Hindu Policy Research and Advocacy Collective (HinduPACT)

Hindu Policy Research and Advocacy Collective (HinduPACT) is a US-based Hindu nationalist advocacy organization founded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA). The VHPA is the American affiliate of India’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a militant organization within the Indian Hindu nationalist network. Its an anti Muslim group.

VHP is widely regarded as the religious and cultural arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu supremacist paramilitary organization and the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. The group has been deeply involved in stoking communal tensions and promoting anti-minority hate and violence, particularly against Muslims. 

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has listed VHP as a “militant religious organization” for a number of years in its World Factbook. In early June 2018, an archived version of the CIA World Factbook site notes VHP as a “militant religious organization,” however, a couple of weeks later the sub-section where this was listed was removed along with the mention of the VHP.

VHP played a central role in the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, that the Hindu far-right claims was built on top of the birthplace of  the Hindu god, Lord Ram. Following the demolition, there were subsequent riots that killed more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. VHP is also accused of orchestrating the violence during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat state, killing over 1,000 Muslims. 

A UK government inquiry into the pogroms found that the violence was pre-planned and that “the VHP and its allies acted with the support of the state Government.” In recent years, VHP leaders have been advocating for the genocide of the country’s Muslim citizens.

The VHPA openly acknowledges its ideological connection to its Indian parent organization. On its website, the organization states it is “ inspired by the same values and ideals” as VHP in India. Scholars have similarly documented the VHPA’s close relationship with Hindu nationalist politics. 

Historian Dr. Audrey Truschke, Associate Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University, has written that VHPA follows “its Indian parent group in encouraging militant, including violent, behavior among Hindus,” while Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drew University, Dr. Sangay K. Mishra notes in his book, Desis Divided: The Political Lives of South Asian Americans, that the group is “aligned closely with Hindu nationalist politics in India.”

HinduPACT claims that its mission is to advance Hindu “dharmic values” and an ethos of “inclusion, pluralism, compassion” and individual rights. Its activities, however, have frequently centered on defending Hindu nationalist narratives and challenging those who document or criticize Hindutva. The organization has emerged as one of the more active US-based advocacy networks targeting academics, journalists, researchers, civil rights organizations, and other critics of Hindu nationalism. 

Its campaigns often characterize criticism of Hindutva, the BJP government, or the Indian government’s treatment of minorities as “Hinduphobia,” conflating criticism of a political ideology or government with hostility toward Hindus as a religious community.

HinduPACT has also sought to influence public policy and public discourse around caste discrimination. It played a prominent role in opposing California Senate Bill 403 (SB 403), which sought to explicitly add caste as a protected category under the state’s civil rights and anti-discrimination laws. The bill passed the California Legislature but was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2023.

The organization has also repeatedly attacked the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and its commissioners over criticism of India’s religious freedom and human rights record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. HinduPACT has promoted campaigns and allegations against USCIRF officials and other critics, contributing to what civil rights advocates have described as smear campaigns designed to discredit organizations documenting religious persecution in India.

HinduPACT operates several associated initiatives, including American Hindus Against Defamation, HinduVote, CHINGARI, and Hindus Advancing Human RIghts (HAHRI). It also regularly provides a platform to BJP leaders and other Hindu nationalist figures in the United States.

In an April 2022 appearance on India’s News 18 channel, Utsav Chakrabarti, VHPA’s HinduPACT Executive Director, attacked American Muslim organizations for their advocacy on the persecution of minorities in India and falsely accused them of colluding with “radical jihadists from groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda.”

Such rhetoric reflects a broader pattern in which Hindu nationalist advocacy networks in the United States seek to delegitimize Muslim civil rights organizations and other critics of the Indian government by associating them with extremism or terrorism.

In June 2023, Chakrabarti was seen secretly filming protesters during Indian Prime Minister Modi visit to the United States. The incident led to a hostile confrontation that ultimately required police intervention.

In December 2023, a Washington Post investigation reported that HinduPACT had actively promoted material connected to a disinformation network operated by an Indian intelligence officer and targeting critics of the Indian government and Hindu nationalism in the US. The investigation documented HinduPACT lobbyists distributing copies of a report produced by Disinfo Lab, the organization whose work was central to the broader influence operation examined by the Washington Post.

HinduPACT was one of the co-organizers of the August 2026 event featuring RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at Madison Square Garden in New York City in an effort to mainstream and sanitize the RSS and its Hindu nationalist ideology in the US.