Critics slam US Congressman Ro Khanna for meeting Hindutva ideologue on India visit

Ro Khanna, United States Democratic Congressman, has come under criticism for meeting far-right Hindutva ideologue Abhijeet Iyer-Mitra on his recent trip to India.

His critics claim that his embrace of Hindu nationalists is against the progressive values that he has claimed to espouse as the the co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the reports, Khanna is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to the country of his parents' birth, where he has met Indian government officials, and business and technology leaders.

On Monday, Iyer-Mitra posted a photograph with Khanna on X and said: "Had a very productive breakfast meeting with @RoKhanna. Free & frank exchange of views. I thank the congressman for his candour & his perspicacity, as well as striving to improve India-US relations."

In response, Khanna wrote: "Great conversation @Iyervval! Appreciated the candid exchange, your insights about the US India relationship, and the back and forth."

The Indian-American Muslim Council based in the US, said it was "deeply disappointed to see Khanna engaging with a far-right Islamophobe", and condemned him for embracing those who "enable [this] cycle of hate and violence" against Muslims, says Al Jazeera.

In May, a religious freedom watchdog,for the fourth year in a row, recommended that the Indian government be added to a blacklist as Muslims have faced increasing attacks, including lynchings and being thrown into jail for protesting against the government's anti-Muslim policies.

In its annual report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called on the Department of State to designate India as a "country of particular concern" for the worsening conditions of minorities in the South Asian country of 1.4 billion people, adds Al Jazeera.

Additionally, Iyer-Mitra has been accused of promoting an Islamophobic narrative through his tweets. Last October, he called Khanna's Muslim colleague, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a "jihadi" after her sharp exchange with an Indian journalist during a US House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on "Human Rights in South Asia" in Washington, DC.

Iyer-Mitra has also spoken and written on Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and has said India has "a lot to learn" from the Israeli use of force and intelligence in the occupied Palestinian territory. He has opposed terming Israel's occupation as apartheid.

Journalists and academics based in the US and India have criticised Khanna for meeting Iyer-Mitra, calling on the congressman to "apologise" to his Democrat colleague Omar and issue a "forceful statement" against Iyer-Mitra since he had previously promised to reject Hindu nationalism.

Khanna has responded to the criticism by saying he met Iyer-Mitra as he had "sharply criticized my grandfather (see his past posts on me) and we met so I could stand up for my grandfather legacy as a freedom fighter. [India Independence hero Mahatma] Gandhi had a philosophy of engaging with almost anyone – including British colonizers."

He added that his  "core values have never changed" after meeting people he doesn't agree with.

Previously, Khanna has played a key role in calling for Indian Prime Minister Modi to address a joint seating of the US Congress on his July trip to the US capital. He authored a bipartisan letter and said "the way to make progress on human rights is to engage with the Indian PM".

"It's the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians. That is the vision of India my grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar fought for," he had posted on X four years ago in response to an article on the rise of Hindutva – an ideology that calls for the supremacy of Hindus in India – in the US.

According to Al jazeera, Khanna's meeting with Iyer-Mitra has been termed an act of appeasement by a US-based academic.

"When he goes and meets with people like Abhijeet [Iye-Mitra] or others who are to the right of Indian Hindutva, he is basically appeasing his Indian backers and electorate in the US," Mohamad Junaid, an assistant professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in New York, told Al Jazeera.

Junaid said Khanna represents "the broader character of Hindu Indian diaspora in the US, which often votes for democratic candidates but is also highly radicalised by the Hindutva movement in India".

"He [Khanna] knows what he is doing – he wants to run with the hare and hunt with the hound."

Khanna has also been questioned for not meeting Indian opposition leaders or minority representatives during his trip.