The latest study report from the UK-based think tank, Henry Jackson Society (HJS), has exposed the extent of anti-Hindu hatred in UK public schools. The study claims that many students belonging to the community have to face religious bullying in classrooms. The respondents included in the study reported incidents such as abuse, throwing beef at them, threats for adorning tilak on the forehead, facing racial slurs, rude jokes around Hindu rituals, and even pressure to embrace Islam.
Out of the 988 Hindu parents interviewed across 1000 schools, 51 per cent complained of religious discrimination against their children in schools. In other words, every second Hindu student has faced some kind of xenophobia on school campuses. Furthermore, only 19 per cent of schools have so far succeeded in identifying this problem. The rest of them still lack any redressal mechanism. This could be the reason why less than one per cent of schools have reported such incidents during the past five years.
The report is not just an intellectual exercise but is based on accounts of real citizens and thus provides a glimpse of an increasingly polarised UK society. What is happening inside the country’s classrooms is spilling onto its roads, as evidenced by the anti-Hindu violence in Leicester last September. An attack on the members of the Hindu community celebrating India’s Asia Cup win against Pakistan by a Muslim mob triggered a series of violent assaults against Hindus in the city. Many of the rioters reportedly came deliberately from other parts of the UK to participate in riots. Hindu temples were ravaged, many religious symbols defaced, and houses with Hindu symbols like Swastika were specifically targeted.
According to a report published by “The 1928 Organisation” in 2012 titled “British Indian Identity, Political Representation, and Policy Priorities,” 80% of British Indians have experienced Hinduphobia as a result of their Indian ancestry. The Delta strain of Coronavirus was referred to as the Indian variant during the pandemic in Britain, but a request to change this was later presented to the British Parliament. What is notable is that even Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has publicly admitted to being a victim of racial discrimination in his childhood.
This pattern has led many people to ask if the UK is turning into Bangladesh for Hindus. The anti-Hindu modus operandi, such as targeting temples and throwing beef at children, in both countries bears a striking resemblance. Many Hindu youths in Britain are allegedly being pressured to follow Zakir Naik’s content, much like in Bangladesh, where many Hindus are forced to follow radical Islamic preachers.
Are these similarities a mere coincidence or is there something more to it? The HJS report also indicates a sharp rise in anti-Hindu violence since 2014, the year India’s politics took a monumental turn, and postulates that it could be a form of reprisal for several political and social developments affecting Muslims in India ever since. According to the report, Hinduphobia further intensified in the UK after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. It must be noted that children are often the easiest targets of any bigotry, and UK schools are no exception in this regard.
Hindus are experiencing religious prejudice not only in Britain but also in many other nations. They receive remarks about their appearance or religious convictions, and they also face pressure to change their religion. As per research published by the American research organisation Network Contagion Research Institute this year, attacks on Hindus, particularly in the US, had increased over a thousand-fold. The research states this was a collective hate crime rather than the work of one race or group. This is because Hindus with Indian ancestry are becoming more powerful and well-known, which is limiting the options available to those who commit hate crimes. People of Indian descent are becoming more influential in a variety of industries, including Silicon Valley, American politics, and other areas. This has sparked hostility towards them among local ethnic groups, which manifests itself as hate crimes.
The American investigative agency FBI has acknowledged that hate crimes against people of Indian-American origin have risen by up to 500%. According to the American investigative agency FBI, hate crimes against people of Indian-American descent have increased by as much as 500%. Australia and Canada have seen similar trends. In Canada, there were more than 2,500 incidents of attacks on Hindus in 2020 alone, or an average of seven incidents per day. The Canadian government’s figures reveal there has been a 72% increase in anti-Hindu rhetoric in that nation over the past few years, and it is believed that the main reason behind this is the alliance of Khalistani supporters with Islamic extremists.
It is astonishing to see the bearers of the culture of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the world is one family) facing such treatment in foreign countries. The reality of the UK school classrooms has brought this stark reality to the fore. One can only hope that the Modi government will keep intact its record of caring for the Indian diaspora by appropriately addressing the situation.
