Hindi Book Celebration at Germantown Library Cancelled After Backlash Over Funder's Hindu Nationalist Ties
A free public celebration of a new Hindi-language book collection at the Germantown Library was cancelled this spring after a broad coalition of civil and human rights organizations raised concerns about one co-funder's ties to a Hindu nationalist organization. The Balvihar Hindi School — a local institution affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America — had helped fund the 160-volume collection, prompting objections from groups spanning Hindus for Human Rights, the Indian American Muslim Council, the Sikh Coalition, and the Dalit Solidarity Forum USA. The episode thrust Montgomery County Public Libraries into a debate over inclusion, religious politics, and the appropriate sourcing of donated collections serving a diverse South Asian community.
🪔 Montgomery County Cancels Hindi Library Event After Advocacy Coalition Objects to VHPA Ties
Montgomery County Public Libraries pulled a planned April book launch at its Germantown branch after a coalition of advocacy groups objected to the involvement of a local funder linked to a controversial Hindu nationalist organization. The event, billed as 'Many Languages, One Library: Celebrating Hindi,' was intended to mark the addition of 160 new Hindi-language books to the library system — a resource expansion that would have directly served Germantown's large Hindi-speaking South Asian population. The dispute arose when the coalition identified the Germantown Balvihar Hindi School, one of the collection's co-funders, as a chapter of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. The coalition described the VHPA as 'part of a broader transnational network aligned with Hindutva, a political ideology that seeks to define India primarily as a Hindu nation' — a characterization backed, the coalition said, by civil rights scholars. The coalition's letter to county and library officials was careful to distinguish its objections from any opposition to Hinduism or Hindi culture itself, stating plainly: 'This concern is not about Hinduism, Hindu culture, or the Hindi language.' The coalition's signatories spanned a notably wide ideological range within the South Asian community, including the Indian American Muslim Council, the Sikh Coalition, the Dalit Solidarity Forum USA, and local Maryland groups such as No Hindutva Maryland and Peace Action Montgomery. Montgomery County Public Libraries responded by cancelling the event, posting a statement that it would be 'reimagining how it celebrates the Hindi-speaking community' with a focus on 'ensuring an inclusive and community-centered approach.' [1]
Activists Urge Removal of VHPA-Linked Books; Library Says It Will Not Censor Its Collection
After the successful push to cancel the April 12 launch event at Germantown Library, a segment of the activist coalition escalated their demands, calling on Montgomery County Public Libraries to remove the 160 Hindi-language books themselves from its collection. The argument was rooted in the same concern that killed the event: a portion of the books had been funded through the Balvihar Hindi School, an institution affiliated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. Hindus for Human Rights, one of the organizations in the coalition, put the case sharply, stating that the VHPA had 'platformed multiple anti-Muslim hate mongers.' The demand for book removal placed the library system in a more difficult position than cancelling a single event. A library pulling donated titles on the basis of ideological concerns about one funding source would set a significant precedent in Montgomery County — home to one of the largest and most diverse South Asian populations in the mid-Atlantic region. The library system declined to act on those calls. A Montgomery County Public Libraries spokesperson confirmed that the Hindi titles fully meet the system's collection standards and stated that the county 'does not censor library materials.' The standoff left the community in an uneasy place: the books remain on the shelves, the launch event will not take place as originally planned, and the library has promised a reimagined celebration without yet specifying its form or timeline. For Germantown's Hindi-speaking families, the net result is a richer library collection accompanied by an unresolved civic dispute about who gets to help build it. [2]
Sources: [1] WTOP · [2] The Baltimore Banner