John L Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, acknowledged AntiSemitism and Islamophobia and one would expect him to say "Hinduphobia" along the same lines but instead, when it came to Hinduism, he said "Hindutva". He said the Hindutva movement in the US is very active and uses different means, such as writing letters to university administrations and threatening scholars with lawsuits, to disrupt academic freedom. “The threat of these groups has grown significantly in recent years. These groups wish to silence any empirical, fact-based, analysis and critique of Hindutva by the scholars,” Esposito told Al Jazeera. He called on the US academia to initiate more debates and discussions on Hindutva. “Academics have a professional and moral obligation to respond to Hindutva, as they would to charges of antisemitism, Islamophobia, or racism,” Esposito said.