AMP Report – March 7, 20023
Maryland's Lt. Governor has ties to India’s far-right RSS movement?
By AbdusSattar Ghazali
Aruna Miller, the new Democratic lieutenant governor of Maryland, is stirring concern in the state due to her decade-long ties to advocates for far-right Hindu nationalist groups in India, according to a report in the Huffington Post.
Miller, a former state legislator, assumed office in January 2023 alongside Gov. Wes Moore (D). Since then, activists and voters have sounded the alarm over Miller’s history of brushing shoulders with nationalist groups and dodging questions about her ties to a violent ideology that has long cracked down on minorities. She and Moore have also faced questions about collecting thousands of dollars in political donations from people sympathetic to Hindutva, a far-right nationalist ideology that mirrors white supremacy, Rowaida Abdelaziz wrote.
A spokesperson for the Moore-Miller was quoted by HuffPost as saying that Miller “consistently and unequivocally condemns all forms of religious persecution and violence and all of the hateful ideologies that perpetuate it,” and further noted that she had won her race with the highest number of individual votes in Maryland lieutenant gubernatorial history.
Tellingly, Miller’s support of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling extreme rightist Bhartiya Junta Party (BJP) dates back nearly a decade. In 2014, as Modi was mobilizing support ahead of the election, Miller attended an event in Virginia hosted by the Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP), the international wing of the BJP.
Aruna Miller, a Maryland state delegate at the time, commented about looking forward to seeing Modi in New York after he won the election. “The last time I was at the Madison Square Garden in New York I think I saw a rock show. Now there’s going to be a new rock star there on September 28, Prime Minister Modi,” she said in an interview with The American Bazaar, an Indian American news publication.
Activists point out that Aruna Miller has continued to receive support from figures with close ties to Modi and the Hindutva movement.
When she launched her race for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District in 2018, Aruna Miller brought on Sudhir Sekhsaria, an allergist in Maryland, as her treasurer. Sekhsaria hosted a fundraiser for Aruna Miller in Houston that was attended by several Hindu nationalists. Among them was Ramesh Bhutada, the long-time vice president of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, the American arm of a Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization in India called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. The BJP is the political arm of RSS.
Scott Webber, a Democratic activist in Maryland, told HuffPost that he approved of Aruna Miller’s platform as a state delegate — until he learned about her ties to far-right Hindu groups. “She is not anti-immigrant. She talks about being pro-female. She talks about religious pluralism. She talks about tolerance and she talks about the need for having open dialogue and being anti-violence,” Webber said adding: “She talks about all those things but supports the BJP.”
Webber now joins a coalition of activists and voters who are increasingly concerned about the influence of Hindutva and are calling for Miller to unequivocally and publicly denounce the movement. They also want Miller to return donations she received from people with Hindutva connections and redirect those funds to human rights groups.
Targeting Critics of Aruna Miller’s Hindutva Ties?
Pieter Friedrich, a freelance journalist and analyst of South Asian affairs, while writing about Targeting Critics of Aruna Miller’s Hindutva Ties? on March 6, 2023 on his blog said:
In the months leading up to Miller’s election in November 2022, local activists began red-flagging how, over years of campaigns, she has taken tens — if not hundreds — of thousands of dollars from donors who are leaders in organizations like the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) and the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP). The HSS is the international wing of India’s fascist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) paramilitary and the OFBJP (now a registered foreign agent in America) is the international wing of India’s ruling BJP. The BJP itself is the political wing of the RSS.
Opposition to her over the issue came to a head during her 18 January 2023 inauguration when a diverse coalition protested outside the event, hoisting a banner declaring: “Aruna! Cut ties with BJP/RSS.” Sajid Tarar (the founder of Muslims for Trump), meanwhile, co-hosted one of the last major pre-election fundraisers for the Moore-Miller campaign. Tarar’s fundraiser was partly co-organized with longtime Miller supporter and OFBJP activist Sudhir Sekhsaria as well as attended by OFBJP President Adapa Prasad.
Indeed, in the case of Aruna Miller, the problem of the rising Hindu nationalist movement in India is not confined to that country’s borders — to “back home” — but touches the shores of America. So why aren’t top Muslim leaders in Maryland worried about it? Multiple sources, speaking anonymously, claimed that the MCDCC’s closed door session on 14 February included extensive discussion of Miller’s Hindutva ties. “Here in Maryland, countless Muslim and non-Muslim activists have been targeted in recent months and weeks for protesting against Aruna Miller’s ties to Hindutva,” says No Separate Justice.
Ahmad Abuznaid of US Campaign for Palestinian Rights emphasizes the need to oppose American collaboration with Hindutva. “Anytime there’s a relationship between elected US officials and fascists abroad, we should be concerned,” he says. “Concerned not just because of what Hindutva is doing to Muslims in India but, speaking as a Palestinian-American, also concerned because of Hindutva’s ties to the Zionist movement. Our concern should be about this growing global alliance of fascist governments and how the US is embracing so many of them.”
As the strength and malevolence of the Hindu nationalist movement in India swells to the point where Indian Muslims — and even other minorities — face genocide, international voices are needed now more than ever if it is to be averted. The global Muslim community, especially, has a chance to take a stand that may just help stem the tide of fascism in India, Pieter Friedrich concluded.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is theĀ Editor -in-Chief of the Journal of America.
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
