The siege and the cycle of violence on Hindu community in Leicester by radical Islamists is a proof that values of civil society and laws of democracy are not compatible with barbarism. It also shows that a country that nurses radical forces in the name of secularism will one day be eaten by the very monster.
Leicester is home to the second-largest Hindu population in Europe. It is the heartland of the Hindu community in the United Kingdom. The city is known for hosting delightful Hindu festivals, the biggest Diwali celebration outside of India takes place here. So in a way, an attack on Hindu community in its very bastion is not a random incident of violence but a deliberate ploy to destabilise and break the backbone of Hindu diaspora in UK.
It would be naïve to think that the cycle of violence was triggered last month after India won the Asia Cup T20 match against Pakistan. Charlotte Littlewood, a research fellow at Henry Jackson Society who has been following anti-Hindu attacks in Leicester and Birmingham told GB News that tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities had been brewing for months in Leicester. She adds that the issue between the communities is more territorial than political. But a cricket match provided an occasion when Muslims from various other cities gathered in Leicester and collectively hurled hate speeches and used racial slurs in addition to publicly attacking and damaging private Hindu property.
The next few days witnessed widespread Islamist hate towards Hindus fueled violence against Hindus in the city. The highly charged and radicalised groups targeted local Hindu homes, damaging over fifty (50) Hindu properties and vehicles during the series of targeted attacks.
On September 08, 2022 in order to fuel further violence neighbourhood Islamists and Pakistan-supported Twitter accounts spread false reports that a Muslim girl had been kidnapped by a local resident Hindu youth. After thorough investigation the Leicestershire police refuted the bogus claims in a statement on September 14, 2022, stating that the incident never occurred and no offence was committed.
This misinformation was prominently spread by well-known Leicester neighbourhood Islamist Majid Freeman, is a controversial Islamist activist and terrorist sympathizer who is renowned for planting fake news about other religions. Even as the situation was calming down in Leicester, he had fabricated fake story of the kidnapping of Muslim girl. Even though he later admitted that it was fake news the damage had been already done. His Twitter account was suspended for 24 hours by Twitter for spreading misinformation and calling for violence; even then he continues to do so even after the ban. On 5 September 18, Majid Freeman, openly threatened the Hindu community and called on Muslims from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, and other nations to united against Hindus.
The UK media, agenda driven individuals and organisations falsely characterised the anti-Hindu violence in Leicester as being sparked by racial and provocative chants. They turned narrative 180 degrees by calling it an attack by “RSS goons” and “Hindutvavadis” on marginalised Muslims. Further the planned, systematic, and organised attack on Hindus was never a subject of discussion. Even after various truths started coming out there were no statements made to denounce the terrible anti-Hindu violence. By tweeting provocative statements like, “In Leicester, extremist Hindutva groups go on the rampage in Leicester. Shocking stuff,” journalists like Sunny Hundal incited violence and stoked hostilities towards Hindus in the area.
Aina Khan, a UK-based journalist associated with The Guardian tweeted “There is no doubt these men were not representative of the Hindu community.”
September 17, 2022, in response to weeks of unprovoked attacks against Hindus, a peaceful protest march in Leicester was organised. The peaceful march praised Hindu deities and delivered encouraging messages of peace “Sarve Bhavantu sukhinah”. Suddenly, thousands of hardline, radicalised Islamists attacked them, throwing glass bottles and stones at the young men and boys. Many covering the incident closely believe that these miscreants were mostly from outside Leicester, from other parts of UK.
The same evening of Sept 17, Islamists in Leicester gheraoed the Leicestershire Brahma Samaj Shivalaya (Hindu Temple). In viral videos circulating on social media Hindu religious flag was ripped down and vandalised in the presence of Leicestershire police. What the videos don’t show is that these violent Islamists also attempted to hold Hindus captive inside the Shivalaya, including women and children.
Charlotte Littlewood, a research fellow at Henry Jackson Society who was on the ground said, “When only 30 [Islamists] gathered on the streets of Leicester, there was a call for more brothers. We saw it go from 30 to 200. Half of them were from outside Leicester. Now we are aware of an Instagram account and various private social media accounts with thousands of followers in which there calls to ‘chop up Hindu community,’ ‘clean them from Leicester as we did from Kashmir,’ ‘put those dogs down.”
According to the Leicestershire police, a portion of the assailants were not natives of Leicester. Three (3) of the eighteen (18) people arrested on September 18, were from Hounslow, Luton, or Solihull, and three (3) were from Birmingham.
A few days later “Islamist influencers” also show up on the streets.
Among the many anti-Hindu voices, hate filled opinions of Pakistani backed Khalistani and Pro-Islamist outfit Sikh Federation (UK) are now coming to the fore. They have given a political colour to the deplorable events by blaming the BJP and the RSS for disrupting the communal harmony by subjugating the Muslim minority. Even though the police have categorically denied any involvement Hindus in the violence.
Many right thinking journalists and opinion makers feel this event could be related the radical elements of Islamic creating havoc everywhere in the world or that this could a case of an inferiority complex where the Muslim community feels left behind in the economic prosperity of the Hindu community but the essence of this violence lies in the fact that the left/Islamic ecosystem cannot stand the Hindu awakening that’s taking place all over the world. They would much rather prefer the self-effacing, self-hating Hindu who fits perfectly into their narrative. So much so that a proud cry of “Jai Shree Ram” or “Bharat Mata ki jay” is interpreted as a war cry and the grandiose vision of “Sarve Bhavantu sukhinah” is too vast for their narrow world view.
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