The recent visit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat to the US has baffled and traumatised the Islamo-leftist cabal. After petitions, propaganda articles, and charged rhetoric could not prevent Bhagwat’s Madison Square event, the Islamo-leftist lobby led by Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) Action and SACRED Acts has secured a pledge from 100 politicians against receiving donations from RSS-linked entities or its supporters.
100 US Republican and Democrat politicians sign Hindus for Human Rights Action and SACRED Acts pledge to refuse donations from RSS supporters
In a press release issued on 31st August, Hindus for Human Rights Action and SACRED Acts said, “– Hindus for Human Rights Action and SACRED Acts announce an historic commitment against hate with nearly 100 American political leaders from across the United States pledging to reject political contributions from the anti-democratic movement behind the assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S.).”
The press release cites The New York Times to claim that the RSS is a “far-right group” that has been for nearly a century to turn India into a Hindu-first nation.
Amusingly, the HfHR Action and SACRED Acts lamented that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat visited the US despite the ‘direct opposition’ of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which recommended barring Bhagwat’s entry into the US and sanctioning RSS leaders.
The press release further stated that the nonpartisan pledge signed by Republican and Democrat politicians establishes three core commitments, including rejection of political violence and intimidation, refusal to accept donations from RSS and its affiliates, and return or redirect all such political contributions to ‘pro-democracy’ outfits.
“In response to the R.S.S. leaders visit Hindus for Human Rights Action, SACRED Acts, and their partners announce a nonpartisan pledge that includes a broad coalition of signatories from both the Democratic and Republican parties, including elected officials and candidates at the federal, state, and local/municipal level in eight states. The Nonviolence Pledge establishes three commitments for elected officials and candidates: Reject political violence and intimidation; Refuse donations linked to the anti-democratic R.S.S. and its affiliates; Return or redirect such political contributions to pro-democracy organizations.”
In addition to requiring the 100 US politicians to sign the SACRED Acts Nonviolence Pledge against RSS, the HfHR Action also urged all American political leaders to make a public statement supporting the USCIRF’s call “to impose sanctions and bar entry of R.S.S. leaders to the U.S. for “their responsibility and tolerance of severe violations of religious freedom.”
Notably, the SACRED Acts Nonviolence Pledge was first launched by SACRED Acts, founded by Pushkar Sharma, in Illinois in 2023, with support from Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Asian American Midwest Progressives, India Civil Watch International (ICWI), and Hindus for Human Rights.
As Islamo-leftist activists and politicians join forces to sharpen their attacks on India, the Indian government and the RSS by relying on apocryphal narratives and alarmist rhetoric, it is important to know who all are behind these sinister manoeuvres.
Ahead of Mohan Bhagwat’s US visit, USCIRF demanded sanctions against RSS and R&AW
The USCIRF, headed by a Pakistan-born American, Dr Asif Mahmood, has an opprobrious track record of churning out utterly biased and dubious anti-India reports annually.
In its annual report for the year 2026, the USCIRF has made unfounded allegations against the Indian government, the RSS and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). In the report, the USCIRF placed India among the countries it describes as “countries of particular concern”. It also urged the US government to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for allegedly “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)”.
Unsurprisingly, the USCIRF actively contributed to the sinister Islamo-leftist campaign in the US to stop RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Madison Square event.
The US-based organisation openly called for sanctions against the RSS, falsely accusing it of perpetrating attacks on Christians and Muslims in India. It emphasised PM Modi’s association with the RSS to insinuate that the Indian government, in connivance with the RSS, has been targeting religious minorities in the country.
“India’s PM Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian umbrella organisation whose sub-groups have perpetrated attacks on religious minorities, incl. Christians & Muslims. Now, the RSS leader, Mohan Bhagwat, plans to visit the U.S.,” the USCIRF’s Pakistan-born American Chairman, Dr Asif Mahmood, said.
“RSS leaders, even when affiliated with the Indian gov’t, should not be honoured with high-level meetings or diplomatic courtesies. Instead, the USG should focus on imposing sanctions on RSS members found responsible for FoRB violations,” the organisation’s commissioner Gene Mills remarked.
The Indian Government, however, trashed the USCIRF’s statement, calling it a “biased” organisation with a track record of making “disparaging and inflammatory remarks about India.”
Hindus for Human Rights Action
Officially launched in 2026, with its public launch event held on 11th March, Hindus for Human Rights Action is the political advocacy arm of its parent organisation, Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR).
The HfHR Action describes itself as “A movement for all Hindus seeking to protect democracy, human rights, and pluralism, and dismantle caste and Hindu nationalism.”
HfHR was formed in the year 2019 by two Islamist advocacy groups named Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). Interestingly, the three organisations had formed another outfit called the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), which, alongside IAMC, had been at the forefront of leading demonstrations against the visit of PM Modi to Houston on September 22, 2019.
