Washington, March 29 -- Indian-American student and activist Vasant Bhatt has said that many aspects of Hinduism were "misinterpreted and portrayed negatively" in the Hindu Religion Course offered by Houston University. He said that the course heavily emphasised that Hinduism is a modern social construct tied to fringe theory or a debated concept.

In an interview with ANI, Bhatt said that the professor called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "Hindu fundamentalist" and made a false claim that India is persecuting minorities.

On accusing Houston University of being Hinduphobic and distorting India's political landscape, he said, "There were many aspects of Hinduism that were misrepresented and portrayed negatively in the university course. ...