The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh UK (HSS) has denied the allegations made against them through an ITV programme 'Charities Behaving badly' aired on Wednesday 18 February 2015 at 10:40pm.
In a statement, the offended organisation has stated that, “The depiction of us as anti any other religion is wrong and counterproductive to the positive work HSS has done in building interfaith relations.”
This came after ITV's undercover reporters spent an year infiltrating The Steadfast Trust, as well as Islamic charity The Global Aid Trust (GAT), where they reportedly witnessed a charity worker expressing his support for extremism and the Charlie Hebdo killers' mentor, and The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK charity - where children at a summer camp were told Islam is the 'world's worst religion'.
In the documentary, Steadfast trustee Mr Hawke is apparently shown suggesting 'Burn the Mosques' as a name for a group in Chelmsford, Essex.
The documentary reportedly showed a leadership camp at a school in Hertfordshire, where allegedly children are seen being told by a teacher: 'To destroy the Hindu history is the secret conspiracy of the Christians.'
And when a child asks Child: 'Do you think Muslims are the biggest problem for Britain?', a teacher responds: 'Yes. For everybody, for everybody.'
After the class he adds: 'See if it comes to Islam they are the World’s worst religion and they don’t have common sense to find out what is humanity and all that.'
A spokesman for the Steadfast Trust, which has now had its charity status removed, said: "The Trust does not share or support the offensive views expressed, some by people unknown to the charity.
"We cannot be held responsible for the views, actions or political affiliations of our supporters.
"The Steadfast Trust is not and has never been political in its aims and we are perplexed by the suggestion it has become the focal point of the far right."
On the other hand the HSS-UK has issued a national statement saying that they do not believe that this programme is a fair and accurate representation of their work or values.
Their official spokesperson in the UK said, “HSS has been operating in the UK since 1966 and during this period, not a single member of the organisation has ever been formally or informally questioned/charged, warned, cautioned or sentenced by any of our authorities with holding, promoting or attempting to or carrying out any such action that is extremist or otherwise against any member of the public in the UK, simply because HSS does not promote or practice such views.
"In fact, HSS through its programmes over the years has always worked closely with authorities and different faith organisations. Therefore the depiction of HSS as anti any other faith is wrong, misleading and counterproductive to the positive work HSS has done in building interfaith rapport and community relations. We promote Hindu values that inherently are about cohesiveness and duty to society as a whole and our volunteers have always contributed positively to British society.
“Our residential leadership training event (at which the filming took place) is aimed at building character, based on discipline, respect, knowledge and selfless action. It is attended by a cross section of society. We try to give all our volunteers an opportunity to discuss their opinions and understand all other views but that does not mean that HSS agrees with or promotes these viewpoints. We are investigating these alleged comments with a view to ensuring that those who made them are either better informed and/or prevented from making statements (in public or at HSS events) which may be interpreted as anti other faith or community.
“As part of our own investigation and as a result of being notified of the allegations, in January we immediately informed and recently met with the Charity Commission who have our full co-operation in any investigation.
“The speaker who has been quoted in the documentary is not a trustee or office bearer of HSS. He was an invited speaker and we are now waiting for his response concerning the alleged comments recorded in the aired programme as part of our own investigation.
“HSS will in future take even greater care to ensure that no views are expressed from its platform that could directly or indirectly promote interfaith discord.
“Our goal and indeed our actions over the last 49 years shows that HSS promotes more diversity and unity in British society based on our articulation of Hindu values of universal peace.”
