I attended an interesting event at the Henry Jackson Society this week titled, ‘Lessons from Leicester: Addressing Social Cohesion and Extremism Concerns’.
We also know the government has announced its own independent review into the clashes in Leicester between the Muslim and Hindu communities. This has sent shockwaves throughout the Islamist communities not just in the UK, but right across the world. There is real fear with Islamists that their modus operandi of attacking Hindus (in this case, but remember, they do the same with Jews, Sikhs etc) will not only be exposed, but they will be held accountable for their despicable anti-social behaviour. Of course, I am always a bit reluctant to come to any judgements too quickly on any such reviews. Let’s wait and see if this Government inquiry really unearths the Islamists and their anti-Hindu actions, or whether it attempts to use lame excuses to appease to the Islamists, as we have seen so often in the past.
The event at the Henry Jackson Society was an opportunity to consolidate the findings of two research reports into the unrest. One was Prasiddha Sudhakar’s research into Anti-Hindu disinformation and its prevalence on social media platforms. And the other by Charlotte Littlewood into the Hindu-Muslim unrest in Leicester.
The renowned investigative journalist John Ware hosted the event to ask questions on both reports and to separate facts from fake information. John comes with a pedigree; he has worked for almost every news media outlet including print and TV.
The event brought out a few key issues, but in my view, the fundamentals that drive such Islamists to attack Hindus, and then claim victimhood I believe are still not well understood. Prasiddha (Network Contagion Research Institute), speaking from Canada gave a great global context of how various social media platforms and fake news techniques are now being deployed by Islamists to get their narrative across (weaponising the use of technology). And often this narrative tends to be more fake then based on any credible facts. Charlotte tweeted: Whilst anti-Muslim prejudice exists within sections of the Hindu community and poses a threat to social cohesion it has been used as a convenient smokescreen for an organised, malicious attack on Hindus in the UK by gang members and known extremists. In my view, Hindus don’t pose any threat to social cohesion. There is no evidence over many decades to show that Hindus have posed any such threat, ever. However, the days of Hindus being victimised by Islamists are coming to an end. And one cannot lay blame to the victim for wanting to fight back the aggression of the extremists. The real danger to social cohesion are the Islamists, it’s time to call a spade a spade.
I had to pull up John Ware though who used the terms Hindutva and Hindu extremism without much thought (in my view) or any understanding or appreciation of what was at play. He showed how Islamists have successfully planted the seeds of disinformation to such an extent that even highly qualified and experienced journalists are taken in by this fake narrative. I asked a simple question, who, what or where are these Hindu extremists? Show me if Hindus have bombed our London buses? Show me if Hindus have indulged in grooming gangs? Show me if Hindus have hijacked planes? Show me if Hindus have blown up building? Show me if Hindus have gone on our streets and killed innocent bystanders? The answer is very simple, never have Hindus ever indulged in such atrocities. Whereas the Islamists are up to their necks in it. To compare Islamists with Hindus is a disservice to the most peaceful, well integrated, and most contributory community in our society. Another attendee from the Jain community said that he was shocked at the vile attacks on Hindus. He pointed out that the proportion of Hindus in our jails is the smallest, whereas other communities are significantly overrepresented. That should tell any well meaning independent minded person the reality of the aggressors.
In Leicester (as in other places) the victims (Hindus) are victimised not only by Islamists, but also by many in our media who have intentionally, or in their ignorance, taken the side of the extremists. Some researchers and analysts indulge in trying to find the role of Hindus, whilst ignoring the Islamists who are the very epicentre of such disturbances. I am glad to see that the Henry Jackson Society have started to redress this imbalance by exposing that which others wish to hide.
The question remains, will the truth prevail in Leicester? Or will we continue to see narratives being deployed to victimise the victims just to appease the extremists?
