A report by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank claims that disinformation about attacks on Muslims prompted a backlash against the Hindu community. Islamist radicals claimed girls were being kidnapped and harassed by Hindus to inflame community tensions in Leicester and other English cities, Telegraph reported.
The report says that fFrom 4th-20th September 2022, there was significant civil unrest between ethnic minority groups in Leicester, including vandalism of property, assaults, stabbings and attacks on places of worship. Most notably, on the weekend of 17th September, marches comprised of Hindu and Muslim adherents occurred in the city, accompanied by chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Allah u Akhbar’. Some Hindu and Muslim protestors wore balaclavas and others were arrested for possession of weapons. At present, there have been 55 arrests/voluntary police interviews.
Following the protests, Charlotte Littlewood, a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, investigated the underlying tensions. Spending time in Leicester conducting interviews with both Muslim and Hindu residents, compiling social media evidence, video evidence, police reports and statements. She observed a community cohesion breakdown pertaining to loud festivals, antisocial behaviour and a conflict between Muslim youth and Hindu youth stemming from territorial attitudes towards one another. The report that has resulted is the first in-depth collation of evidence and analyses of what led to the unrest.
Contrary to press reports at the time, the investigations did not find Hindutva extremist organisations operating in Leicester but instead discovered a micro-community cohesion issue falsely presented as an issue of organised Hindutva extremism and terrorism. It finds that false allegations of RSS terrorists and Hindutva extremist organisations active in the UK has put the wider Hindu community at risk from hate, vandalism and assault. Some members of the Hindu community in Leicester imposed a voluntary curfew, some relocated to stay with family or friends until they felt safe to return, while still others were unable to return to work owing to fears for their personal safety.
The introduction of the report starts with Leicester city's joint Muslim and Hindu leadership statement: “We, the family of Leicester, stand in front of you not only as Hindus and Muslims but as brothers and sisters. Our two faiths have lived harmoniously in this wonderful city for over half a century. We arrived in this city together. We faced the same challenges together; we fought off racist haters together and collectively made this city a beacon of diversity and community cohesion. That is why we are saddened and heartbroken to see the eruption of tension and violence. Physical attacks on innocent individuals and unwarranted damage to property are not part of a decent society and, indeed, not part of our faiths. What we have seen is not what we’re about. We together call upon the immediate cessation of provocation and violence - both in thought and behaviour. We together call upon the inciters of hatred to leave our city.”
Conclusions
The report concluded that the unrest has been falsely narrated as involving organised extremist groups and RSS terrorists. One of the instigators of the anti-Hindutva Leicester march is a man expressing praise for a wanted terrorist who claims to speak with the crime syndicate the D company. The social media influencers who peddled narratives of Hindutva extremism include a convicted terrorist offender and a man who has offered prayers to the Taliban. Whilst the men accused of being ‘RSS’ terrorists, who had their festival vandalised and claim to be victims of stabbing, consequently organising the Hindu march, appear to have no links to nor an understanding of RSS The methods employed have included projections including a false claim of a BJP organised bus, whilst car sharing of anti-Hindutva protestors were in fact taking place; claims of racists, terrorists, extremists etc; misinformation regarding crimes being committed; attempts to have the uptake of their narrative by the mainstream press and collaborating with political leaders to gain sympathy for their narrative and potentially influence future policy. The successful spread of these claims has led to a security threat posed to the Hindu community and attacks on their places of worship. The media has at times conflated the issue by regularly relying on influencers included in this report for comment and focusing on an issue of Hindutva extremism and Indian politics rather than providing nuanced and accurate analysis of the incidents. There is a real concern that Majid Freeman is regularly being provided with a platform to express his views regarding the presence of Hindutva extremism in the UK and posing as a ‘community leader’, meeting with the City of Leicester’s mayor and discussing the future of the upcoming independent review.
