Disclaimer: This report on the World Hindu Congress (WHC) 2023, among other things, does not necessarily represent Bṛhat’s position on any or all decisions taken in the WHC.

Swami Vigyananand, Joint General Secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bharat, and Founder of the World Hindu Congress (WHC), in his inaugural address - post the auspicious sounding of the shankhnaad and lighting of diyas - stressed on how the word ‘Hindu’ itself had been vilified by the Nehruvian establishment for decades, how ‘Bharat’ as a term had all but disappeared from the public consciousness. But for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, there would have been no self esteem left in Hindus he said;

garv se kaho hum Hindu hain, say with pride that we are Hindus, this slogan that was pioneered in the early 90s helped revive some self respect in Hindus but alas! with globalization and economic growth such civilizational matters fell by the wayside.

It was with this intention of allowing Hindus a space where they could be themselves and speak of their issues without a ‘secular agenda’ that the WHC came into being in 2014.

With the blessings of Mata Amritanandamayi ji (Ammachi), the WHC was officially ready to start. In her acceptance speech, she prayed for Hindus to be guided by spiritual knowledge at all times - which would help us overcome all outer and inner obstacles and usher in peace and contentment in the world.

Oh! The energy and the exuberance! It is not often that Hindus get together in such a manner in such large numbers to talk of all things concerning them. There are the Kumbh Melas for religious congregations; and then there is the World Hindu Congress for all things educational, economic, religious, and political.

Air India had given a special discount for the delegates of the World Hindu Congress and many of us who availed it happened to take the same late afternoon flight from Delhi to Bangkok. Seat after seat were Indians headed to this once-in-four year congregation, some previous attendees, others who were first timers, but all of us equally excited to be a part of something so big and Hindu! Covid pushed the conference by a year and instead of 2022 here we were, eager to get it going in the winter of 2023. Just as the plane made touchdown, the air was suffused with chants of Jai Shree Raama! After all, this is the land of the Rama Royalty, of Ayutthaya, of Ramakien, and of Hanuman or Phra Ram.

This global congress for Hindus is organized and run by some of the most efficient people on the ground: the members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS). Despite the stigma that mainstream media accords to these two - and every other overtly Hindu organization - as backward and regressive, we must keep in mind that such groups are our backbone. No one will hear the cries of a Hindu on the street but a Bajrang Dal worker, to diss them would be to our own detriment. These are our frontline protectors as J. Sai Deepak rightly points out. There is also a deep connection between Vedanta teaching gurukulams such as Chinmaya Mission, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam and the VHP. Gurudev (Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati) founded VHP in 1964 along with Golwalkar ji and Apte ji, and Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati ji, my guru, was Swami Chinmayananda’s senior disciple at that time.

As attendees of the previous WHC event in Chicago in 2018, invitations to attend the WHC in Bangkok started in the beginning of the year, with early-bird offers and email newsletters enticing would-be delegates to register. Given that space was limited with 2000 delegates as its maximum capacity, the early feelers helped many of us register months before and not be disappointed later. I had thoroughly enjoyed myself in Chicago and learnt so much, met so many Hindu intellectuals and on-the-ground-workers, that I wanted to partake of this feast once more. Given that this would be in Bangkok was a bonus. There is so much more to Thailand than just the seamy side that is often its calling card. This infamy seems like a well rehearsed scheme by those who are anti-dharma, wanting to paint a devout land and its people in a negative manner, cherry picking what appeals to their sensibilities the most.

In the flight from Delhi, next to me was seated Shivanand Lakhera, who is turning the tide against conversion in Uttarakhand’s Kotdwar - which if you did not know (I did not) houses the second largest church in Asia. Love jihad cases are rising, and many mosques and churches have come up in what we refer to as ‘devbhoomi’, laughable were not our situation so pitiable. He told me of his sincere efforts to fight against the conversion mafia. Listening to him talk with passion about his life’s mission - a father of a young girl, flying abroad for the first time - I was filled with immense gratitude for him and his ilk. What courage and determination it takes to give up the safety net of a 9-5 job and land where the real fight is, and to take on the bigwigs.

Landing in Bangkok, the streets are neat, clean and crime free. Apart from a few taxi drivers making an easy buck off of an unsuspecting tourist, the place feels extremely safe for single women traveling alone at any time of night or day. Drivers, though, drive notoriously fast at 120-140 kph, which is normal. Both on four wheel drives and motorbikes, they ply famously like James Bond between taxis on highways. And my ride on one of them for 120 Bahts at 120 km/hr from Sathorn to Sukhamvit was the stuff of dreams, a fantasy of my teenage years. At fifty something it was indeed hair raising but I kept mum, smiling at the ways of bhagavan, of how it does fulfill one’s every dharmika desire but does not say when!

