A leaked report produced by the UK Home Office has alleged that “Hindu nationalist extremism” played a part in the 2022 Leicester riots, identifying it as a proposed target for British counter-extremism efforts for the first time, a Middle East Eye report said on Wednesday.
Details of the leaked internal review into the British government’s counter-extremism strategy were published on Monday by Policy Exchange, a right-wing think tank.
As per MEE report, the Home Office review called for the scope of counter-extremism work to be widened to cover a range of causes and activities including Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), extreme misogyny, and a fascination with violence.
It advocated a focus on “behaviours and activity of concern” rather than ideologies.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the leaked review did not reflect government policy.
“Many documents produced across Government as part of commissioned work are not implemented and do not constitute government policy,” Jarvis told MPs. “To be clear, the leaked documents were not current or new government policy.”
The review nonetheless marks the first time that Hindutva has been discussed in detail in a major policy document.
It asserts that “Hindu nationalist extremism” played a part in the unprecedented spate of violence that erupted between Hindus and Muslims in the multicultural Midlands city of Leicester in 2022.
This is also the first time a government document has linked Hindu nationalism to the Leicester riots, although a Daily Mail report in May 2023 quoted unnamed security sources as saying that the violence was stoked by activists linked to India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Rajiv Sinha, director of Hindus for Human Rights UK, told MEE: “As Brits of Indian descent, and in my case as a proud Hindu, we hope this revelation from the leaked report supplies further grounds and inclination to tackle Hindu nationalism, which in its many forms poses a great threat to the stability of the United Kingdom.”
The 2022 riots began when nearly 200 Hindu men wearing masks and balaclavas marched through Leicester’s Highfield area chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” which translates from Hindi to “hail Lord Ram” or “victory to Lord Ram,” words that are increasingly appropriated by perpetrators of anti-Muslim violence in India, added the MEE report.
Following the march, some Muslims came out onto the streets, leading to scuffles between the two groups.
The Policy Exchange report on Monday notes that the Home Office review places “Hindu nationalist extremism” under the spotlight. The review reportedly judges that “key voices within both Muslim and Hindu communities also played a significant role in opportunistically exploiting tensions and inciting hate among the local communities.”
The MEE report further said that shortly after the riots, the mayor of Leicester, Sir Peter Soulsby, went on the record and said that Hindutva ideology played a role in the unrest.
Soulsby said that “ideologies that have their roots in the Indian subcontinent” played a role in the events. He was asked whether he was talking about Hindutva and answered: “Yes.”
Claudia Webbe, a sitting MP at the time, said: “We have fringe elements led and inspired by extremism and right-wing ideology rearing its head in the UK and in the peaceful city of Leicester.”
In response to growing public outcry, in September 2023, the Sunak government appointed Lord Ian Austin, then trade envoy to Israel, to lead an independent review into the unrest.
Austin, however, was already a controversial figure among large segments of the Muslim community, especially in Leicester, for having falsely claimed that the pro-Palestine campaign group Friends of Al-Aqsa were Holocaust deniers.
Following Austin’s appointment, more than 100 Leicester-based Muslim organisations and individuals committed themselves to not engaging with the review.
Not to be confused with Hinduism, a religion practised by a billion people worldwide, Hindutva is a 100-year-old political ideology that aims to turn the constitutionally secular India into an exclusive Hindu state, clarifies the MEE report.
Its chief proponent is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a constellation of Hindu nationalist organisations responsible for political violence against Indian minorities, the report added.
The Community Policy Forum (CPC), a think tank which says it aims to address structural inequalities facing British Muslims, described the leaked review as a “crucial and positive step forward”.
“Until now, politicians have been largely unwilling to fully acknowledge the role of Hindutva ideologies in the unrest we saw in Leicester in 2022. Failing to recognise its influence severely hinders efforts to understand and address divisions within communities.”
The CPC mentioned its forthcoming report, co-authored with the United Kingdom Indian Muslim Council, on the Leicester unrest and Hindutva’s role in allegedly “exacerbating communal tensions”.
It said that Austin’s review of the riots “lacks community confidence, thereby rendering it unfit for purpose”, and called for a new “impartial and comprehensive review”.
