“Unfortunately, Hinduphobia is very real. I’ve experienced it directly in each of my campaigns for Congress & in this presidential race,” former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard had tweeted last year. Her sentiments are now getting reinforced as the US witnessed a new case of Hinduphobia in an ivy league college- Dartmouth.
Read More: Tulsi Gabbard’s anti-Islamist terror speech is exactly the kind of aggression the world needs
Earlier this year, Dartmouth witnessed a case of sheer Hinduphobia. 3 Hindu Professors- Deeparnab Chakrabarty, Amit Chakrabarti and Prasad Jayanti, at the ivy league college, faced allegations of ‘Retaliation’ and ‘Discrimination on the Basis of Religion’ at the hands of Maha Hasan Alshawi, a former Computer Science PhD student at Dartmouth College from September 2019 to November 2020.
What was the entire case?
As per an external investigation report of the entire controversy, Aishawi alleged, “Professor Quattrini Li, her supervisor/research advisor, touched his “private area” twice in her presence and entered Complainant’s office without permission.” She reported the matter to Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Gary Sund. However, the external investigation report stated, “Respondent Sund assessed the report and found that, taken as true, the report did not fall under the Title IX Policy because, as described, the conduct was not conduct of a sexual nature.”
After Sund dismissed the grievance against Professor Li, Aishawi filed certain grievances against Respondent Jayanti, Professor Deeparnab Chakrabarty and a Hindu student identified as “Student 3” in the external investigation report. The grievances were submitted to Antonio Ferrantino, former Director, Institutional Diversity and Equity.
Later, Aishawi further filed a complaint against Ferrantino on the allegation that he did not address her report of retaliation.
Shocking Hinduphobhia in complaints against Hindu Professors
The external investigation report revealed, “Respondent Ferrantino stated that Complainant never made a report about him. Respondent Ferrantino noted that, on the online submission form that Complainant filled out on June 16, 2020, she identified Professor Alberto Quattrini Li, Respondent Jayanti, and Respondent Amit Chakrabarti as the individuals who discriminated against her.”
Ferrantino noted that there were no specifics in the complaint against Deeparnab Chakrabarty and Aishawi said that “she believes she was abused and harassed because she was Muslim and he was Hindu.” Ferrantino said, “
The complaints against other Respondents too seem to be obscure and reek of Hinduphobia. In a June 30, 2020, email, Aishawi wrote, “As I said before, [Respondent] Jayanti, [Respondent] Amit [Chakrabarti], Professor Deeparnab [Chakrabarty], and [Student 3] all belong to the same religion, and they are all friends and colleagues.”
Ferrantino said, “I asked [Complainant] for specifics and she declined to give me them. She said she believed that Hindus like seeing Muslims being tortured but there were no specifics. It was just her belief.”
The contents of the complaint reveal how the allegations against the Hindu Professors just because they were Hindus. To say that the Respondents belong to “the same religion” suggests sheer prejudice against the Hindu Professors based on their religion. What particularly reeks of Hinduphobia in the sweeping remark that “Hindus like seeing Muslims being tortured”. Such hateful sentiments are what seem to have prompted the frivolous complaints against Hindu Professors.
The complainant also alleged that Jayanti belonged to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and wrongly claimed that the RSS is an “anti-Muslim organisation.”
Frankly, the allegations are not quite surprising. With the kind of hateful commentary that is run against “Hindu nationalism” in the left-liberal US media and the constant portrayal of Hindus as fascists with actions like banning the Hindu Swastika, fear and prejudice about the Hindu community is being created in the American society. Also, the so-called progressive lawmakers like Ilhan Omar have normalised the negative portrayal of Hindus. Those who read and believe in such hostile commentary naturally end up blaming Hindus just because of their religion.
All Professors including Hindu ones exonerated
In the external investigation report, complaints against Professor Jayanti and Professor Chakrabarti were investigated. The complaint alleged that Jayanti “withheld solutions to problem sets from Complainant” and gave her “a “low pass” grade for her TA mark and that such action was an adverse act in retaliation for Complainant filing a Title IX complaint against Professor Quattrini Li.” She also alleged that “Respondent Jayanti interfered with her ability to advance to the advanced algorithms class, CS 231.”
Allegations against Chakrabarty were made under two different heads- ‘Retaliation’ and ‘Discrimination on the Basis of Religion’.
Concerning Professor Chakrabarti, allegations of agreeing but failing serve as PhD supervisor, forcing the complainant to “identify a supervisor/research advisor when other first year PhD students did not have to do so” and informing her that “her fellowship would be affected by her “low pass” TA mark” were made. She claimed that such actions were in ‘Retaliation’ for filing a complaint against Professor Quattrini Li.
Yet, in the final investigation report, none of the allegations made by Professor Quattrini Li was upheld. The report stated, “we find that there is insufficient information to support a finding, by a preponderance of the evidence, that any of the named Respondents engaged in Retaliation. We also find that there is insufficient information to support a finding, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Respondent Jayanti engaged in Discrimination on the basis of religion.”
THREAD: Did you know that a student filed a complaint against Hindu professors at @Dartmouth just bc they were Hindu?
Didn’t hear about it? Our team investigated the biggest Hinduphobic scandal in Dartmouth’s history. #Hinduphobia #AcademicTwitter https://t.co/Bun38wjyVN
— Hindu On Campus (@hinduoncampus) October 22, 2021
Dartmouth thus witnessed a new form of Jihad waged against Hindu Professors. Yet, the problem is deeper. The Woke and Islamo-leftist lobbies in the United States of America are often found indulging in blatant Hinduphobia which goes as far as trying to portray abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir as a Hindu nationalist move or organising a “Dismantling Global Hindutva” conference for no good reason.
The fear-mongering against Hindus is becoming an all-pervasive issue in the West and this is leading to a rise in hate and vengeful attitude against the Hindu community.