The HfHR chief Sunita Vishwanath, who was pictured alongside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, had attempted to create hysteria and panic among Indian Muslims about the National Register of Citizens (NRC). HfHR’s founding member Raju also heads EKTA. It is an associate organisation of IAMC. The sole purpose was to have Hindus on the panel to project that the Hindus, in general, were against Hindutva. Interestingly, HfHR ran Facebook ads to promote previous USCIRF reports.
Recently, HfHR endorsed IAMC’s online petition asking people to take part in it to urge Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke Bhagwat’s US visa, insisting that otherwise it would “send the wrong message about America’s commitment to religious freedom and the safety of minority communities.”
Indian American Muslim Council
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) is a Washington-based Islamist outfit which has been involved in anti-India activities and pushing an anti-Hindu agenda for many years. In 2021, IAMC campaigned to designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern”.
During the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, IAMC and CAIR condemned India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan Army-backed terror establishments in Pakistan.
The Indian American Muslim Council is accused of having ties with the banned Islamic terror outfit, Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Besides, the Indian American Muslim Council has ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) through its founder Shaik Ubaid. The IAMC is a Jamaat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group.
Moreover, the IAMC is also accused of collaborating with and even paying money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF. OpIndia has reported on how the IAMC frequently publishes disinformation to peddle Muslim victimhood propaganda against India. The Indian government slapped the IAMC with the UAPA in 2021.
The IAMC also backed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his mayoral candidacy. Mamdani, a notorious Hinduphobe, had recently lamented not having the authority to cancel the RSS Chief’s event in the city.
SACRED Acts
The South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy, also known as SACRED Acts, is a US-based organisation that claims to advance democracy and human rights by countering ‘extremism’ and political influence linked to ‘nationalist movements’.
Its stated mission is to “organize multiracial, multifaith, and anti-caste coalitions to counter authoritarianism and strengthen movements for justice.”
SACRED Acts first gained attention in 2023, when it introduced a six-page Nonviolence Pledge in Illinois, with the backing of the Islamist IAMC, Asian American Midwest Progressives, India Civil Watch International and Hindus for Human Rights.
Since its 2023 launch, the Nonviolence Pledge has secured signatures of around 90 officials and candidates across federal, state and local races. The ‘pledge’ boasts the endorsement of Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, as if his relation with MK Gandhi makes him an unquestionable authority of righteousness.
Pushkar Sharma, the Executive Director of SACRED Acts, claims, “Over the past decade, in Illinois alone, individuals tied to the RSS have funnelled at least $2.5 million into political campaigns across both parties [Democratic and Republican] promoting their anti-democratic, extremist agenda that does not represent the beliefs of the vast majority of South Asian Americans.”
Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna, Kshama Sawant, and more: Who the key signatories of the anti-RSS pledge are
The Hindus for Human Rights Action and SACRED Acts orchestrated anti-RSS pledge has been signed by at least 100 American politicians, including members of Congress, state legislators, mayors, local elected officials and candidates from both Democratic and Republican circles.
Among the key signatories of this ridiculous pledge are members of the US House of Representatives Pramila Jayapal of Washington, U.S. Rep. Aisha Wahab (CA), Ro Khanna of California and Robin Kelly of Illinois, Michigan’s newly elected Democratic nominee for the Senate race Abdul El-Sayed, another Democrat congressional nominee Brad Lander, and socialist politician Kshama Sawant.
Pramila Jayapal: A rabid Hinduphobe and anti-India politician in the US
Pramila Jayapal is a notorious anti-India and anti-Hindu element infecting American politics. In December 2019, she brought a Congressional resolution urging India to end restrictions on communications in Jammu and Kashmir. Her stand against the Indian Government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in the state made the Indian-American community feel betrayed, cheated and saddened.
Following her resolution, MEA Jaishankar famously cancelled his meeting with a group of United States lawmakers following their refusal to exclude anti-India Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal from the delegation that was scheduled to meet him. “Don’t think her report has a fair understanding of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir or a fair characterisation of what the Government of India is doing. I have no interest in meeting her,” the External Affairs Minister revealed after speculations of cancellation of the meeting came forth.
In January 2026, Pramila Jayapal joined 7 other US lawmakers in signing an open letter to the Indian government demanding bail and a free trial for 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi Riots accused mastermind Umar Khalid. Even as Khalid’s case remained sub judice, the US lawmakers declared him downright innocent. Jayapal and other signatories demanded that Umar Khalid be released from jail, claiming that the anti-CAA protests were ‘peaceful’ and even painted Muslims as the victims of the anti-Hindu riots in 2020.
Kshama Sawant: The Anti-India lobbyist who brought resolution against CAA, Hindus in Seattle
An Indian American economist from Seattle and a former member of the Seattle City Council, Kshama Sawant has an opprobrious history of peddling anti-Hindu hatred and indulging in activism directly attacking the Hindu American community.
