Are Hindu Nationalists Solidifying Their Presence In The UK?
(ANALYSIS) The Labour Party in the U.K. made a clean sweep on July 4 by winning 412 seats, while the incumbent Conservative Party was decimated to 121 seats. But Labour wasn’t the choice of the country’s rising number of Hindu nationalists as they have been rallying behind the latter.
A section of British Hindus, who have been boastful cheerleaders of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, campaigned for “one of their own” — the incumbent British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a man of Indian descent and Hindu ethnic origin.
Sunak, who retains Richmond and Northallerton seat, has also flaunted his Hindu-ness in many ways, from time to time — by wearing a red sacred thread around his wrist and swearing oath to parliament upon the sacred Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita. Ahead of the general elections, Sunak visited a Hindu temple in London pledging to build a “strategic partnership with India.”
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When Sunak was appointed the prime minister in 2022, Hindu nationalists in India and the U.K. saw his appointment as a validation of BJP's sectarian Hindutva agenda to establish Hindu nationalist ideology.
Besides Sunak, Conservative members of Parliament — Bob Blackman, who has been reelected from Harrow East in Greater London, and Priti Patel, who retained the Witham seat in Essex — also enjoy huge support of the Hindu nationalists.
In January, Blackman, known for making inflammatory remarks against Muslims and Sikhs, attended an event in the British Parliament, which was organized by Sanatan Sanstha of the U.K., a charity whose counterparts in India have been accused of having links with the murder of Indian activist Gauri Lankesh in 2017. The participants were found chanting, “Jai Shri Ram” (Victory to Lord Ram) — a slogan that refers to the reign of Hindu deity Ram, who has now been made the symbolic figurehead of Hindutva.
In 2022, Blackman supported the Hindu nationalists when large-scale violence broke out between Hindus and Muslims in Leicester.
Both Blackman and Patel have close links with Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), a philanthropic arm of the larger Hindu nationalist family Sangh Parivar. Like Blackman, Patel too targeted Sikhs and Muslims. She even called Modi “our dear friend” and applauded his “dynamic leadership.”
Ever since Modi took power in India in 2014, the Hindu identity of the Indian diaspora in the U.S., Australia and U.K. have intensified. The BJP has been able to mobilize the diaspora by providing narrative links connected with India such as the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. In January, Hindu nationalists across U.K. cities celebrated the consecration of the temple by Modi with huge fanfare.
Although a section of 1.8 million people of Indian origin living in the U.K. and 1 million Hindus have protested against the divisive Hindutva forces, the latter still seem to have managed to exhibit their identity.
Three weeks before elections, more than 20 Hindu nationalist organizations, including Hindu Council U.K., Hindu Forum of Britain and INSIGHT U.K., released a Hindu manifesto — a first such move by Hindus in the country. The manifesto urged the next government to recognize “Hinduphobia” — the “antagonistic” and “derogatory” attitude towards Hinduism and Hindus — as religious hate crimes. It demands more Hindu faith schools and relaxation of visas for Hindu religious workers, as well.
Of 27 British politicians who endorsed the manifesto, 20 were Conservatives and three from Labour.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, Hindu temples and charities offered a place of comfort when Indian Hindus arrived in large groups following their expulsion from East Africa. But at the height of the sectarian Ram Janmabhoomi movement that led to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, the support for the “Hindu cause” was consolidated by them through donations for construction of Ram temple. In the last one decade, these temples and charities have also urged Indians to vote for Conservatives.
Traditionally, Indians were Labour Party supporters, but after Labour in 2019 passed a motion criticizing India's decision to revoke the special status of Indian-administered Kashmir, Hindu nationalists urged the Indian diaspora not to vote for the party. A similar move was initiated in 2023, ahead of Leicester City Council elections. The narrative set by the Hindu nationalists is that Labour represents the cause of Pakistani Muslims among south Asians, hence it would always adopt anti-India policy.
Sensing the disenchantment among Hindus, a week before the elections, Keir Starmer, now the elected prime minister, visited a Hindu temple. While addressing the Hindus, he said that “there is absolutely no place for Hinduphobia in Britain” and promised that Labour would “build a new strategic partnership with India.”
Wooing Indian voters did help — 29 politicians of Indian origin have been elected to the Parliament this election, of which 19 are from Labour, only seven are from Conservatives, while one is a Liberal Democrat and two others are independents.
But with politicians from both Labour and Conservative parties visiting Hindu temples and endorsing a Hindu manifesto prepared by divisive Hindutva forces, the big question is, has the Hindutva identity now intensified in the U.K.?
And the bigger question is, will these elected members of Parliament who endorsed the manifesto now represent a particular religious or ethnic minority community under the garb of “multiculturalism” and allow sectarianism to flourish?
Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.