Sapna Samant is founder of New Zealand’s Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians (AAPI). She identifies herself as she/her, is a General practitioner, a writer, and a film maker who runs a media company called Holy Cow. She supports separation of Kashmir from India and not surprisingly is a member of America’s Hindus for Human Rights New Zealand (NZ) chapter.
Sapna Samant has constantly works against Hindus in NZ. She often resorts to gaslighting Hindus, has never fought for Hindus rights, has never spoken up against atrocities against Hindus in Kashmir, Pakistan and Bangladesh. She is often seen working with Hinudphobic professor of Massey University, Mohan Dutta, Australia’s The Humanism Project, and Hindus for Human Rights. She opposed CAA, NRC, NPR, and also the screening of The Kashmir Files, under the pretext it spreads ‘Islamophobia’ while relegating Hindu Kashmiri Pandits genocide to footnotes in her organistions blog.
In 2008 Samant wrote her experiences after she attended the first Hindu Conference in New Zealand organised by Hindu Council New Zealand. In a blog for Sikh Center called ‘Dr Sapna Samant’s comment on 1st RSS Conference in New Zealand‘. Her contempt for Hinduism is evident from the first few lines of the blog: “Saffron flags emblazoned with Aum fluttered in the afternoon sunlight as I made my way towards the venue of 1st Hindu Conference in New Zealand on 12 May. The alarm bells in my head rang loud and clear. This was fundamentalist territory. The Hindu Conference was organised by The Hindu Council. A sophisticated arm of the Hindu extremist parties like the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad). Its cousins being the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the militant Bajrang Dal.” She holds utter contempt and has many times attacked normal practising Hindus as ‘Hindu fundamentalists’. She work very closely with Massey University‘s Hinduphobic Professor Mohan J Dutta.
Having a media background helps her. She is often portrayed by NZ media as a representative of Indian and/or Hindu community. In a news item by NZ’s Newshub, Sapna Samant is featured for having organised protests against India’s CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) in Auckland, NZ. In an article by a Chinese journalist of NZ Herald, Sapna Samant has been quoted as a greater representative of Indian community, also in Newsroom, and Stuff.co.nz.
Sapna Samant supports freedom for Kashmir. After India abrogated Article 370 and 35A on 5th August 2019, Sapna made a twitter post to “condemned Indian government for illegal and unconstitutional occupation of Kashmir”. In her social media posts she has often accused India of “oppression” in Kashmir, being a “coloniser” and also once called Indian Army “another arm of Hindutva”.
Below are some of Sapna Samant’s posts on Kashmir.
In 2020, Sapna Samant alongwith Mohan Dutta attacked NZ Member of Parliamant, Gaurav Sharma, for taking oath in Sanskrit. In a Facebook post, Samant attacked Sharma by saying taking oath in Sanskrit is “perpetuating upper caste privilege”. Hindus coming out in support for Gaurav Sharma and Sanskrit were quickly labelled as BJP’s army of trolls and “online army of hate that holds up Hindutva” by Dutta and Samant.
In 2020, Sapna Samant while talking to TheSpinoff.co.nz on ‘rising Islamophobia in NZ’, said ‘Indian Muslims [in NZ] are targeted by Hindu immigrants’. She went to accuse all Hindu immigrants followers of BJP and practice ‘Hindutva’ that “which preaches purity and homogeneity, strict hierarchies and ethnic nationalism.” Taking a swipe at Hind organisations in NZ, Samant said “[Kiwi] Indian organisations are exclusively upper caste Hindu male-dominated”.
In 2022, Sapna Samant was part of a White Paper launch “Experiences of Indian Muslims with Digital Hate: A Prelimnary Report” along with the usual Hinduphobic coterie, Ashok Swain, Haroon Kasim of The Humanism Project and Mohan Dutta.
In the above discussion Sapna Samant said 1991 liberalisation of Indian economy “capitalist reform of the Indian economy had helped foster hate.” and accused Congress of peddling ‘soft Hindutva’. She further went on to say “And then of course the Hindutva long term project, which has been going on since before independence.. It’s just really really sad but generations of Indians have been indoctrinated – Hindus have been indoctrinated – to believe in this very specific singular monolithic worldview”.
Sapna Samant has shows her hatred for Hinduism during festival time. She repeatedly calls Diwali a ‘agrarian harvest festival’, ‘Hindu upper caste gathering’, ‘soft Hindutva’, all Hindus celebrating Diwali are Islamophobes, Hindus celebrating Diwali remembering Ram and Ayodhya is tools of Hindutva and facism.
Sapna Samant also shows contempt for Shri Krishna calling him a ‘womaniser’ and equating womanising with Hindu men and Hindu religion.
Just like her comrade, Mohan Dutta, Sapna Samant equates Hindutva with White Supremacy. She not only accuses Hindus of being upper caste white supremacists but also accuses Indic scholar Sarah Gates who follows Hinduism of being white supremacist.
Below are some of her social media posts.
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