The Mayor of London is facing calls to condemn a Hindu nationalist figure who will tour the UK this week on behalf of an organisation which critics say fosters intolerance and discrimination against religious minorities in India.
Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) a right-wing Hindu nationalist and paramilitary volunteer organisation – is due to start the UK leg of his global tour this week.
The group, considered the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has organised visits to Canada and the US as well in order to “present a factual and positive perspective amid the misconceptions and propaganda prevalent globally regarding India, Hindu society, and the RSS”.
Prior to Mr Bhagwat’s visit to New York last month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he did not support the rally and found it “incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision”. However, he said he did not have the powers to cancel a private event.
Fresh demands to ban the group from the UK, or at least condemn the visit, come months after the Mayor rejected calls to sever ties with the UK wing of an organisation found by the UK Government to have organised mass anti-Muslim violence in India.
In a letter to Sir Sadiq Khan, Hindus for Human Rights UK (HfHR UK) and several other campaign groups asked if City Hall would condemn the event and boost security around the visit to protect minorities that they claim the RSS and affiliates have targeted in the past.
“The RSS is the parent organisation of India’s governing party, the BJP, and is an authoritarian and militarist group which drew explicit inspiration from European fascism,” the document, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), says.
“Its second Sarsanghchalak (chief), M.S. Golwalkar, openly held up Hitler’s treatment of the Jews as a model for treating minorities worth emulating in India.
“There is also overwhelming evidence of the RSS and its affiliates perpetrating violence and discrimination against Christians and other marginalised communities including caste-oppressed people and communities.”
Former Labour Party Leader and MP for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn, told the LDRS: “Britain should not be hosting the leader of a hate group with a grievous history of far-right violence.
“This is a deeply authoritarian, exclusionary and discriminatory organisation which has suppressed religious freedom and inspired horrific attacks on minorities. There should be no space for this kind of hatred in our city and it is truly appalling that this is going ahead.”
The organisations also asked the Mayor to confirm with the Home Office if Mr Bhagwat’s presence meets the criteria for exclusion. The Home Secretary has the power to ban foreign nations from the UK if it is “conducive to the public good”.
The government declined to comment, however.
HfHR UK had previously called on the Mayor to stop Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHP-UK), also known as the World Council of Hindus UK, from being on the official committee of organisers for the City Hall-backed Diwali celebrations in Trafalgar Square last October.
In 2002, a Foreign Office report found that the Indian branch of the organisation organised a pogrom which killed thousands of Muslims in Gujarat that year.
The RSS has rejected any criticism in the past and describes itself as a “Hindu centric civilisational, cultural movement” whose goal is to “carry the nation to the pinnacle of glory”.
The organisation has been contacted for comment.
