Eviane Leidig is a researcher on extremism and terrorism, hate speech, misogyny and gender-based violence, mis/disinformation, conspiracy theories and digital policy and regulation as per her website. She has a Post doctoral Fellowship from Department of Culture Studies, Tilburg University. She is also associated with Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, the Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET), an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) in The Hague, and the Far Right Analysis Network (FRAN). She essentially seeks to link Hindutva (means Hinduness) to global Christian far-right movement that are Neo-Nazis and White supremacists with inherent hatred for non-Christians and also for calling Love Jihad, a Hindutva conspiracy to malign Muslim men.
In 2019, speaking to Huffington Post on Indian politics affecting British politics “How ‘Toxic’ South Asian Nationalist Politics Is Rearing Its Head In The UK Election” Eviane Leidig says anti-Muslim Islamophobic sentiments are being carried to the UK by Indians and reproduced by the diaspora. She says “A lot of these things happen behind closed doors, or in mandirs, or at BJP meetings, but now it’s become legitimised.”
In 2019 speaking to Qatar-funded Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece, Al Jazzera, “Why Europe’s far right supports India on the Kashmir issue“, Eviane Leidig says there is commonality between European far right and Indian far right as both view Islamic terrorism as a shared common threat. She further says “European right-wing extremists share in common with Modi’s Hindutva an Islamophobic and anti-Muslim narrative. In Europe, it’s especially prominent with anti-Muslim immigrant rhetoric, whereas in India it’s directed against the Muslim-majority in Pakistan and Bangladesh”.
Again speaking to Al Jazzera’s TV show Inside Story on the violence surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), “Is Narendra Modi undermining secularism in India?” Eviane Leidig says “the CAA is reflective of far right nationalism in the world in particular anti-Muslim othering, anti-immigrant othering and racial and ethnic minority othering has become so prominent as a legislative tool of far-right nationalism.”
Through her PhD thesis Reconfiguring nationalism: Transnational entanglements of Hindutva and radical right ideology submitted to University of Oslo, Eviane Leidig seeks to gate-keep Hinduism in particular and India in general. As neither an Indian nor a Hindu, her knowledge of India and Hinduism is scant with ZERO knowledge of India’s struggles with Islamic Jihad and Christian missionary crusades. Her analysis of Hindutva is flawed and skewed towards Islam and Islamists. Acc to her Hindus are extremists because objecting to Islamic extremism makes Hindus extremists. By the same argument, her logic makes her an extremist as she sees Hindus as extremists and Hinduism as a far-right extreme religion.
In her first thesis paper “Hindutva as a variant of right-wing extremism” Eviane Leidig says Hindutva “is not centred on religion (although Hinduism does play a significant role), but rather how religion is politicised in such a way that being a Hindu equates belonging to an ethno-nationalist identity.” She further states that the “Golden Vedic age” is a myth that drives the Hindutva narrative.
Evianne Leidig says RSS (Rashtra Swayam Sevak Sangh) activists played a major role in the ensuing Hindu-Muslim communal riots of Partition. “Whilst Hindu-Muslim communal violence is endemic to India’s history, it was central to the founding of the Indian nation-state, which witnessed the greatest levels of violence prior to, during, and immediately following Partition”. She completely ignores the call for violence by the Indian Union Muslim League and the violence against Hindus during the 1946 Direct Action Day. She further talks about non-existent “Saffron terror”. “Saffron terror committed by Hindutva actors on the other hand, enacts a majoritarian nationalism that is fused with organised violence whereby public space is designated as Hindu space, both physically and in the national imagined community.” She casts European right-wing extremism as a political fringe but says Hindutva is “visible in nation-building and majoritarian identity in India.” What Evaine Leidig fails to mentions is that the same European right wing extremists built Europe into a White Xenophobic Christian colonial state.
In her second paper “From cyber-Hindutva to Ab Ki Baar Trump Sarkar: (Trans)national entanglements of Hindu diaspora political integration” Eviane Leidig says talking about the historical genocide of Hindus and SIkhs in India under the Islamic rule “reinforces the historiographical revisionist claims of Hindutva.”
In her third paper as part of her thesis “Immigrant, Nationalist and Proud: A Twitter Analysis of Indian Diaspora Supporters of Brexit and Trump” Eviane Leidig says Hindus and Sikhs objecting to be clubbed as “Asian” or “South Asian” in the infamous Pakistani Muslim rape gangs of the UK, use fear to misidentify Muslims in the West and leads to “othering” of Muslims. This behaviour of diasporic Hindus to disassociate themselves from Pakistani Muslim rape gangs is construed as “extremist” and “radical right” by Eviane Leidig.
In her fourth “New forms of civic nationalism? American and British Indians in the Trump and Brexit Twittersphere” Evaine Leidig says “Indian diaspora supporters of Brexit and Trump use Twitter as a means of discourse and information exchange in order to embed themselves into the British and American radical right milieu”.
Writing for London-based Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) in 2020 on Far-Right Terrorism is Global, but Coverage is Not: Hindu Nationalist Violence in India Eviane Leidig says “Hindu nationalism terrorism” is often overlooked and largely unknown internationally as it is considered as ethnic conflict. She further says “Hindu nationalism” has links with far-right European extremists and that it has parallels to European ethnonationalism while “The diaspora, in contrast, portrays Hinduism as a religion compatible with Western values of law and order, tolerance, and peace.“
Eviane Leidig is a “Love Jihad” denialist. She uses reductionist theories to castigate Hindu women speaking up for the rights of Hindus as “far right women female influencers” whose only occupation is to produce “next generation militant nationalist men”. She has written extensively on Love Jihad and Grooming Gangs as Islamophobic, Hindutva and Far Right Extremist conspiracy theories respectively.
