Over 100 British Hindu and community organisations welcomed Mohan Bhagwat to London on Thursday as he arrived for the final leg of a three-nation centenary tour that had already drawn controversy in New York. UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis confirmed in a written Parliamentary answer the same day that the visit met the requirements under UK immigration rules. Bhagwat has since visited the Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Willesden and the Khalsa Jatha British Isles gurdwara, with a community reception themed “Celebration of Oneness” held on 6th September.
The debate followed him across the Atlantic. In New York on 29th August, Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly opposed a Bhagwat event, calling RSS ideology “exclusionary” and at odds with the city’s pluralistic values, despite the event being organised by a coalition of over 200 Hindu American organisations. In London, Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) wrote to the Mayor urging him to condemn the visit, not the first time its interventions have drawn pushback from UK Hindu groups, after INSIGHT UK criticised an earlier HfHR letter over “Diwali on the Square” as “unresearched” and unfairly targeting mainstream organisations including BAPS and NHSF.
Should elected officials and advocacy groups engage with Hindu community events on their merits, or are they judging one community by a different standard? Tell us what you think.