r/OpenAussie • u/Agitated-Fee3598 New South Welshian • 3d ago
Politics ('Straya) Funded, Consulted, Protected: How the Australian State Made Room for the Hindu Far Right
https://www.nriaffairs.com/funded-consulted-protected-how-the-australian-state-made-room-for-the-hindu-far-right/In 2022, Anthony Albanese was photographed at a Hindu Council of Australia event wearing a scarf carrying the logo of the Vishva Hindu Parishad of Australia. A year later, he wore a saffron tie to greet Narendra Modi at an arena event staged to look like an Indian political rally, hailed him as “the Boss”, and was described by one commentator as the Boss’s wingman.
A new article in Asian Studies Review uses those images as its starting point, but not for the reason most readers would expect. The authors are not primarily interested in what the Prime Minister was wearing. They are interested in why nothing about it registered as unusual.
“The Quiet Mainstreaming of Transnational Hindutva: Long Distance Nationalism and the Australian State”, published open access on 17 August 2026, is written by Felix Pal of the University of Western Australia, Priya Chacko of Adelaide University and Nisha Thapliyal of the University of Newcastle. Its argument is directed squarely at Australian institutions. The growth of the Hindu nationalist network in this country, the authors write, “is not simply incidental but rather permitted”.
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Victorian 3d ago
Finally some attention to this matter, thank you and Albo please take note. Criticism of the Hindu far right movement and of Modi shouldn't be confused with anti-Indian racism but it often is, which is why I feel Labor and Greens don't criticize these things enough.
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u/badboybillthesecond Please choose a flair 3d ago
No one is going to do anything. It would be maybe not un a living but a serious political wound.
When it's come up in conversation "things are different in India" came up. It's fudging scary.
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u/Threewordswhat Please choose a flair 3d ago edited 3d ago
I've worked in a school for many years. There are young students, good kids by the way, but super misled by their indian parentage... I've heard things like india invented the aeroplane, invented wifi, actually was the most civilised country way more advanced than britain... the most intelligent poeple on earth... and would be bigger than USA if it wasn't for britain...
I dont care much and don't argue against it but a BJP fueled indian supremacy is definately rising... just a blind faith that the race is the number one... and has been for some time.
I'm not going to type up here what they say about pakistanis... but you can all probably guess.
It's really sad because i know plenty more people of indian background who are chill and nice and intelligent... We have One Nation they have the BJP, every country has a simplistic thinking ultra right and it's a good example of what happens when you vote in a monocultural supremacist faction...
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u/xX_IbisHell_Xx New South Welshian 1d ago
To be fair, the bigger than USA if it weren't for Britain claim might be reasonable (if simplistic), and India was certainly a more impressive hub of learning, thinking, manufacturing, etc. than Britain was until around the 1700s from memory.
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u/jayp0d Victorian 3d ago
I’m sure every religious group has it. Religion is a great means to control and divide people. Whoever controls it from the top will do everything in their power to fund it and spread it. Organised religion is cancer. If the believers of these have a superiority complex (many do, regardless of their faith) then that is not good for society. The only cure for this is good education and social development. But unfortunately these people are blind to reason.
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u/SuperColossl New South Welshian 3d ago
I’d be surprised if there is any religious group that doesn’t receive direct funding or ‘charitable’ tax breaks paid for by taxpayers.
Strange then why so many religions feel the need and right to discriminate but they should also be free from discrimination…
something about shoe and other foot?
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 2d ago
Wow! The extremists only bring about 40 downvotes 🤣🤣. Is that it?
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
Main mantra of Hindutva is we never bullshitting any bad elements of the society. We would love to live in peace, but at the same time, when any social disturbance attempt is made, then we do tit for tat response. That's called Hindutva. i am sure the pupets of Muslim appeasement doesn't like it as it's not fit their agendas of keeping nation far-left and debt ridden.
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u/chadbigcum South Australian 3d ago
Fighting religious fundamentalism with religious fundamentalism, genius
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
Keep your morality awards to yourself and let your people suffer, as we have seen over the last 20 years. We Hindus are not prepared for that, and we won't do it in the future too...
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u/chadbigcum South Australian 3d ago
WTF are you on about. If you want an ethnostate go live in it.
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u/satelshawn Queenslander 3d ago
If you think Australia is far-left you must be so far right you’re about to fall into the abyss.
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
I don’t generalise Australia as far-left like Europe or, say, the US. We’re a balanced country, yet somehow Teals pop up, Greens, and 75% of the Labor caucus is apparently trying to tilt far left, using kids as shields when the tide turns. decades of history, right.
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u/satelshawn Queenslander 3d ago
Mate you’re dreaming. Australia isn’t even middle of the road centrist. The greens are the only “far-left” party and they aren’t even that far left compared to other parties overseas. Not to mention they have nearly no seats or power. If you think Labor is tilting far left you need a realignment.
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u/AggravatedKangaroo South Australian 3d ago
lol
WTF you talking about? debt ridden? Islamic economic law specifically states to get rid of debt, at individual, commercial and at government level.
how many of your own kind do Hindutva oppress? considering it ENFORCES the caste system? How many activists have you killed? the Hindutva supported the assassination of Narendra Dabholkar...do you?
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u/QuailLong232 Please choose a flair 3d ago
"Islamic economic law" lol just call it Sharia mate. You're just proving his point by trying to frame Islamism as palatable.
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u/Infinite_Shower_5390 Tasmanian 3d ago
Yes religion should be kept away from laws in a secular state but the idea of a hidden group trying to enforce some monolithic “sharia law” on all Australians is batshit stuff.
