HinduPACT, a Hindu advocacy organisation based in the United States, has formally accused the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) of orchestrating a 'smear campaign' against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat ahead of his proposed visit to the United States. The organisation issued its statement from San Ramon, California, on 22 August, charging that the commission had weaponised its religious freedom mandate to target Hindu institutions and India.

What HinduPACT Alleged

HinduPACT alleged that statements by USCIRF Chair Asif Mahmood and Commissioner Gene Mills opposing Bhagwat's visit were unbalanced and unfairly cast Hindu organisations as dangerous. The group said Mills' call for sanctions against RSS members allegedly responsible for violations of freedom of religion or belief lacked, in its words, 'rigor, due process, or evidentiary discipline.'

The organisation further alleged that USCIRF had shown little interest in anti-Hindu hatred, temple vandalism, or the civic exclusion faced by Hindus within the United States — a charge the commission has not publicly addressed.

Key Accusations Against Civil Society Groups

HinduPACT also named three civil society organisations — the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), and Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) — accusing them of supporting the campaign against Bhagwat's visit. The statement did not include responses from any of the three groups, nor from USCIRF itself.

What HinduPACT's Founder Said

Ajay Shah, founder and chair of HinduPACT, accused the federal commission of abandoning its mandate. 'USCIRF has disgraced its mandate. When its chair speaks about India and the RSS, he sounds less like the head of a pluralistic American commission and more like an advocate for a hardened anti-Hindu narrative,' Shah said.

Shah added: 'Mohan Bhagwat leads one of the world's most consequential Hindu organizations. He should not be met with slander scripted by CAIR, IAMC, and HfHR, groups that have made a habit of treating Hindu self-assertion as extremism.' He also cited the RSS's decades of work in relief operations, education, village uplift, and social organisation as evidence of its community standing.

'American Hindus see the pattern clearly. We will not accept a taxpayer-funded body being used to malign our faith, our institutions, and India's democratic voice,' Shah said.

HinduPACT's Defence of the RSS

HinduPACT described the RSS as 'a central organising force in modern Hindu society,' arguing that the organisation had built its legitimacy through grassroots presence in neighbourhoods and villages rather than through think tanks or policy seminars. The group characterised criticism of Hindu organisations as a recurring pattern of 'selective outrage, guilt by association, and a studied refusal to acknowledge anti-Hindu bias by name.'

It called on elected officials, community leaders, and Americans broadly to reject what it described as 'sectarian lobbying presented as human rights advocacy.'

About USCIRF

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan federal body established under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. It monitors religious freedom conditions abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. Crucially, its recommendations are advisory and carry no binding legal force on the US government.

With Bhagwat's visit still proposed and no official US government response on record, the dispute is likely to intensify scrutiny on how American institutions engage with India's largest Hindu organisation.