Preet Bharara Moves to Dismiss RSS Scandal for Sri Preston Kulkarni
As US attorney, squashed appeal to declare RSS as terrorist org
After scandal began brewing last week upon revelations that Sri Preston Kulkarni’s campaign for US Congress is intimately linked to a top leader in the international wing of an Indian paramilitary called the RSS, former US attorney Preet Bharara stepped in to publicly make a $500 donation.
In 2015, Bharara had moved in federal court to dismiss an appeal to the US Secretary of State to declare the RSS as a “Foreign Terrorist Organisation.” The RSS is the mother organization to the BJP, India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party. Before BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi — an RSS member — was elected, the US State Department had banned him from entering the country due to his involvement in an anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002. In 2014, Bharara had also filed papers with the court which “strongly argued in favor of immunity” for Modi.
Founded in 1925 — the same year that Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf — the RSS developed with direct inspiration from the European fascist movements. Its founders stated their goal of eliminating all Indian Christians and Muslims. It has been involved in every major anti-minority pogrom in India since 1947.
On 1 August, I broke the story that Kulkarni’s campaign for Texas’s 22nd congressional district is linked to the HSS, the international wing of the RSS. Specifically, both his current and past campaign for the seat have featured heavy involvement — and financing by — a local businessman named Ramesh Bhutada who is the Vice-President of the HSS as well as President of the group’s Southwest USA division. Bhutada, additionally, was heavily involved in assisting the election of Modi while working with the Overseas Friends of the BJP, the international wing of the Indian prime minister’s political party.
The international wings of the BJP and RSS were previously accused of interfering in US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s campaigns. “After Tulsi Gabbard project failed, fascist RSS promotes Sri Preston Kulkarni as a candidate for the US Congress,” Dr. Ashok Swain of Uppsala University commented. Notably, Gabbard announced she would not run for re-election one day after a DC media watchdog reported that her “most troubling attribute is her documented connection to the far-right Hindu nationalist, or Hindutva, movement known as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
Upon announcing his donation, Bharara stated, “With >14 years in the Foreign Service in Iraq, Russia & elsewhere, Sri Preston Kulkarni would be the first Asian-American TX member of Congress.”
However, despite Kulkarni’s lengthy career in the Foreign Service, he has failed to issue a statement on his foreign policy. Considering his professional qualifications, as well as that he is of Indian-American origin and a self-proclaimed progressive, his specific opinion on Modi and the RSS would be particularly relevant. Especially so considering that other progressive Indian-Americans serving in Congress such as Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal have stepped out in vocal opposition to the Hindu nationalist agenda.
Strangely, Bharara doesn’t seem interested to solicit Sri Preston Kulkarni’s answer to issues of foreign policy — or to alleged foreign interference in his campaign. Does his past record of squashing attempts to censure the RSS and Modi have any bearing on that? Is the former US attorney moving to attempt to silence the rising RSS scandal on Kulkarni’s behalf?