At the airport, free phone sims were being given away at the Dtac counter to the delegates of WHC, and many money conversion kiosks were also lined up in green. Dollars could be converted at any 3 star hotel, but Indian Rupees were not welcome alas. I sincerely hope that UPI will be brought here by our government, as they have done in France, UAE, Singapore, and Sri Lanka; and on my next visit I can fly into Thailand with just my phone. But getting the pre booked taxis to our hotel took awhile. Unlike in Chicago where many volunteers picked and dropped off delegates at their hotels, here in Bangkok it was a paid service - and given the congestion on the roads and the distance from Suvarnabhoomi to the Nonthaburi Impact Arena and Convention Centre, it took some time to get things sorted. The rest of the arrangements at the venue were top notch. Nothing less can be expected from RSS workers who are notable for their network and their disciplined, on-the-ground working. Various avatars of RSS such as HSS and VSS, came from all over the world to assist and participate in this grand festivity.

Some of these delegates from Singapore were waiting for their ride outside the Suvarnabhumi airport, with whom I rode in a van to the venue. Rekha Shenoy ji, Priya, Arohi, and their group helped me find my bearings, getting my ID card made and picking up my welcome kit (which was a beautiful laptop bag with goodies of books and laddus). Finally, after eating the delicious dinner that was on offer (the tea, snacks, lunch and dinner were both Thai and Indian vegetarian, and as bountiful as they were delicious, so much to savor along with the scintillating conversations), I said goodbye to my new found friends and walked to my hotel, which was 10 mins away.

Since it was 11.00pm already, I was a bit apprehensive to walk on the roads with my luggage; but as it happens at such large events, I ran into yet another helpful group from Hong Kong headed the same way. Pooja Bundel, a young post-doc researcher, and I became best buddies that night. She helped me get registered at the front desk, collect my keys and WiFi password. After making plans for the next day, I took a hot shower at 12.30am and finally called it a day. I had been up and about from 3.00am that morning, rushing to the airport to catch a 6.00am flight to Delhi, with a layover of four hours for a five hours flight to Thailand, it had been such a long journey indeed.

WHC officially kickstarted on Nov 23rd morning. The welcome plenary by Sh. Mohan Bhagwat ji was excellent, he elaborated on the word ‘ayatanam’ which means abode, growth, expansion, stand and stressed that the word ‘jaya’ i.e. victory for Hindus is not about conquering others but joining everyone together. The farewell plenary by Sh. Dattatreya Hosabale ji was yet another example of his erudite oration. He urged Hindu organizations across the world to come together, join hands, and share information for the resurgence of Hindu society and to confront the visceral hatred towards Hindu dharma. He gently warned against this tendency of ‘secularizing’ organizations in the name of inclusivity, thereby homogenizing and dumbing down Indian festivals to please non-Hindus. Swami Mitrananda ji of Chinmaya Mission invigorated the two thousand plus audience with his energetic call for all of us to manifest our inner Narasimhas by uniting against the demonic Hiranyakashipus that the world is confronted with today.

Video talks by all the diverse speakers representing the seven foras of Hindu Economic, Hindu Education, Hindu Media, Hindu Political, Hindu Women, Hindu Youth and Hindu Organizations, are compiled here and here for those who were unable to attend. There is so much that they talk about which is of use and relevance to every Hindu. At the end of the two day congress, Sh. Sridhar Vembu ji and Sh. Mohandas Pai ji spoke about the hopes for a resurgent, environmentally conscious, and confident India and of the various positive statistics and numbers India projects for the coming years. It was heartening to note the rise of our beloved country in the grand scheme of things, and many in the audience were teary eyed with awe noting the long arduous voyage of our beloved Bharat.

Ammachi spoke eloquently on the last day; a fitting farewell - guiding us, yet also warning us - of the pitfalls of losing our humanity to technological advances. It is Hindus who have given the world the concept of dharma and yajna; virtue and self-sacrifice, but we are unfortunately losing sight of the same, functioning like machines to tackle inner and outer battlegrounds, she gently admonished. Her message struck a chord with most of the audience and she got a standing ovation for the same. Many volunteers from Amritapuri had joined her here in Bangkok, to offer free audio kits for translation from Malayalam, and also gift all delegates beautiful cloth bags with Amma’s books and speeches. The adoration she commands is spontaneous. Not only has Amma managed to prop up sanatana dharma and its values through her teachings and bhajans, she has also managed to inculcate seva bhavana in most of her ardent devotees, as well as assisting in bringing world class education to the youth living in the countryside in India via Amrita University.