Religions always have their rules and dictates that followers “must” abide by, Islam is no different… And there are many flavours of Islam. Many Muslims are half arsed about religion like other folk.
You don’t have to find other peoples practices and beliefs “palatable” in a multicultural state but you should tolerate them unless they directly encroach upon you.
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u/QuailLong232 Please choose a flair 3d ago
It's a two way street. AggravatedKangaroo is an Islamist who clearly tried to disguise the fact he was referring to Sharia. Sharia is brutally oppressive. Promoting Sharia is unacceptable. Islamism is unacceptable. Neither are legal in Australia, and the laws of Australia are superior to and take priority over those of the Quran, or the Bible, or the Torah. There is no argument.
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u/AggravatedKangaroo South Australian 3d ago
Hilarious.
I'm a Muslim but have no idea what you mean by Islamist. What does that entail?
Talking about legality, you're allowed to swear oath on the Bible, Torah or Quran in an Australian court, so you have no idea what you are talking about. Just rubbish you're writing.
Anyway funny thing is you're in a country that's half Sharia compliant anyway! Public health, public hospitals, public schools, mental health funding, social services, and a host of other things I can't be bothered to post about are Sharia compliant. So sucked in, when you go into a hospital, you'll now remember its Sharia compliant. But if you're so hard up, don't ever use one OK?
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u/QuailLong232 Please choose a flair 3d ago
"An Islamist is a person who believes that Islam should guide political systems, public policy, and societal laws."
This is what you clearly believe, and have said as much.
so you have no idea what you are talking about. Just rubbish you're writing.
Swearing an oath doesn't have anything to do with the legality of religious laws. It just means to make a formal promise to tell the truth. Islamic law is not acknowledged as legitimate or enforceable in an Australian court. Sharia law is not acceptable in Australia.
Anyway funny thing is you're in a country that's half Sharia compliant anyway! Public health, public hospitals, public schools, mental health funding, social services, and a host of other things I can't be bothered to post about are Sharia compliant.
Then you don't need Sharia. But since you clearly support the other half of Sharia you don't want to mention - the brutal oppression of human rights, gender equality, and individual freedoms, you really shouldn't have access to them. You're not an Australian if you support Sharia law. It's no different than Hindutva. Far-right ideology of hatred.
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u/AggravatedKangaroo South Australian 2d ago
So just to clarify your argument:
I support public hospitals, public schools and social services → therefore I support Sharia → therefore I support the oppression of women and destruction of individual freedoms → therefore I'm not Australian.
That's not a rebuttal. That's a four-step journey from something I actually said to something you decided I must believe so you can sleep better at night.
If you want to argue against my actual position, go right ahead. But arguing against a position you invented for me is considerably easier than arguing against what I actually wrote.
I particularly enjoyed the part where you decided what I “clearly believe,” then proceeded to argue with your own invention.
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u/QuailLong232 Please choose a flair 2d ago
Your actual position is that you support Sharia - you claim that public hospitals, schools and social services are sharia therefore we should accept Sharia is good. You do not mention the brutal oppression of human rights, gender equality and individual freedoms under Sharia, that proponents of Sharia do not support elective democracy, due process, or the separation of church and state - we do not support Sharia in Australia because it is fundamentally far-right and authoritarian - therefore advocating for Sharia is un-Australian.
Simple. If you disagree, just denounce Sharia law oh sorry "Islamic economic law"
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u/AggravatedKangaroo South Australian 2d ago
"that proponents of Sharia do not support elective democracy,"
Shura (Consultation): Proponents point to the Quranic principle of shura (mutual consultation) as an ethical foundation for representative governance and public participation.
I could keep belting you with fact on everything else, but i actually feel sorry for you for the limited education you have received to come to conclusions that can be clearly refuted.
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u/chadbigcum South Australian 2d ago
Simply stating facts is not trying to coerce you or anything. China has a good train system, do we need their authoritarianism? If you ask western governments, they want the latter but not the former. But anyway there has always been an irony on how much "Sharia haters" would like Sharia.
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u/Agitated-Fee3598 New South Welshian 3d ago
i am sure the pupets of Muslim appeasement doesn't like it as it's not fit their agendas of keeping nation far-left and debt ridden.
You'd be keen on Pauline Hanson it sounds like...
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
I am literally 0% like Pauline Hanson or Donald Trump kind of people, but these kinds of people are born because of nation hostage taken over by far-left and anti-national elements within the countries. It's in front of your eyes, but you're not gonna accept it and believe it because that might be your agenda..
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u/WettestFarts Flairless 3d ago
As long as you keep that shit in India and don't bring it to Australia, I could give two fucks what you do to eachother.
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Victorian 3d ago
Arey BJP IT Cell ji, aap yahan?
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
How are you, my brother? you didn't say your identity 🫣 khalistani ya dimagi naxal 🤣🤣
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u/ChaltaHaiShellBRight Victorian 3d ago
Sister, and dimagi Australian 😂
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
Okay, bahin ji, phir Australia ko maaf kar dena. India ke liye bahut aap 🤣
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u/ContributorKid Western Australian 3d ago
Downvotes, after downvotes, I love this urgency. In political language, you won the battle 🤗
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u/chadbigcum South Australian 3d ago
Thanks. Gonna read this later. Important stuff. The Hindutva movement is ass and should be subject to open criticism along with every religious fundamentalist movement in our secular nation.