There is a phobia emerging against Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists that the world must address, India’s UN envoy, T.S. Tirumurti, has said. There are instances of followers of the three ‘Indic’ faiths being targeted in the west. But is the phenomenon comparable to ‘Islamophobia’? Or is it just an expression of misplaced victimhood?

The envoy’s remarks:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/recognise-hinduphobia-and-violence-against-buddhists-and-sikhs-too-indian-envoy-to-un/article38295761.ece

After 9/11, people of Indian origin, especially Sikhs, had faced attacks in the US, when they were mistaken for Muslims. Indian students too have faced violence on campus. Some Hindu groups have of late started campaigning against what they call Hinduphobia.

The FBI, in its 2020 hate crime report, gave a breakup of the attacks: https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime The ones against Hindus stand are paltry 12 (though incidents against Sikhs were higher at 72. Compare that to 951 incidents targeting Jews and 134 against Muslims. Meanwhile, anti-Black hate crimes numbered 3,886 and anti-Asian 335: https://scroll.in/article/1006817/us-hate-crimes-fbi-ranked-anti-hindu-incidents-in-2020-at-the-low-end-of-35-faith-groups

(Within India, on the other hand, the attacks against religious minorities and lower castes have been on the rise, arguably since the BJP came to power in 2014: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/muslims-dalits-religious-attacks-grew-in-india-narendra-modi-us-report-959959-2017-02-10)

If that is the case, why does India want its majority faith to feel victimized?

One reason could be the international backlash against the fiery speeches and even a call for genocide of India’s Muslims by a self-styled Hindu leader last month: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dharma-sansad-case-haridwar-courts-reject-bail-pleas-of-narsinghanand-tyagi-2721636

That prompted, among others, Human Rights Watch president Dr Gregory Stanton to tell a Congressional briefing at Washington DC on January 12 that India could witness something like the Rwandan genocide (something he had predicted) if its government did not take stern action against those seeking to incite attacks on religious minorities: https://thewire.in/communalism/full-text-gregory-stanton-karan-thapar-narendra-modi-haridward-hate-speech-genocide-india

Critics of the Hindutva ideology would argue that the advocates of ethnic nationalism in India would, on one hand, like to take pride in the assumption that Indians and Indian culture are hugely respected around the world, and on the other hand, out of a sort of envy, they would also like to claim Hindus and Hinduism are under danger:
https://www.news9live.com/india/imagined-hinduphobia-is-not-a-mature-response-to-international-criticism-of-state-of-affairs-in-india-148390#narrative-in-article

However, Tirumurti’s caution “against new terminologies and false priorities that can dilute our focus” deserves serious attention.