Meanwhile, after the common plenary, which was held in the Shivaji Hall, the breakout parallel sessions of the different fora were on different floors far apart from one other, this was the only issue that I had with the organization per se, as say a Swati Goel Sharma session clashed with Vishnu Shankar Jain session, one could not jump from one room to another as one had done in Chicago, thereby being forced to choose between one or the other. Another issue that can be catered to in 2026 at the Jio Centre in Mumbai, where the next WHC will be held, is introducing an Art and Culture Forum. Bharat has so much to offer in this category and we must showcase and document the same, and not shy away from claiming what is our due.

It was a tough task to network, connect in depth, learn about each other, from each other and also attend the talks, discussions and participate in the Q/A, being invested in everything hundred percent. It was one long roller coaster ride on all the three days, which left us panting but wanting more.

I ended up in # Jupiter 4, this was the Media Room, excellently coordinated by Sh. Vikram Sharma ji. Listening to Anand Narasimhan, Uday Mahurkar, Abhijit Majumder, Ishkaran Bhandari, Jitarth Jai Bharadwaj, Anuj Bharadwaj, M. Vinod Kumar, Rahul Roushan, Capt. Praveen Chaturvedi, Abhijit Chavda, Ravi Chand, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Abhishek Agarwal, Prof. K. G. Suresh, and meeting the women I respect for their honest courageous work: Nupur J Sharma and Swati Goel Sharma, the Hindu Media Forum was where I found myself on all the days except for a brief interlude to listen to Vikram Sampath and Anand Ranganathan at the Hindu Education Forum. A colleague from the Hindu University of America (HUA) with whom I studied ‘Race and Hindu Studies’ under Prof. Adluri and Bagchi in 2019-20, Ramsundar Lakshminarayanan, was also attending the WHC to present his work on Hindumisia.ai. His path breaking work on diligently documenting the hate speeches, biased media reports, distorted and misinformed curricula viz Hindus and Hindu dharma, his Analytical approach to Measure, Monitor and Expose anti-Hindu Hate was very well received.

I also ran into many peers from the past, from the WHC Chicago and from Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (AVG), people I know from various walks of life, as did everyone else. But for all us what was most satisfying was meeting with Hindus from other countries, other continents; those who we do not get to meet otherwise or hear from; especially Pakistan and Bangladesh, as also Mauritius, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia and so on.

Meeting Shruthi.O and Vishali Shetty of Aarsha Vidya Samajam (AVS), Balaramapuram, Kerala, in the ladies room was such a high. They were gracious in posing for a selfie with me, to me these women at AVS are the real rockstars. They help in ghar wapsi of Hindu victims of jihad, such gentle yet bold souls. I was like a star struck fan, and found them indulging me with humor.

There was not much at the congress that was said that was new to anyone who is following Social Media especially Twitter / X keenly. Hopefully the next WHC will have more actionable items and a to-do list apart from regular talks and discussions. It was definitely a feel good space which was extremely well organized; but we need more grassroots items that can be addressed immediately, both for 2024 and beyond. One of the big decisions that was announced at the end of the three day meet received both brickbats and bouquets: The decision to use the word ‘Hindutva’, which literally means ‘Hindu-ness’, and not ‘Hinduism’, which suffers from colonial baggage and of being an +ism and not an entity in its own right, has brought forth a lot of post-congress discussion. As per the declaration ‘Hinduism’ misrepresents the Hindu community as oppressive and discriminatory and this is unacceptable.

After parting ways with new found friends and thanking the organizers, on Nov 26th I shifted from Ibis Impact to Ibis Sathorn, wanting to uncover more areas of Bangkok. Last visit in 2018, I had explored Silom. On the 27th of Nov on Kartika Poornima, Thais celebrate Loyi Krathong - to honor the river goddess Ganga or Khongka - and light lamps, make paper boats, burst sparklers to celebrate the full moon and grand voyages of yore; similar to Boita Bandana of Odisha, as well as Karthika Deepa of Arunachala and Dev Deeepvali of Kashi. It was a site to behold! Both the Lumphini park lake where I floated my diya, as well as the Chao Phraya river, all water bodies in fact, came alive and were dancing with fire under the blossomed bright moon.

Next day on the 28th of November, I hired a taxi to take me to Ayutthaya which is only 74 kms north. This ancient capital has many archaeological heritage sites. It has an old world charm like Siem Reap, and is quieter, calmer, and easier on the nerves. A city made for strolling. Several temples, one specially dedicated to Phra Ram, and to the earth goddess Vasundhara or Dharani known as Preah Thorani entice one to stay put and not rush. The famous Buddha-in-the-Tree was also part of the tourist itinerary, as was the Bang Pa-In Palace, the summer residence of the Rama Kings.

