Five years ago, I wrote a piece debunking the myth of ‘Hinduphobia’. This was the time that several Hindutva organisations in North America and Europe were trying to popularise the term as a political counterweight to Islamophobia. The strategy was clear: if Muslims could rally around discrimination, prejudice and violence directed at them, so could Hindus fan threat perceptions to shield Hindutva politics in India. Criticism of majoritarian nationalism in India was repackaged as hatred of Hindus.

Five years on, this enterprise is still alive and kicking, even though the world has changed a lot since 2021. Donald Trump’s return to the White House has emboldened far right movements across much of the Western world. Anti-immigrant rhetoric has become mainstream. White nationalist groups that once operated on the political margins now enjoy much greater visibility and influence. In this new environment, Indians living abroad are increasingly finding themselves at the receiving end of racism and xenophobia.

This reality must be acknowledged. Anti-India(n) sentiment is real. It is ugly and growing. Reports of attacks on Indians in Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada, the UK and US have become more frequent. Online spaces have witnessed a surge in openly racist language directed at Indians.

In the US, even successful Indian Americans like Vivek Ramaswamy — who enthusiastically aligned themselves with Trump — have discovered that their loyalty offers little protection from racial prejudice. For White supremacists, Indians are outsiders, regardless of their wealth, education, political beliefs or professional standing.

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But this anti-Indian racism is still not ‘Hinduphobia’. The hostility directed at Indians is not rooted in their Hindu identity. It is part racial prejudice, part economic anxiety, part........

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