Indian students call it “Hinduphobia” at American universities after Hinduism courses | World News
An American student of Indian descent and activist claims that the Hindu curriculum provided by the University of Houston is “Hinduphobic” and “distort the political landscape of India.” According to media reports, the university said it was reviewing concerns raised by students named Vasant Bhatt.
The University of Houston Life Hindu Religion Courses are available to students in an online mode. It includes video lectures provided by Professor Aaron Michael Ullrey Week. Bhatt, a political science major at the university, filed a complaint before the dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, which offers this course.
According to the student, Professor Ulri reportedly said that Hinduism is not an “old, life tradition” but a “political tool” weaponized by “the system of oppression of Indian nationalists and oppression against ethnic minorities.” According to reports, Bhatt shared a sentence from the syllabus saying that the term “Hinduism” is the latest and is not found in the Bible.
“Hinduism” or “Hinduism” is a term that is Hindu nationalists, those who believe that Hinduism should be the official religion of India, used to designate their religious beliefs and deny others, i.e. Islam,” Bhatt quoted the report.
The development comes the second day after India rejected the latest report from the USCIRF, calling the findings “biased and politically motivated assessments.”
“We have seen the recently released annual report of the 2025 American Council on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF), which once again continues to issue its patterns of issuance bias and politically motivated assessments. The USCIRF’s ongoing attempts to continue to attempt false isolated incidents and declare religious beliefs in India’s religious society rather than imposing religious beliefs on intentional religious societies, which is “intentional” propaganda,” said Wednesday.
“Political divisions are welcome, but extremism based on Hindu identity is not the case,” said Hindu on campus, a platform for student-led diaspora Hindus to fight Hindu phobia, adding that Hindu phobia has been around in the United States for decades.
Later, Bart told the broadcaster that the response the dean conveyed to him was not convincing. “The department attempts to deviate from the core by questioning my process and discrediting my effective concerns rather than investigating the substance of the complaint,” Bart said of the Department of Religious Studies’ response.
(with IANS input)