On the 29th, I decided that I must break free from the Hindu theme of my journey and make it a bit more fauji, respecting my father’s deep interest in the Second World War, so I decided to explore the western province of Kanchanaburi with the Bridge on the River Kwai. Most hotels have tours and I took this one which included a train ride through the Wampo viaduct, and also lunch. It was one of the most adventurous trips I have ever undertaken. The Death Railway; 415 kms long with hundred camps along its borders, and Allied Prisoners of War (PoWs) commissioned to build this ‘by hand’, has been immortalized in many films. Only 5% of the recruits returned home safe, after months of disease and despair. This railway went all the way through the mountains and jungles into Burma. Railway Man is the movie to watch to learn more about this; not Bridge on the River Kwai, as per our guide, the latter he said was not factual. It was the Allied Forces that had bombed the bridge, not the Japanese; although after the war, the bridge was rebuilt with extra parts donated by Japan. As part of the tour, we walked across the river Kwai on the Bridge. And rode the train all the way into Thom Kra Sae.

On my flight back to Delhi on Air India, Ms. Kiran Sethi, a third generation Thai-Indian and I got chatting. She regaled me with her stories of being born Sikh in Thailand. She also conveyed very strongly that legalized prostitution kept the streets safe for her and her daughters. From her I also learnt that most sardars frequent only one gurudwara in Bangkok or Pattaya, this way the community is more close knit and is there to assist in times of need or for finding partners. This is unlike say the West where many Hindu temples and Gurudwaras would split up the diaspora attendance and effect their unity. Approximately 10 lakh people of Indian origin live in Thailand and are actively involved in trade, and contribute to the economic development of the country.

Service was top notch at both hotels where I stayed and overall too, except for a few disgruntled workers who were slightly rude at the airport Information Desk and the Currency Kiosk. At lunch at Thom Kra Sae, extra care was taken for providing me with a vegetarian fare, arranging for local delicacies, smiling sincerely while serving, and so on. Hospitality comes naturally to Thais. Hotels run free shuttle services to, say the BTS station at Sala Daeng, from where one can get to Taksin very easily, for a boat ride up and down the Chao Phraya. On my first visit to Bangkok in 2018, on the way to Siem Reap, my mother and I broke the journey and stayed here to see the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, etc. The golden Ramayana and Mahabharata panels enameled on the red palace walls are still etched in memory. This time too I took the Chao Phraya Princess up and down the river which is a fabulous way to take in the city especially at sunset, just like the water taxi rides across the Bosphorus that I reveled in, in Istanbul-Constantinople.

On the last but one day I was hankering a Bagel, so went in to a newly opened shop on Sio Si Bamphen - a haven for hipsters, hippies, expats, with Thai massage parlors, weed shops and more - to find that nothing was egg-free/ or even vegan. So the manager Onur promptly offered me a salad and mint chai on the house with a recommendation to visit Hummus Boutique if I was keen on vegan vegetarian fare. So that evening I rode pillion on a motorcycle (taxi) like a Bond girl, albeit hair tied in a tight bun and forehead decorated with a big bindi to Sukhumvit 51 for some delicious fare as promised.

I plan to go back to Thailand of course as I need to explore the Buriram ruins of Hindu temples as well as the Chachoengsao Ganesha. The north with Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai awaits as well. The Kingdom of Thailand has made it easy for Indians now to visit as the visa requirement has been rescinded. One hopes that more and more Indians avail of this wonderful opportunity to get to know a dharmika land not far from India, which has so much reverence for our sacred texts and our sacred deities. Apart from showering love on the Buddha and their own family ancestors, Thais also actively worship Indra and Brahma as also Ganesha and Ganga. This ancient connection that we have we must take care to revive and rekindle.

Meanwhile, I plan to work at attending the Mumbai edition of WHC 2026 which promises to be a greater version of what transpired until now, as this congress will be back in Bharat, in a land where Shree Rama Lalla will finally reside in his abode. DGP M. K Shukla ji (retd) and his wife Asha Shukla ji, whom I had met at the Delhi airport had arranged for prasad from the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya for all the delegates and also photographs of the temple structure. All of us were delighted at this generous and very thoughtful gesture. I have framed the picture they gifted me and have hung it at the entrance of my house.

It was heartening to note that Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin highlighted Hindu values and said that the world struggling with turmoil should take inspiration from Hindu values of non-violence, truth, tolerance and harmony, only then peace would be established in the world. Even though he was unable to attend, his message was read out to the gathering. He said that it was an honor for Thailand to host the World Hindu Congress organized on the principles and values of Hinduism. The Vedas visualize the key principles of synthesis and balance for a peaceful coexistence. The concept of shanti is established on these principles.

The World Hindu Congress 2023 at Bangkok hosted more than 2000 delegates from across 61 countries, known for their contributions in education, economy, media, religion, and politics. Many politicians too participated in this gathering. Apart from trade, India’s relationship with Thailand in defense and security too has increased manifold post 2014, and there is a feeling of mutual trust and admiration given our look-east policy. May this relationship grow and prosper in the coming years.

Jai Shree Rama! And glory to the Kingdom of Thailand!