‘Flush Down the Toilet’: UC Berkeley student Senate rejected the Hindu heritage month; Hindufobia, spark of allegations of bullying

In a judgment, which has ignited the broad backlash, the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) at UC Berkeley voted against a resolution to recognize October as a Hindu heritage month, causing displeasure with the supervisors of Hindu students, advocacy groups and civil rights.The proposal, the Senate Resolution Number 2024/2025-042, was written by a Caribbean Hindu student and focused on celebrating the contribution of Hindus only in the American Society and UC Berkeley campus. This highlighted Hindu achievements in science, technology, education and art, deliberately to avoid any reference in terms of Indian politics, Hindu nationalism or current global events.Nevertheless, despite his political tone, Sankalp faced the opposition. Many student senators claimed that the measure could be “to legalize the Hindu nationalist ideology”, even if they do not appear anywhere in the word text. The resolution failed to pass, the critics allowed uniform heritage beliefs to move forward without resistance to other groups citing vague political concerns.The coalition of Hindus of North America called the vote discriminatory and accused the Senate of getting entangled in “masked as caution”. The organization described the behavior of bullying during a public meeting of March 5 and Senator Isha Chander allegedly asked to discuss divisive political rhetoric. Kohna also expressed solidarity with Senator Justin Taylor, who supported the resolution and, according to the observers, faced enmity and mockery from colleagues during the debate.A video of the meeting, which is now widely shared on the social media platform X, shows a student a knee gesture and dramatically pretending to suffocate, while the resolution was being discussed, a moment explained many people as a disturbing performance of disdain for Hindu concerns. Kohna demanded a formal inquiry, an apology for the Hindu student community, and it is called a “public bullying of a fellow senator”.,Connecting the controversy, ASUC temporarily removed the video of the meeting from its Facebook page during the student elections. Critics argue that the move is investigated by political censorship which aims to avoid investigation. “What are they trying to hide?” Kohna questioned, called the deletion “deeply suspicious” and “signal of institutional bias”.Resolution’s defeat has trusted concerns about uneven representation of minority beliefs in the campus. A student speaker said, “The three Abraham religions have a formal representation in ASUC.” “But when it comes to Hindus, our culture is considered as a political threat. The resolution was dropped from the toilet”, a raw phrase is actually used by a senator during the session.While ASUC defended its decision as a measure to avoid “unexpected political implications”, Hindu students and supporters argue that this episode reflects a deep problem: the growing trend of accepting a cultural festival with controversial geopolitics – especially when it involves Hindu identity.“It’s tired,” a student said. “We only wanted to celebrate our heritage. Instead, we were asked to defend such politics that we do not even identify.”The debate in UC Berkeley is over, as Hindu student organizations, alumni, and advocacy groups now say for transparency, reform and equal respect for all communities in the campus – other people can project on them despite brown political items.