Why Have California Textbooks Become a Battleground for Hindu Fundamentalism?

FEATURING THENMOZHI SOUDARARAJAN – For over ten years the way in which California’s textbooks depict the history of Hinduism and India has provoked controversy. Americans affiliated with Hindu fundamentalist groups have sought to rewrite the history of caste and gender oppression built into the Hindu religion by petitioning and even suing the California Board of Education.

The latest round of that controversy is ongoing as the Board prepares for a vote this Thursday over proposed changes to the curriculum over the history of Hinduism.

India’s current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the main organizations whose affiliated Hindu supremacist groups are attempting to infiltrate US academia in a variety of ways.

Sign the Petition for California Textbook campaign HERE.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit-American transmedia artist and activist, and co-founder of the international women’s media technology collective, Third World Majority.