The myth of ‘British Hinduvta’: lessons from Leicester

This time last year Hindu homes and vehicles were systematically attacked in Leicester. Walk in the worst affected areas today and you will see shadows of Hindu symbols scratched off doors and cars, removed for fear their presence would attract attack. False narratives of “Hindutva terrorists” created a target out of the Hindu community in Leicester, leading to families assembling extra locks and placing cctv cameras in their driveways. Some families even temporarily relocated.

“Cow piss drinkers”, “violent vegetarians”, “BJP terrorists”, were but a few of the slurs that came to be associated with the unrest. The slurs denigrated the Hindu faith and attached British Hindus to political affairs in India. Indeed, what we saw in Leicester comes straight from the anti-Semitism playbook.

One year on and baseless cries of “Hindutva” have only grown louder and with them a painful rise in anti-Hindu hate. But where are the woke defenders of this persecuted minority? Why is it that in an age of supposed anti-racism, violent attacks on people who are among this country’s longest-standing victims of race hate, whose ancestors lived under British colonial rule for hundreds of years, draw so little concern?

Investigations into the unrest between Muslims and Hindus last year in Leicester identified a community cohesion issue driven by youth unemployment,  local demographic shifts and noise complaints over Hindu festivals. Frustrations led to youth violence perpetrated by both Hindu and Muslim youths. These incidents were then labelled as politically motivated, bringing violent protests against Hindu temples across the country and attacks on Hindu homes in the LE5 area of Leicester. Islamists with known links to terrorism drove the narrative, yet press and politicians alike pointed to India, an easy scapegoat, avoiding addressing what may be politically sensitive or libellous.

For many commentators, Leicester pointed to the ability of overseas extreme narratives to take hold in Britain, a very real threat that India’s 2024 elections will only intensify. But for those looking more closely it was an eye opener into the British Hindu experience — the lesser known anti-Hindu hate.

Research inspired by the unrest found that over 50 per cent of Hindu parents say their child has experienced bullying on account of their faith and/or Hindu identity in school. Over 1,000 participants were included in the study into anti-Hindu sentiment in schools. The results detailed cases ranging from a girl having beef thrown at her to physical assaults, Hindu pupils being held accountable for politics in India and the caste system, or being told that the bullying would only stop when they converted to Islam. One pupil reported having to change school three times on account of anti-Hindu bullying. Despite such shocking incidents and such a high percentage of pupils in this survey affected, schools themselves recorded that fewer than one percent of pupils have faced anti-Hindu bullying in the last five years.

This silence from schools is much like the silence seen regarding the experiences of Hindus in Leicester. The majority of media platforms avoided commenting on British communities, but instead pointed to India or suggested that there may be a Hindu extremism threat in the UK. Some even platformed the very Islamists the police were calling on to stop posting false news on social media. One who rallied the crowds in Leicester with anti-Hindu slurs, referring to them as “violent vegetarians” and declaring he was leading a Muslim patrol, was interviewed on Channel 4. The reporter described him as an “influencer with “conservative views”. A Guardian reporter was given a tour of Leicester by a man known for praying for brothers of an ISIS fighter and for the “Lady of Alqaeda”. Whilst anti-Hindu hate was simply not seen, not commented on, treated as an inconvenience.

Perhaps having, with good reason, been accused of anti-Muslim bias in the past, the media sought an alternative villain. Perhaps journalists sought a break from the constant threats and libel cases one has to face when one tackles issues of Islamist extremism.

Perhaps the British Hindu community has joined British Jews in not being fit for victimhood. The perceived economic success of the community, the perceived alignment with Western values and politics, indeed even the growing relationship between India and Israel, bars Hindus from the class of the oppressed.

Perhaps a mix of all these factors is true.

Whilst Hindu nationalism in the UK is present and a potential threat to community cohesion, violent Hindutva is not, yet what we will see this month is a stream of commentary on Hindu extremism, none having examined the facts in Leicester and many choosing to take the path of least resistance and of greatest political favour. What the Leicester unrest taught us is the true hypocrisy of those who claim to be the defenders of the persecuted minority. No such defenders came to the fore. Whilst we remain blind to anti-Hindu sentiment, we bolster Islamist extremists intent on besmirching them. The risk is that we leave a minority persecuted and without redress. That could create the very bogeyman we are mistakenly convinced is already here.

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