UC Berkeley becomes first US university to approve Hindu Heritage Month

After months of elaborate discussion, the student government at the University of California, Berkeley, passed a Hindu Heritage Month proclamation. Hindu student groups called it a first such recognition by an American university.

A statement by CYAN Hindus at Berkeley and Hindu YUVA at UC Berkeley said the measure passed nine months after the ASUC Senate first voted down Hindu Heritage Month. The outcome is credited to extensive discussions with the office of the Executive Vice President and student leaders, with the result being termed a step towards Hindu representation in the student government.

According to the statement, the newly passed proclamation "represents a positive step toward better representation of Hindus in the student government," though the groups made it clear that "the new proclamation is by no means perfect."

They thanked the EVP and her office “for opening dialogue with our student organizations respectfully over the past six months, proving that conversations can be had despite even the most contentious disagreements.”

First, the proclamation includes a recognition where the ASUC Senate formally acknowledges the term Hinduphobia and a series of targeted attacks on Hindu temples in the Bay Area.

It acknowledges Sanatana Dharma and its ideals as a decolonial understanding of the term ‘Hinduism’ by the Senate. The Senate further notes that, out of the various unions and coalitions representing religious groups on campus, there is no Hindu caucus representing Hindu students.

The statement invites students and community members to juxtapose old and new proclamations and notice that the ASUC Senate originally voted down Hindu Heritage Month due to concerns over 'Hindu Nationalism, yet the new proclamation does not differ substantively from its predecessor. The groups go ahead to say that none of the two versions has talked about Hindu Nationalism.

The groups claimed the changes could have been worked out with discussion and that their student government holds Hindu students to a double standard. Still, they praised the Senate for a crucial first step toward better relations with the Hindu community.

They hope that the proclamation will “open the door to genuine, good-faith dialogue” between Hindu student organizations and ASUC leaders, pointing out their discussions with the EVP’s office showed such dialogue could happen.

"Too often, dialogue has been hampered by the conflation of Hindu and South Asian identity, leading to gate-keeping by 'South Asian' organisations on campus," the statement said. "Their statements and actions on issues affecting our community--ie, Pahalgam--have eclipsed the lived experiences of Hindu students--oftentimes made without their calling upon our communities directly."

"It is our sincere hope that henceforth discussions relating to Hindu identity and its representation would be informed not by outside political narratives but by the voices of Hindu students on campus," they said. Student leaders celebrated the milestone as the "FIRST EVER US university to recognise Hindu Heritage Month," aiming at finally acknowledging vandalised temples, rising Hinduphobia, among other things. They also congratulated student leaders @aryanshinde21 and Arya Kulkarni, encouraging students to reach out to CYAN. Hindu Heritage Month has gained visibility in recent years across several US states and municipalities, where diaspora organisations formalise recognition and bring awareness to what they term a rising tide of Hinduphobia. This year, UC Berkeley became an especially charged site for debates about Hindu identity and representation amid national conversations about free speech and minority rights.