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Hindutva slogans soar in Leicester, has communal hatred been exported overseas?

England’s Leicester once again witnesses shades of Hindutva during a Ram Navami rally where slogans of Jai Sri Ram were heard with loud support for a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

This Ram Navami, several Indian states witnessed processions where anti-Muslim slogans were given. In West Bengal, BJP leaders were even booked for reportedly holding weapons during such processions. The Calcutta High Court had granted the organisers, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Anjani Putra Sena, the permission to hold these processions only after it stated that no hate speech or untoward activity would be seen at these processions. However, Leicester, a city in the United Kingdom, far away from India saw a similar such procession on April 17, 2024 near Cossington Park.

Activist Majid Freeman took to X, formerly Twitter, to post about the incident. Slogans such as “Ayodhya toh abhi Jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura Baaki hain,” rang through the event. Similarly, slogans such as ‘Jai Sri Ram’, and ‘We are Hindu, Hindu Rastra is ours,’ were also raised at the event.

Freeman was actually an activist who, as per The Guardian, saved a man from a mob during the Leicester violence in 2022. Comments under this video on X include one user asserting that, “We will absolutely reclaim our temples.” Similarly, another user wrote a long post, arguing that it was Muslims who committed a large amount of crime in the UK, and accused the activist of collaborating with the police to spread, “Hinduphobia.”

On September 12, 2022, England had witnessed actual communal unrest between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester. The violence was triggered by false information originating from a distant source, as per Scroll, was spread in the city and soon the small incident escalated into a huge concern, with people armed with sticks and bats marching at each other. There was a march of around 300 masked Hindu youths who walked for about two miles to a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, according to The Guardian. Reports suggest the false news had most probably originated in India and the police quickly debunked the misinformation. However, the tensions had run high with reports of violence by both communities.

An article published on the London School of Economics blog states that Hindutva has been growing as a steady presence over the years, especially after the 2022 incidents, in the UK. It highlights that this has been able to happen due to Hindutva oriented organisations becoming ‘more active’ in the recent years. It argues that the 2022 incidents saw the contribution of such organisations, as Hindutva organisations began to make use of existing tensions between communities for their own benefit.

According to a report by Maktoob Media, various local Muslim organisations have submitted complaints to the authorities regarding the anti-Muslim nature of the recent event. As per the report, Najeeb Patel, who is the Chair of Federation of Muslim Organisations, stated that, “I would urge Leicestershire Police to investigate this matter in the hope of identifying and quickly dealing with any harmful behaviour, dispelling any misinformation and avoiding the potential for any further disturbances or disruption to community relations in Leicester.”

 

Related:

Police file FIR against BJP leaders after seen holding weapon at Ram Navami rally

Ram Navami 2024: Provocative speeches advocating for desecration of Mosques, display of swords, slogans in front of Mosques mark the Hindu festival

Hindutva Rising: Muslim man lynched, day later Hindutva groups disrupt protest for Babri in West Bengal    

Hindutva’s “rice-bag” controversy

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