The protean forms of Yankee Hindutva

Movements in the diaspora must perforce settle accounts with the cultural frameworks within which they operate. When the Hindu Right sets off from the shores of South Asia, it has to come to terms with its new location. In the United States, it constitutes a Yankee Hindutva – where it asserts itself in the space allowed by multiculturalism. To delink itself from its shabby heritage in the subcontinent, Yankee Hindutva adopts many, protean, forms – this to attract people from all walks of life. This article traces the protean forms of Yankee Hindutva, the many ways in which the Hindu Right enters the lives of certain South Asian Americans, whom they now call "Hindu Americans". An analysis of the grounds for the Right lead the authors into a discussion of the patterns for fund-raising adopted by Yankee Hindutva, as well as its attempt to secure social control over Indian Americans. The authors also demonstrate the ideological and stylistic contradictions of Yankee Hindutva, this to offer some brief comments on the forces arrayed against it.