1,800 movers and shakers from all over the planet made history at the World Hindu Congress in New Delhi, signaling a new era for the Hindu Renaissance.

Indeed, many of us sitting there felt that Hindu power had finally returned. After too many centuries of subjugation and humiliation, after six decades of political and intellectual Marxist rule, which methodically belittled Hindus and brought them to the status of a maligned minority in a country where they are the ancestral and demographic majority—after all this, power was returning at last to those who have always given refuge to persecuted minorities.

Organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), this conference, held from November 21-23, 2014, brought 1,500 official delegates from 50 countries and a like number of observers. For the first time, too, most of the TV channels, media houses and the capital’s newspapers attended a Hindu event. (Ordinarily they ignore or bash such gatherings). This was no minor function. Over 200 speakers, including several Union Ministers, educationists, economists, bankers and diverse professionals, participated over three days in seven conferences and 45 sessions, providing ample opportunity to discuss the issues affecting Hindu society.

The inspired organizer, Swami Vigyananand, emphasized in his introductory address that as Hinduism moves forward in the 21st century, “it has to be strategically placed to influence the crucial areas of economy, education, media and politics in the world.” When he blew the conch to declare the Congress open, it had been 121 years since Swami Vivekananda delivered his earth-shaking address at the Chicago Parliament in 1893, opening the gates for Hindu Dharma to spread across the world. Now, in a return of the tide, Hindus from all over the world had traveled to New Delhi to debate the mechanisms of a long-overdue resurgence of Hindu knowledge and Indian civilization.