Controversy mounts over Obama transition team member's ties to Hindu group

Obama transition team member Sonal Shah's involvement with a controversial Hindu group was greater than she indicated in a recent statement, according to members of the organization.

A series of e-mails obtained by Nextgov suggest that Shah was an active member of the Vishva Hindu Parishad of America during the late 1990s and contributed to strategic discussions regarding the group's public image. Two VHP of America officials also confirmed that Shah served on the organization's governing council in the 1990s.

VHP is an international Hindu organization that is part of Sangh Parivar, the Indian nationalist movement organized around Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism. VHP has been condemned by the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch and the State Department for its role in the 2002 violence in the northwestern state of Gujarat that killed more than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.

Shah, an executive with Google.org who previously worked for the Treasury Department and Goldman Sachs, was appointed to the Obama transition team in November and later named to be part of a three-person team to write technology policy.

In a recent statement sent to National Journal, Shah called the allegations "attacks" and said her association with the VHP of America involved work on earthquake relief in 2001. She added that if she could have anticipated the group's silence "in the face of its Indian counterpart's complicity in the events of Gujarat in 2002" she "would have not associated with the VHP of America."

But in e-mail messages sent to the VHP of America's listserv in May 1998, Shah participated in discussions regarding the group's public image. At one point she made reference to the Indian branch of the VHP, or VHP Bharat, as a model: "Why don't we focus on improving the lives of its citizens, etc. That's where VHP Bharat's strength is -- people remember that." The e-mails also refer to a "long talk" between Shah and VHP of America official Vijay Pallod, in which Pallod called Shah part of the organization's "new generation." Shah did not respond to requests for comment at the time this article was posted.

VHP of India first rose to international prominence in December 1992 by leading the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. The incident sparked riots and communal violence throughout the country.

Shah has been under fire since she was first named to Obama's transition team, but questions about her ties to the VHP of America surfaced much earlier. Trinity College professor Vijay Prashad, who wrote an article on the Web site CounterPunch questioning her appointment to the transition team, first asked Shah about her links to Sangh groups in 2004. Prashad said Shah's reaction to the questions both then and now have been dismissive.

"On the merits of the story she tells about her own involvement, there are certainly unanswered questions," said Prashad. "The questions are about the depth of her involvement and they speak not to any kind of anti-Muslim feelings but a lack of judgment. These statements strike me as opportunistic."

Despite Shah's statement renouncing the VHP, the issue has remained a hot topic in the Indian press. On Dec. 5, a group of more than 60 U.S. academics, many working in South Asian-related fields, sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama expressing their concern over Shah's appointment and the increasing influence of Hindu nationalism in America.

Prashad also pointed to a 2004 speech by Shah at a Sangh-related event, where according to the organization's Web site, Shah "exposed the hypocrisy of the Western way of life, highlighting its wasteful ways and compared them to the simpler but more genuine life in India. She mentioned how Indians would sacrifice whatever they had for their guests, but we in the West cannot even sacrifice a little time for them."

Shah's brother, Anand Shah, said during an interview earlier in December that as children growing up in Houston, he and his sister had limited knowledge of Indian politics and did not understand the entire context surrounding the VHP. He said they viewed the VHP as an "innocuous organization" and that it is "very different now."

"The choices we made were the best choices we could at the time. Had I known all the things I know now, there's a whole lot of things I wouldn't have done," said Anand Shah. He added that his sister speaks at numerous conferences to promote her nonprofit Indicorps, which arranges for American students to volunteer in India.

Prashad expressed skepticism at the Shah family's claims of ignorance regarding the VHP because Shah's father, Ramesh Shah, is known as a leader of the American wing of several Sangh Parivar organizations. Prashad also noted Sonal Shah's involvement in the VHP was well after the events of Ayodhya, which attracted international scrutiny.

"She is a smart person," said Prashad, referencing Shah's time at Treasury working on the Asian financial crisis. "Given all that, I find it unbelievable that these things are a surprise. She was on the governing council of the VHP-A while in the Treasury Department. It just doesn't sound credible."

The VHP of America issued a statement denying any role in the Gujarat violence and said it was independent of the eponymous Indian organization. But a spokesman said the two groups share similar goals and noted the VHP-A's Web site, listed as one of its goals to "establish VHP as the voice of Hindus everywhere and represent Hindu organizations and institutions on matters of Hindu interests."