The savage killing of 80-year-old grandfather Bhim Kohli last year shocked all of us. This cruel and degrading attack was a reminder that we must treat anti-Hindu hatred and Hinduphobia with the utmost seriousness. This form of hate and discrimination is poorly recorded, it is rarely covered in the media, and too often it is disregarded and marginalised. Britain’s Hindu community is a major success story.
It has integrated seamlessly into UK society, whilst at the same time retaining a vibrant cultural heritage. In education, British Hindus outperform almost all other ethnic and faith groups. They are strongly represented in higher skill professions and in the armed forces. Not only do they play a crucial role in enterprise and business, but British Indian doctors and nurses form part of the backbone of the NHS.
Despite this, there is real concern in the community about rising levels of anti-Hindu sentiment. A recent example was the coverage of the inter-communal disturbances in Leicester in summer 2022.
Despite the fact that it was Hindu temples and homes that came under attack, some media outlets blamed tensions on ‘extremist Hindus’.
Subsequent research by the Henry Jackson Society did not back up this claim and expressed concern that the media had been too willing to listen to opinions expressed by so-called ‘influencers’ from Leicester’s Muslim community who had themselves expressed hardline views.
This is part of a trend which has seen respectful expression of Hindu principles and symbols labelled as extreme or ‘Hindutva’. Often associated with Narendra Modi’s BJP party, this term gives rise to a debate of greater complexity than is possible to cover in this article.
But while its proponents see it as a legitimate political ideology based on Hindu values and cultural unity, others view it as majoritarian and contrary to longstanding principles that India is a secular multi-religious state.
Whichever view you take of the Hindutva concept, it is wrong to apply it simplistically and indiscriminately to Britain’s Hindu community as way to stigmatise ordinary expression of faith and culture as being politically motivated. Advocacy organisations such as Insight UK have complained about the portrayal of British Hindus as a monolithic group aligned with the BJP.
This even manifested as Hindu kids bullied in school over Mr Modi’s revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution on the special status of Kashmir.
British Hindus should not be singled out for blame for controversial decisions made by India’s Prime Minister, any more than Jewish people should be held responsible for the actions of Israel’s leaders.
Work underway by Angela Rayner on a new definition of Islamophobia is provoking further anxiety. The Hindu Council UK have warned that this could become a de facto blasphemy law.
If the definition chosen is widely drawn or unclear, it could stifle of debate on issues of concern to British Indians and other communities. For example, it is feared that Hindus expelled from Kashmir by Islamist insurgents will no longer feel free to tell their stories, or have their say on this longstanding dispute, in case they are accused of Islamophobia.
On top of all of this, there is the unacceptable use of the word “Asian” in relation to grooming gangs. I am not aware of any Hindu ever having been implicated in this activity. The issue that has become clear is the predominance of offenders with Pakistani Muslim heritage involved in this sickening crime.
Using the blanket term “Asian” in this context is misleading and offensive because it implies that the problem includes the British Hindu community when there is no evidence whatsoever for any such connection. This seems to be a further example of a failure to speak frankly about this appalling abuse, for fear of being accused of being anti-Muslim.
In conclusion, we need to wake up to the problem of anti-Hindu hatred and ensure that the concerns of the British Hindu community on this issue are taken seriously. Not least, it is vital to ensure the UK government’s plans to redefine Islamophobia do not have a chilling effect on free speech and do not create a two-tier system which gives privileged status to one faith group, to the detriment of others.