In her 2021 paper “From Love Jihad to Grooming Gangs: Tracing Flows of the Hypersexual Muslim Male through Far-Right Female Influencers” Eviane Leidig says “Through the politics of reproduction, Hindu nationalist women view their duty as caretakers, raising the next generation of militant Hindu nationalist men.” She further states “the Muslim male “other,” portrayed through his violent and aggressive behavior, is framed according to gendered nationalist imaginaries as alien and perverse. Hindu nationalism promotes a revisionist historiography of Muslim “foreign” invasion upon “indigenous” Hindu civilization, with that legacy reflected in contemporary religious communal relations. Muslims are, to this day, viewed as “anti-national,” engaged in a secret plot to “Islamize” India, and using tactics such as “love jihad” in order to achieve their dominance. Thus, within Hindu nationalist ideology, Hindu women represent the daughters of Bharat Mata (Mother India), and an attack on a Hindu woman is considered by extension to be an attack on the nation herself.” What Evaine Leidig ignores is that in 2023 India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) have unearthed a conspiracy to Islamise India by 2047 by proscribed terrorist group Popular Front of India (PFI).
Further on Evaine Leidig’s denial of Love Jihad. She uses the case of tragic death of Nikita Tomar, a victim of Love Jihad, to say that Hindu nationalist women who spoke up for Nikita weaponised Tomar’s death to “assert fear of young Muslim male sexuality” and reproduced Islamophobic tropes of predatory Muslim men. Hinduphobia Tracker tracks every case of crimes against Hindu women in relationships with Muslim male and sexual assault on Hindu women and girls.
Eviane Leidig wrote a piece for GNET “Now Streaming: “Love Jihad” on Netflix” on Hindus outrage on the show’s kissing scene inside a temple between and Hindu girl and Muslim boy. She says unlike European Far-Right’s stance on Muslim male ‘rapefugee’, Hindu nationalists claim of Love Jihad is more insidious as it engages in manipulative behaviour. She calls Love Jihad a “conspiracy theory driven by the belief that Muslims are intent on engaging in covert demographic replacement of the Hindu-majority population…… Hindu women must be protected from Muslim men since they symbolise the daughters of Bharat Mata (Mother India): an assault on a Hindu woman is by extension an assault on India herself.”
Eviane Leidig co-authored a article “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP):The overlooked populist radical right party” in 2023 where she argues that India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is populist radical right wing party as per three benchmarks the authors listed: Nativism, Populism and Authoritarianism. In the article Eviane Leidig says BJP’s 2014 manifesto to secure India from internal and external extremism and crime is a classic example of nativism, populism and authoritarianism. She further states that BJP’s policy of Nation First is another example of authoritarianism. Writing on the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, Leidig says as per “legal analysts doing so can be considered a violation of international law and self-determination”.
While speaking with European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS) Evaine Leidig says Hindu nationalism belongs to far right ideology movement marked by characteristics such as nativism, extreme nationalism and authoritarianism. Further speaking on Modi’s India, Leidig says though Modi has been cleared of charges of complicity in Gujarat 2002 riots, international “human rights” organisations like Amnesty International and Soros-funded Human Rights Watch (HRW) “have documented extensively his administrations involvement and complicity in the 2002 riots”. Interestingly, neither Amnesty International nor HRW produced evidence of Modi and his administration’s “involvement and complicity” during India’s Supreme Court trial of Modi and his administration.
Speaking on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Leidig says CAA gave all religious minorities preference except Muslims. As an outsider to India and Indian history, Leidig fails to mention that India was divided on religious lines into a Hindu-majority India and an Islamic state of Pakistan and later Republic of Bangladesh. It’s ridiculous to assume that India is obligated to take Muslims who left India in 1947 due to their hatred of Hindus to give citizenship because they are persecuted by fellow Muslims. She says CAA violated India’s “founding” principles of “secularism” and religious pluralism. India has no “founder” and neither was “secularism” found in India’s original Constitution of 1950.
Speaking on 2020 Delhi riots, Eviane Leidig calls it anti-Muslim pogrom instigated by a BJP politician. This statement is an outright lie. In 2021 while rejecting the bail plea of one of accused in the riots, Delhi High Court observed that it was a “premeditated conspiracy, not on spur of the moment” as the riotous Muslim mob systematically disconnected and destroyed CCTV cameras near the place of the incident.
In an interview with Populism Observer, “Hindutva, from interwar fascism to Narendra Modi“, Evaine Leidig says “Concerning the ethno-nationalistic and xenophobic component of Hindutva, Muslims are portrayed as a threat to the Hindu majority through dehumanizing rhetoric. They are frequently attributed as having ‘anti-national’ sentiments (for not supporting a majoritarian nationalist agenda), or as ‘foreign’ and holding sympathies towards the ummah, not India.” She goes on to say that Hindutva’s foundational history is based on the myth of the Vedic “Golden Age” and that “Hindutva ideologues believe that the Vedic period is the birthplace of Indo-Aryan civilization”. She also says “Hindutva merges ethnicity, culture, society, history, and religion as intertwined components.”
Below are some of the her social media posts.
STOP HINDU HATE ADVOCACY NETWORK 