Babu Suseelan, the Hindu face of AFDI/SION

by Sheila Musaji

Babu Suseelan is an Associate Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance (AFA)  According to the AFA site: “Babu Suseelan is “Director of Indian American Intellectuals Forum, New York. He is also the Chairperson of The Interfaith Coalition, New York.  Dr.Babu Suseelan’s career has included as a University Professor, Psychologist, Addiction Treatment and Criminogenic Specialist.  He is the author of several published articles on Hinduism, Jihad, Islamic terrorism, Criminal Mind and Cognitive Restructuring.”

The AFA about page says:  “The American Freedom Aliance is a non-political, non-partisan movement which promotes, defends and upholds Western values and ideals. The Alliance sponsors conferences, publishes opinions, distributes information and creates networking groups to identify threats to Western civilization and to motivate, educate and unite citizens in support of that cause.  They list their Vision as “The American Freedom Alliance aims to build a national alliance of people of faith and which involves writers, academics and thinkers from around the world , who will join together through seminars, conferences, publications and activist networks, to promote and protect moral values, democracy and freedom.”

Robert Spencer, Avi Davis, Stephen Coughlin, and Larry Greenfield are listed as Fellows of the AFA.  Babu Susseelan,  Tashbih Sayeed (who died in 2007), and Robert Spencer are listed as Associate Fellows, and Avi Davis as Senior Fellow on another page

Suseelan is also on the board of Stop the Islamization of Nations (SION) which is led by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.  In addition to Geller and Spencer, they identify their first Board of Directors as: Dr. Ali Sina, Dr. Wafa Sultan, Stefan Herre, Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Babu Suseelan, and Anders Gravers. They describe this group as “human rights activists”, “pro-freedom activists”, “freedom fighters”, etc .

The SPLC says about Susseelan:  “Babu Suseelan, a Hindu nationalist who believes that Marxists and jihadists are “in collusion” to “deconstruct [Hindu] society with apocalyptic ideas” and who has called on India’s Hindu population to “unite together and work towards the goal of Establishment of ‘Divine Hindu Kingdom’”

Although SIONA is supposed to be against religious bigotry, Richard Bartholomew reports that

Muslims are the the top of a very long list in Suseelan’s mind; in a typically overheated rant elsewhere, he rails against “Radical Muslims, conversion mafia, missionary misfits, Marxist criminals, bogus secular leaders and the corrupt congress party… Anarchists, Maoists, Naxals, vagabonds, miscreants, counterfeiters, and subversive groups…”

Suseelan explains that Christian missionaries “are devising various modern deceptive plans to convert unsuspecting and ignorant Hindus”, and he is critical of Christianity in principle:  “Islam and Christianity are religions of the book with a specific God, messenger, strict rules, prescription to follow, organizational hierarchy and dogmatic belief system. These are closed, dogmatic and fundamentalist and closed belief systems, which divide people between believers and non-believers.  …Hindus need to counter the growing trend among pseudo secularists and phony liberals to promote the false ideology “all religions are the same”. What we need is an informed mind to rationally conclude that religions of the books and Hindu Dharma are not complementary.”

There are also “Hindu traitors” to worry about: “The nature of present destructive behavior of Hindu traitors, anti Hindu stance of pseudo secular and corrupt Hindu political leaders may resemble the past. Looking at more and more evidence of policies and programs against our eternal, sacred Vedic Dharma helps us to adequately explain the uniformity of destructive political behavior of Hindu traitors.  …In contemporary politics, most of our pseudo secular Congress party and regional political party leaders are subservient to Christians, Muslims and their political actions retard Hindu advancement. Hindus in general are servile or otherwise lacking a sense of pride in Vedic Dharma or spiritual tradition.”  Unsurprisingly, his advice for the 2009 election was “Vote for BJP for a positive future”.

Clearly, Suseelan doesn’t like anyone except Hindus.  It is surprising that Geller (who is Jewish) and Spencer (who is Christian) would not be concerned about not only aligning themselves with such an individual, but giving him a position of leadership on their board.  Although he doesn’t mention Judaism specifically in his bigoted statement about “religions of the book” that “are closed, dogmatic and fundamentalist and closed belief systems” that leads him to conclude “that religions of the books and Hindu Dharma are not complementary”, it is obvious that Judaism would also be included in this description.  He is saying that the Abrahamic faiths and Hinduism are at odds by their very nature.

At the AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL/BF Global Alliance Event held on 9/11/2012 in New York, Aaron Labaree at Guernica Magazine, attended and reported on the Conference.  He provides “A few choice words by Dr. Babu Suseelan, a Hindu activist in Pennsylvania:

“If we do not kill the bacteria,” the jowly Suseelan scolded the audience, “the bacteria will kill us.” Otherwise, he warned, “Muslims will breed like rats and they will be a majority.” Still, he concluded hopefully, “Islam can be stopped! And it can be wiped out.”

Spencer laughed, but Geller covered her face, as if witnessing the antics of a naughty child.

There is no way to understand this except as a call for genocide.  And, covering your face with your hands or laughing, are not appropriate responses for individuals who claim not to hate Muslims. 

Geller and Spencer both describe this SION board member as a “Hindu human rights activist”.

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The Islamophobia Industry exists and is engaged in an anti-Muslim Crusade.  They have a manifesto for spreading their propaganda, and which states their goal of “destroying Islam — as a culture, a political ideology, and a religion.” They produce anti-Muslim films.  They are forming new organizations and coalitions of organizations at a dizzying speed, not only nationally, but also internationally.   They have formed an International Leadership Team “which will function as a mobile, proactive, reactive on-the-ground team developing and executing confidential action plans that strike at the heart of the global anti-freedom agenda.”

These individuals and organizations consistently promote the false what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims (including ]distorting the meaning of Qur’anic verses, and distorting the meaning of Islamic terms such as taqiyya, jihad, sharia, etc.). 

Islamophobes claim to see “jihad” plots everywhere, particularly where they don’t exist.   They, like Muslim extremists, don’t understand the true meaning of the term jihad. 

They generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam.   They consistently push the false memes that:  - we are in danger from creeping Sharia, - the Muslim population is increasing at an alarming rate, - 80% of American Mosques are radicalized,  - Muslims in government are accused of being Muslim Brotherhood plants, stealth jihadists, and creeping Sharia proponents and should be MARGINALIZED or excluded.  Every Muslim organization is connected to the infamous Muslim Brotherhood document or the unindicted co-conspirator label.  Individual Muslims and Arabs, and their organizations are accused of not condemning Hamas.  When Islamophobes are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence. 

There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured prominently in: — the Center for American Progress reports “Fear Inc.” on the Islamophobia network in America and Understanding Sharia Law: Conservatives skewed interpretation needs debunking. — the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.  — the NYCLU report Religious Freedom Under Attack:  The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State.  — the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security.  — The ACLU report Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical “Sharia Threat” to Our Judicial System — in The American Muslim TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.   There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature.   There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. 

The claim that the Islamophobes are “truth-tellers” and “defenders of freedom” who actually “love Muslims” and have never engaged in “broadbrush demonization” or “advocated violence” are nonsense.  The claim that they are falsely being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia, or their claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews or that some Muslims have fabricated such crimes “proves” that Islamophobia doesn’t exist,  or that the term Islamophobia was made up by Muslims in order to stifle their freedom of speech, or that anti-Muslim bigotry is “not Islamophobia but Islamorealism” are all nonsense. 

The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, it is also strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism, and it has predictable consequences.