Approaching a Concept That Sounds Universal
+ Step Two: Owning the Universal
+ Step Three: Universalizing Hindutva
o CASTE AND THE HINDUTVA MOVEMENT
+ The Sangh and Caste – 1925-1980
+ Post-1980s Hindutva: A New Approach to Caste?
o SANGH AND WOMEN
+ Role of Women in Hindu Society
+ HSCs and Women
+ The Sangh’s Position on Feminism
+ The Coming of the Muslims
o SANGH ON FAMILY AND SEXUALITY
+ Notions of love and marriage: Attacks on Valentine’s Day celebrations
+ Homosexuality as an abnormality/disability
+ Evils of Hindu society: the attacks on Deepa Mehta’s film ‘Water’

© THE CAMPAIGN TO STOP FUNDING HATE