National HSC and the VHPA

Why did VHPA seek to trademark HSC's name and logo in 2003?

The National HSC has claimed that "HSC has been independently run since 1993"1. In the past few weeks, we have presented evidence2 that directly contradicts this claim. We are glad that desis outside the CSFH collective have also started investigating HSC's links with the Sangh Parivar. This week's issue was first raised by a blog entry at passtheroti.com3

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America filed trademarks for a typed rendering of the words "Hindu Students Council", and the "HSC KNOWLEDGE UNITY PROGRESS DHARMA" logo4. The applicant address listed in the trademark application matches that of then VHPA General Secretary Gaurang Vaishnav (as listed in the VHPA tax forms for the year 2002). Both the trademarks were filed on May16, 2003 and were abandoned on May 26, 2004.

CSFH's question to the National HSC: If HSC had been "independently run since 1993"5, why did VHPA seek to trademark its logo and name in 2003, the very next year after the anti-Muslim carnage in Gujarat in which the "groups most directly involved ... include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the Gujarat state government. Collectively, they are known as the sangh parivar, or family of Hindu nationalist organizations?"6

We hope HSC chapter members would ask similar questions of the National HSC leadership, and force them to come clean about HSC's links with the Sangh Parivar.

For more information or to pass on comments or questions, contact: Brendan LaRocque (brendan.larocque@gmail.com) or Samip Mallick (samipkmallick@gmail.com).

1 http://www.hscnet.org/fact.php
2 http://hsctruthout.stopfundinghate.org/PRs/index.html
3 http://www.passtheroti.com/?p=534
4 See the banner at http://www.hscnet.org
5 http://www.hscnet.org/fact.php
6 http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/gujarat.html