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Hindutva Defeated Again in California Courts
Judge Rejects HAF’s Demand for Preliminary Injunction Against School Textbooks Community Groups Applaud Decision
Oakland,
California, Apr 24, 2006:
Friends of South Asia (FOSA) applauds the decision by the Superior
Court of California in Sacramento to reject the Hindu American
Foundation (HAF)'s demand for a preliminary injunction against
publication of new sixth-grade textbooks.
On Friday, April 21, after giving HAF lawyers a long, patient hearing,
the court denied the injunction. The court's ruling means that HAF
failed to demonstrate to the judge even one of the three soft
requirements for a preliminary injunction: that the suit had a
likelihood of success on the merits, or that there was going to be any
irreparable injury, or even that granting the injunction will advance
the public interest.
HAF had asked for an injunction to stop the California State Board of
Education (Board) from approving publication of new
History–Social Science textbooks, until HAF's lawsuit against the
Board could be tried. In its suit, HAF is asking the court to
reverse the March 8 decision by the Board to reject the seriously
distorted version of Hinduism and ancient Indian history demanded by
two groups, the so-called Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) and the
Vedic Foundation (VF). The Board's March 8 decision was supported
by the majority of the South Asian community as well as over two
hundred scholars and university faculty who do research and teach in
the area of South Asian history and religion.
Community groups and scholars have challenged the efforts by Hindutva
(Hindu supremacist) groups to influence textbooks in California since
those efforts began last year. Over the last six months,
concerned individuals, South Asian-American groups and scholars made
several presentations to the Board to make it aware of the fact that
not only did the HAF, HEF and VF not speak for the larger South
Asian-American community, but that they did not even speak for any but
a small fraction of Hindus in the United States. The Board's
attention was also directed to the sectarian nature of, and complete
lack of scholarship behind the changes being demanded. After many
public hearings and gathering information from subject area experts
from universities across the U.S., the Board rejected the changes
sought by the Hindutva organizations in the textbooks.
Following the Board's rejection of Hindutva demands, the HAF started a
large publicity and fundraising campaign, and filed a lawsuit on March
16, projecting itself as the representative of an aggrieved minority in
the U.S. Even before the hearing on the Preliminary Injunction,
the HAF demanded a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to freeze the
textbook approval process, but a Superior Court judge rejected that
demand on March 21. At the same TRO hearing, the judge also
rejected HAF's demand to be allowed to attend corrections meetings
between the Board and the publishers.
On April 18, FOSA and six other South Asian community groups, the
Ambedkar Center for Justice & Peace (ACJP), Campaign to Stop
Funding Hate (CSFH), Coalition Against Communalism (CAC), EKTA,
Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA), and the Guru
Ravidass Gurdwaras of California, filed a friends of the court brief
(Brief Amici Curiae) opposing the HAF's claims. The brief
demonstrated the absurdity of HAF's stand that the proposed textbooks
maligned and misrepresented Hinduism and would "harm" Hindu children,
and questioned the legitimacy of HAF to speak on behalf of Americans
who profess Hinduism, leave alone all Hindus. Amici also pointed
out to the court that the version of Hinduism being advocated by HAF
was nothing but Brahmanism with its undisguised contempt for Dalits,
women's rights and historical truth. Amici directed the court's
attention to the sectarian political ideology driving the changes being
demanded by the HAF, HEF & VF, and to the fact of these
organizations being the U.S.-based institutional fronts of the broader
Hindutva movement, a supremacist movement whose current interest in
rewriting school textbooks in the United States demonstrably comes from
the movement's failure to impose its textbook agenda in India.
Along with the brief by amici, 126 university faculty and scholars with
expertise in South Asia submitted a declaration to the Court denouncing
the efforts of the HAF to distort history. The faculty
declaration challenged the changes advocated by HAF because such
changes would be historically inaccurate, and also pointed out the
Hindu nationalist ideology underpinning these changes. The
declaration said in part:
"Hinduism, it is widely recognized by scholars and most practitioners
alike, is constituted of diverse and plural traditions, and
consequently the religion cannot be reduced to a narrowly defined group
of texts and precepts. Many of the changes that plaintiffs [HAF and
others] seek will distort the distinctive character of Hinduism by
defining it exclusively as a monotheistic religion. Such a monolithic
concept of Hinduism, with Brahminical texts at its core, has been used
extensively by Hindu supremacists in recent years to delegitimize the
various folk and syncretic traditions that give Hinduism its vibrant,
lived form."
Signatories to the declaration include many prominent scholars from
around the world, such as D.N. Jha, the president of Indian History
Congress, Suvir Kaul, Director of the South Asia Center at the
University of Pennsylvania, and Stephanie W. Jamison (Watkins),
Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures, and Head of the Program in
Indo-European Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.
The HAF's claims are so patently absurd that the court had little
difficulty in rejecting them. It is important to note that in
Friday's court hearing, the judge ruled that the HAF not only failed to
demonstrate the merits of its arguments on the alleged procedural
violations by the Board, but also failed to support its claims in
relation to the substantive issues involved—the depiction of
ancient Indian history and Hinduism. The court's decision means
that the Board can move ahead with the approval process for publication
of the new history-social science textbooks, whether or not the HAF
withdraws its now meritless lawsuit.
FOSA is pleased to note that today's decision by the Superior Court of
California has sounded the death knell for Hindutva's broad offensive
to inject its sectarian ideology into textbooks in the U.S. This
is a clear victory for the forces of secularism and pluralism, and no
less a victory for the children of California, who will benefit from
new textbooks that include greatly expanded sections on South Asian
history, religions and cultures, reflecting the insights of historical
scholarship instead of sectarian propaganda.
It is HAF's hubris in arrogating to itself the right to speak on behalf
of Hindus and Hinduism that has resulted in its utter failure to
convince two different judges of the merits of its case – despite
hiring expensive, high-powered legal talent. HAF also seems to
have forgotten that Hindus can see as well as other people, and have no
trouble in seeing right through its façade and look upon its
sordid ties to the broader anti-minority, anti-dalit, and anti-women
Sangh Parivar agenda in India. If, as it claims, the HAF really
cares about Hindus, particularly Hindus in the United States, it must
not only withdraw its lawsuit, it must abrogate all ties with Hindu
supremacist groups in the U.S. as well as those in India, and work to
heal the hurt it has caused to the community through its attempts to
distort and delay textbooks for California schoolchildren.
The
coalition issuing this press-release includes Friends of South Asia (FOSA), an
organization working toward a multicultural, pluralistic, and hate-free
South Asia, and Coalition Against Communalism (CAC), an Indian American
organization which promotes religious tolerance in the Indian diaspora.
For further information on this press release, please contact mail[at]friendsofsouthasia.org
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