Rakhi Israni ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 14th Congressional District and lost. In a statement announcing her candidacy, Israni said her campaign would focus on “restoring justice and truth” and lowering the political temperature at a time when “hate and division infect our democracy.”

That framing stands paradoxical to Israni’s record over more than three decades as a senior leader in Hindu nationalist and supremacist movements in the United States. Her decades-long leadership in these organizations places her squarely within extremist movements that have attacked pluralism, democratic governance, and the protections of the First Amendment.

Executive Board Member of Militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad

Israni has been a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu nationalist organization that has been described for years in the CIA World Factbook as a “militant religious organization.” She has served on the executive board of the VHP’s U.S. affiliate, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), and has been involved with the organization for over thirty years, including serving on its executive board as recently as 2025. Her tenure places her among the most senior figures in the transnational Hindu supremacist ecosystem operating in the US.

During her time on the VHPA board, Israni served alongside figures such as Amitabh Mittal, Tejal Shah, Vasav Mehta, Shyam Tiwari, Toral Mehta, Jai Bansal, Sanjay Kaul, and Jayant Daftardar, several of whom have been associated with far-right Hindu nationalist movement in the U.S.

VHPA, widely regarded as the U.S. offshoot of VHP India, was established in New York in 1970 by Dr. Mahesh J. Mehta and three other members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization that serves as the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mehta himself was a full-time RSS worker and cited inspiration from M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS’s second chief, who was known for virulent anti-Muslim and anti-Christian views, admiration for Adolf Hitler, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing as a solution to what he described as India’s “Muslim problem.”

In 2022, a former RSS member petitioned a court in Maharashtra alleging that senior RSS figures had manufactured bombs to target Muslim neighborhoods between 2000 and 2010.

VHP has played a central role in promoting anti-minority violence in India, particularly against Muslim and Christian communities. The organization was instrumental in the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya, which Hindu nationalists claimed stood on the birthplace of the god Ram. The demolition was followed by nationwide riots that killed more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. VHP has also been accused of orchestrating violence during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat, in which more than 1,000 Muslims were killed. A UK government inquiry concluded 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 publicly advocated genocidal violence against Muslims.

Between 2023 and 2025, VHP and its affiliated militant youth wing, Bajrang Dal, ranked among the top organizations for delivering hate speeches inciting violence against Muslims and Christians.

Over the decades, VHPA leaders have promoted various conspiracy theories and tropes that generate  fear, suspicion, and hatred toward Muslims, including that Muslim men are paid money to entrap Hindu women, they are producing more children in order to overtake Hindus, Muslim women have no real status in Islam, they are less patriotic and raise the bogey of “Muslim appeasement.” VHPA’s website features articles that say “fundamentals of Islam clearly divide humanity” and “many ayats (verses) in the Quran are indeed hateful.”  Its Hindudvesha website has categories like “Destructive Islam.” An archived version of VHPA’s website claims that Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs are categorized as Hindus.

Israni was also an early founder and national president of the Hindu Students Council (HSC), the youth wing of VHPA.

Legal Director of Foreign Intelligence Linked HinduPACT

In addition, Israni served as legal director of HinduPACT, VHPA’s advocacy arm.  HinduPACT has a record of attacking American Muslim organizations for their advocacy on the persecution of minorities in India and falsely accusing them of colluding with “radical jihadists from groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda.”

A December 2023 Washington Post investigation reported that an India-based disinformation operation known as DisinfoLab,  run by Indian intelligence officer Lt. Col. Dibya Satpathy, was heavily amplified by HinduPACT, with copies of reports shared with congressional staffers. Israni served in HinduPACT leadership during this period, when the organization targeted critics of the Modi government and sought to chill First Amendment-protected speech.

As part of her HinduPACT advocacy, Israni also led campaigns opposing legislation designed to protect caste-oppressed communities in the US, including lobbying efforts to defeat California’s SB 403, which sought to ban caste-based discrimination.

Vice President for Government Relations at Sewa International

Israni has further served as Vice President for Government and Public Relations at Sewa International USA, the U.S. branch of Sewa Bharati, the “service” arm of the RSS. Over the past three decades, Sewa has transferred tens of millions of dollars in tax-subsidized American donations to Hindu nationalist projects in India and mostly to Sewa Bharati. The group has been repeatedly linked to extremist activity. In 2003, then–Chief Minister of India’s Madhya Pradesh state, Digvijay Singh, considered imposing a ban on the state branch of Sewa Bharati over its alleged involvement in bomb-making activities.

“This has been admitted in the statement given to the police by an activist of the organisation, who had been arrested in Mhow,” Singh told the reporters.

“On the basis of various evidences and proofs available against ‘Seva Bharti’, the government could consider imposing a ban on this RSS outfit in the state,” he added.

According to Singh, during the BJP’s tenure in Madhya Pradesh in 1992, a bomb exploded at Sewa Bharati’s office, resulting in one fatality. After the Congress came to power in 1993, the case was reopened, leading to the arrest of the principal of a school led by Hindu nationalists in Khargone city, he claimed.

In January 2004, Sewa Bharati, along with members of the VHP and the BJP, were accused of orchestrating mob attacks on Christians, as well as targeting their churches and homes in Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh. According to state police chief R.S. Meena, the mob was led by “Seva Bharati, VHP and BJP men.”

In 2016, Outlook magazine published a five-part investigative report titled, Operation #BabyLift, revealing that Sewa Bharati and its affiliate organizations were involved in trafficking 31 young tribal girls from Assam to Punjab and Gujarat. The investigation found that the stated purpose was to “Hinduise” the children.

Sewa International has also collaborated on events with the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, a Texas-based organization that has been accused by civil rights groups of promoting anti-Muslim and anti-Christian hate.

Israni additionally serves on the board of the Hindu American Political Action Committee (HAPAC), which donates to U.S. political candidates, and has been a prominent advocate in efforts to whitewash the international image of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government has been widely criticized for democratic backsliding and escalating persecution of religious minorities.

Following the launch of her congressional campaign, Israni deleted her former X (Twitter) account, which had contained posts amplifying Hindu nationalist narratives, defending Modi’s policies, and sharing Islamophobic content.