US Ambassador Atul Keshap's 8 September 2021 meeting with the chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an Indian paramilitary, disqualifies him for continued service in any capacity as a diplomat within the US State Department.

The RSS is an armed, uniformed, all-male Hindu nationalist paramilitary which is implicated — including in reports from many US government entities — in acts of extreme violence against Indian religious minorities and others. Current RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, with whom Keshap met and staged a photo-op, is himself accused by RSS members who committed anti-Muslim bombings of directly sanctioning their actions. The RSS is ideologically committed to turning India into a "Hindu Rashtra [Nation]" in which non-Hindus are either subjugated to second-class citizenship or else eliminated altogether.

Furthermore, the RSS was founded in 1925 at the exact same time that the European fascist movements were developing in Italy and Germany. Its founders and ideologues pointed directly to the structure of Mussolini's fascist outfits, to the "race pride" of Hitler's Germany, and to the territorial expansionism of both fascist Italy and Germany as examples for the RSS to follow. One of its co-founders even traveled to Italy to meet Mussolini, subsequently describing the RSS as of an identical kind to the Italian fascist outfits.

Most notoriously, in 1939 (a year after Kristallnacht, the first Nazi pogrom of the Jews, and amidst the Nazi annexation of Austria and invasion of Poland), the RSS's longest-serving leader praised Hitler's "purging of the Jews" as a "good lesson for us... to learn and profit by."

The Nazis primarily targeted Jewish people. In the case of the RSS, they primarily target Christians and Muslims (for elimination), while also seeking to forcibly assimilate Buddhists and Sikhs. In the case of Muslims and Christians, RSS founders and ideologues smeared them as members of “foreign races,” as an “internal threat,” or, in so many words, as “traitors.”

Since the RSS was founded, it has repeatedly put its xenophobic and genocidal ideology into practice with over a dozen large-scale pogroms against Muslims and Christians, terrorist bombings, lynchings, assassinations, etc.

Today, the RSS — as the parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — holds vast influence over India. We understand why, considering all circumstances, the US may have an interest in initiating and/or maintaining contact with the RSS. However, the nature of Keshap's meeting went far beyond simply establishing communication.

The nature of Keshap's meeting with the RSS came across as a photo-op, it was public, and it platformed and promoted a violent, fascist (and many call it “terrorist”) organization which serves as the greatest enemy to religious freedom that Indian citizens face today. Keshap's meeting appeared to legitimize, normalize, and whitewash the RSS.

In short, Ambassador Atul Keshap's meeting with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat seemed to place a stamp of approval on and act as an endorsement of the RSS — which is exactly how the action is now being interpreted by the paramilitary itself.

In August 2019, US Representative Ro Khanna (himself a Hindu of Indian origin), stated, “It is the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva [that is, Hindu nationalism], and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians.” Expanding upon Representative Khanna’s declaration, we believe it is the duty of the US government to disavow any associations with the RSS which might suggest approval or appeasement, to stand up and speak out against religious nationalism anywhere it is found in the world, and to reject all alliances with fascistic organizations or governments.

Ambassador Keshap’s deplorable meeting with the RSS unfortunately indicates that the US government is prioritizing geopolitical concerns and profits over principles or people. This cannot stand.

We, the undersigned:

1) Demand that President Joe Biden's administration, and particularly Secretary of State Antony Blinken, answer for Ambassador Keshap’s meeting, explain its purpose, and transparently disclose its views about the RSS and that group's Hindu nationalist agenda.

2) Demand that Ambassador Keshap immediately resign or be removed from any and all postings within the US State Department.

3) Demand that President Biden's nominee for permanent Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, disclose his own views on the RSS and its agenda; additionally, we demand that Garcetti's views on the matter be scrutinized with the utmost intensity as his nomination is considered for approval by the US Senate.