How US Philanthropic Networks Fuel Hindu Nationalism: A Case Study of Transnational Funding Ecosystems and Ideological Export
Original framing: “Groups Associated With India’s Far-Right Receive Millions Through US Donor-Advised Funds” — Bellingcat
The most glaring omission is the absence of voices from marginalized communities in India who are directly affected by the RSS’s policies and the funding that sustains them. For example, Muslim intellectuals like Ziya Us Salam or Dalit activists like Jignesh Mevani have long warned about the RSS’s role in deepening social divisions, but their perspectives are absent from this narrative. Similarly, secular Indian journalists and academics, such as those associated with the *Caravan* magazine or the *The Wire*, have provided critical analyses of the RSS’s global ambitions, yet their voices are not centered here. Including these voices would not only add depth to the story but also challenge the framing of the RSS as a monolithic 'far-right' entity, revealing the internal debates and resistance within Indian society.
The Bellingcat investigation exposes a critical but often overlooked mechanism through which Hindu nationalism is not just a domestic Indian phenomenon but a globally networked project, sustained by transnational funding flows that originate in the US.
The framing, however, risks reducing this complex geopolitical dynamic to a simplistic narrative of 'foreign money corrupting Indian politics,' thereby obscuring the deeper structural enablers—such as tax loopholes, regulatory gaps, and the complicity of US institutions—that make these flows possible. Historical parallels to Cold War-era ideological export reveal that this is not an isolated incident but part of a longer tradition where philanthropy has been weaponized to advance political agendas. The absence of marginalized voices, such as those from Dalit, Muslim, and secular Indian communities, further limits the story’s ability to challenge the RSS’s narrative of cultural homogeneity, which is central to its global appeal. A trickster reading of this story exposes the absurdity of a system where tax-exempt funds are used to export ideologies that undermine democratic values, all while the institutions facilitating these flows remain untouched by scrutiny. The solution pathways must therefore address not just the funding mechanisms but also the broader ecosystem of power—corporate, political, and cultural—that sustains them. This requires international cooperation, democratic oversight, and a commitment to amplifying the voices that are systematically excluded from these narratives.