🕵️ FOLLOW THE MONEY: The Little-Known Hindu-American PACs Funding East Bay Politics

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A new EastBayCivicsWatchdog investigation

Most East Bay voters know about AIPAC.

Far fewer have heard of Americans4Hindus. (For a deeper understanding of this subject, refer to Political Research Associates' research paper.)

Americans4Hindus and other Hindu-American political organizations are increasingly active in American elections; some have already financed candidates in Fremont and elsewhere in the Bay Area.

With the recent U.S. visit by Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the RSS, this deserves a closer look. Not because Hindu Americans are a monolith or because supporting Hindu candidates or Hindu-American interests is inherently problematic.

But because we need to analyze what happens when American political organizations promote Hindu-nationalist ideas—and use American elections to advance them.

Who are these organizations?

The most important political organizations we've identified so far include:

💰 1. Americans4Hindus: A PAC network built for political power

A4H describes its mission as supporting and influencing political candidates. Its founder and chairman, Romesh Japra, has been prominent in the Hindu-American political movement.

In 2020, Japra publicly described the organization's objective as "building a powerful Hindu-American political constituency, getting 50 Hindu-American members of Congress within ten years, supporting “pro-Hindu” candidates and opposing “anti-Hindus.” (Of course, he means Hindus who have the RSS-nationalist ideology, unlike Hindu politicians like Ro Khanna or Pamila Jaypal).

Americans4Hindus organized the 2023 Hindu American Summit at the U.S. Capitol, which brought together numerous Hindu organizations. Reporting on the summit documented participation by groups involved in campaigns against California's caste-discrimination legislation and efforts opposing the federal Combating International Islamophobia Act.

A4H has also explicitly sought to influence elections on a national scale.

And it has money in East Bay politics.

A4H has financed current and past candidates in East Bay. Among the candidates whose campaign-finance records or A4H materials identify a relationship with the organization:

• Chandra Wagh — Fremont City Council
• Teresa Keng — Fremont City Council
• Raj Salwan — Fremont Mayor
• Yang Shao — Fremont City Council
• Kathy Kimberlin — Fremont City Council
• Rakhi Israni — U.S. Congress, CA-14

More recently, A4H has created a political infrastructure:

• federal Super PAC
• Hybrid PAC
• multiple state PACs
• Hindu voter guide
• Hindu Rajneeti Academy
• Congressional caucus engagement

Americans4Hindus' stated ambition extends from school boards to Congress. A candidate it has endorsed on its social media is a Trustee of the Fremont Unified School District.

💰 2. Hindu American PAC: The political arm of a much larger network

HAPAC is a federal political action committee that describes itself as an independent, nonpartisan PAC for the Hindu-American community.

Its current board includes:

• Mihir Meghani — Chair: He was a co-founder of the Hindu Students Council, which was affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA). He authored an essay titled “Hindutva — The Great Nationalist Ideology,” published on the website of India's BJP.
• Rajiv Pandit: Pandit came through the Hindu Students Council network. Pandit also became involved in controversy surrounding the film The Kashmir Files after another person called for paying perpetrators “back 100 fold,” to which Pandit responded with one word: “retribution.”
• Rishi Bhutada — Treasurer: He is also on the board of the Hindu American Foundation. His background includes the Hindu Students Council and involvement in the wider VHPA/HSS network.

The same people repeatedly appear across multiple organizations. And that brings us to the larger network.

🚨These aren't isolated organizations

HAF, HinduPACT and CoHNA?

Not every organization in this network is a PAC. If you only look at PAC filings, you miss the bigger picture. There is a network of organizations and people connecting:

RSS -> Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) -> Vishwa Hindu Parishad / VHPA -> Hindu Students Council -> Hindu American Foundation -> Hindu American PAC -> HinduPACT / CoHNA / Americans4Hindus / Overseas Friends of BJP.

🔴Hindu American Foundation — HAF

HAF is a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization, not a campaign PAC. But its founders and leadership overlap heavily with the HSC/VHPA network. Its founders include Mihir Meghani, Aseem Shukla, Suhag Shukla, Nikhil Joshi and others, while its current board includes Meghani, Bhutada and Pandit.

HAF has also been one of the most prominent opponents of laws adding explicit protections against caste discrimination. California's SB 403 became a particularly important battleground. HAF argued that explicit caste protections would unfairly target Hindu and Indian Americans; Governor Newsom ultimately vetoed the bill. Whether one agrees with HAF's position or not, this demonstrates something important:

These organizations aren't merely celebrating Diwali and building community centers. They are actively fighting over American law and public policy.

🔴HinduPACT

HinduPACT is another advocacy organization rather than a conventional PAC. Its founder, Ajay Shah, is a former president of VHPA and has longstanding involvement in Hindu-American advocacy. It has actively campaigned against caste legislation and around what it calls “Hinduphobia.”

🔴CoHNA

The Coalition of Hindus of North America is another advocacy organization that has become active in legislative fights, including opposition to SB 403.

Again: not a PAC.

But it belongs in the map because political influence isn't created solely through campaign contributions.

It comes through lobbying.

You have to follow the people.

⁉️So why are they getting involved in American politics?

Because political power matters.

These organizations are not simply raising money to elect people who happen to be Hindu.

They are attempting to influence:

• who gets elected
• how American politicians talk about India
• how caste discrimination is treated under American law
• how “Hinduphobia” is defined
• U.S. policy toward India
• perceptions of Hindu nationalism
• legislation concerning Muslims and Islamophobia
• education and academic portrayals of Hinduism and India

That is entirely legitimate political activity.

But it also means American voters have a right to ask what political worldview are these organizations trying to bring into our communities.

Why should Bay Area voters care?

Because the Bay Area isn't India.

Our civic system is built around religious pluralism, equal protection and individual rights, not religious majoritarianism.

India's debate over Hindu nationalism is extraordinarily contentious. The RSS, which Bhagwat leads, describes itself as a cultural organization dedicated to Hindu society and national unity. Critics—including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom—describe the organization and its ideology very differently, citing concerns about religious intolerance and treatment of minorities.

Those disagreements don't disappear when people move to America.

They can become American political questions.

And we've already seen this happen. All the above organizations have defended Mohan Bhagwat's conference in New York.

The fight over SB 403 wasn't really about India. It was about California civil-rights law.

The fight over the Combating International Islamophobia Act wasn't about India either. It was about American foreign policy and religious discrimination.

And campaign donations aren't about India.

They're about who represents us here.

🕵️The EastBayCivicsWatchdog question

I'm not interested in telling Hindu-American voters who they should support.

I'm interested in something much simpler:

💵Follow the money.

Who is funding our candidates?

Who is endorsing them?

Who are these organizations?

What political causes have they supported?

Will these candidates stand against these organizations should the need arise?

This is Day 1 of our investigation into Hindu-American political money in the East Bay.

Next: Which East Bay candidates have actually received money from these organizations—and how much?

If you have campaign-finance records, endorsements, or other primary-source information we've missed, send them our way. We'll update the investigation as we verify the records.