As a councilwoman, Kshama Sawant drafted and piloted a law to designate “caste” a protected category under the city’s non-discrimination policy – the first such law passed by a city in the United States – which placed Hindus under additional legal scrutiny and faced fierce opposition from the community leaders and groups. Furthermore, she protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which aimed to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Sawant was the driving force behind a resolution passed by the Seattle City Council in February 2020 denouncing India’s CAA and NRC for “discriminating against women, Muslims, members of suppressed castes, indigenous and LGBT individuals.”
The resolution ridiculously framed the CAA as ‘discriminatory’ even as CAA had nothing to do with any existing Indian citizens, Muslim, LGBT, women or otherwise. It was a provision to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who have already been living in India as refugees.
The resolution asked the Indian Parliament to ratify several United Nations (UN) refugee relief treaties, repeal the CAA and halt the NRC. It should come as no surprise that anti-Hindu, anti-Indian, and Islamist groups praised the action. The Indian American Muslim Council‘s (IAMC) president, Ahsan Khan, stated that Seattle’s decision should send a message to those who are threatening religious freedom and plurality. Thenmozhi Soundararajan of advocacy group Equality Labs also voiced support, characterising Seattle’s initiative as a component of a worldwide protest against the CAA.
In 2020, Sawant brought a resolution which called on workers, farmers, students, and other community members to participate in solidarity actions in support of the protesting farmers in New Delhi.
After Kshama Sawant sponsored a caste resolution, Seattle became the first city in the US to formally designate “caste” as a protected group under its non-discrimination policy in February 2023.
Aisha Wahab: The Senator who introduced the SB-403 caste discrimination bill
In 2023, California Senator Aisha Wahab tabled the SB-403 caste discrimination bill. The dubious organisation Equality Labs is one of the bill’s biggest supporters. The bill was completely based on the Cisco caste case, which later fell flat. In October 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom returned the discriminatory and Hinduphobic Bill ‘SB403’, deeming it “unnecessary”.
Ro Khanna: The Islamist sympathiser
Rohit Khanna, commonly known as Ro Khanna, is a US Democrat Congressman of Indian origin. In August 2019, Ro Khanna joined the Pakistan Congressional Caucus, becoming the first Indian-American to do so. This move had raised eyebrows in the Indian-American community, while he was welcomed by the Pakistanis, including Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.
Over the years, OpIndia has extensively reported on Khanna’s anti-India activities.
On 24th March 2023, Khanna made unsolicited remarks about the internal political affairs of India. The development comes after Congress scion Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
In an X post, he claimed, “The expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from parliament is a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India’s deepest values.” The US politician further added, “This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for. Narendra Modi, you have the power to reverse this decision for the sake of Indian democracy.”
In August 2019, Ro Khanna courted controversy for presenting a distorted version of Hindutva to his American followers. He had tweeted, “Important article. It’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians. That is the vision of India my grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar fought for.”
Khanna created a false impression that Hindutva promotes inequality and discrimination against other religions. Contrary to Khanna’s framing, Hindutva (as defined by Veer Savarkar) is an inclusive term that represents everything ‘Indic’.
During the anti-farm law agitation in India in 2020, Ro Khanna tweeted, “India & the US share a rich tradition of democracy & peaceful protests. Farmworkers are the backbone of both our nations & must have their voices heard.”
India & the US share a rich tradition of democracy & peaceful protests. Farmworkers are the backbone of both our nations & must have their voices heard. I hope there's a peaceful and fair solution so they can provide for their families. I am encouraged by the ongoing dialogue.
— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) December 13, 2020
Equality Labs, which is known for anti-Hindu propaganda, has worked with Congressman Ro Khanna to introduce a resolution in celebration of the 129th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. The founder of Equity Labs, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, has shared the stage with Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is the founder of Khalistani terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice or SFJ.
Unsurprisingly, Ro Khanna, who has a history of pushing Islamist narratives, also enjoys the backing of Islamist outfits like the IAMC. In 2023, he visited India and met the Muslim ‘victims’ of anti-Hindu Nuh violence. He also met anti-Hindu riots accused Umar Khalid, Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, who is generally seen loitering around on Twitter spewing hate, and Kukis from Manipur; he did not meet Meities when he should have met both communities in the capacity of a foreign politician.
Interestingly, Ro Khanna has claimed that as a part of his commitment to the HfHR Action and SACRED Acts pledge to return or redirect funds received from RSS supporters, he is returning a $6,600 contribution he recently received “from a pro-MAGA, billionaire with ties to the RSS”. Questions are being asked as to why a MAGA supporter would donate to an Islamist-sympathising Democrat like Khanna.
