Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS, and the threat to British pluralism

The RSS luminary Mohan Bhagwat is on a visit to the United Kingdom. Muslims, Christians, and moderate Hindus are worried about his Hindutva rhetoric. His flagrant Hindu supremacism is a peril to pluralism and secularism.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Union) was founded to promote hardline Hinduism. It has tens of millions of members. It rejects what it perceives as immorality and Western cultural pollutants such as New Year's Day and Valentine’s Day.

There is an organisation called Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) in the UK, and there is an All-Party Parliamentary Group which has MPs of all major UK political parties. Indian secularists and non-Hindus have requested that FoRB and the APPG refuse to attend Bhagwat’s public events. There are British politicians encouraging their government to denounce Mohan Bhagwat and the RSS.

The British Indian community is only about 50% Hindu, as opposed to India's population, which is 80% Hindu. British Hindus tend to be moderate and/or lax in observance.

Twenty organisations signed a joint letter sent to Britain’s Department for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (FCO) calling for Bhagwat to be given the cold shoulder due to his causing disharmony in India. His oratory tends to set Indians in deadly hatred against each other.

In the USA, the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called on the US to introduce sanctions against the RSS since 2019. It is said that India is abridging the religious liberty of minority faiths. USCIRF said that Bhagwat’s visa to visit the United States ought to be revoked.

The USCIRF claims that Bhagwat stokes animosity towards Muslims and Christians in India. USCIRF noted that Bhagwat’s hero is M S Golwalkar, who notoriously stated that the annihilation of 6 million Jews by the Nazis was ‘the highest expression of racial pride’ and suggested that the Hindus ought to dispose of non-Hindus in a like manner.

Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist, shot dead 77 people in Norway in 2011 and openly stated that the thought processes of the RSS set him on this path, though he is not a Hindu. Breivik targeted a summer camp for the Norwegian Labour Party youth organisation because the party promotes a multiethnic and multireligious society.

Bhagwat is in the United Kingdom, and his visit lasts until 7 September. He was in the USA and Canada earlier this year. He addressed some considerable public rallies. However, his presence provoked significant pushback from Indian communities there, including some of the Hindu community.

Many organisations in the UK have appended their names to an open letter decrying Bhagwat and saying that the Home Secretary should ban him from British soil on the basis that his ‘presence is not conducive to the public good’. The Home Secretary is Shabana Mahmood – a Muslim born in the UK to Pakistani parents.

White nationalists from the Netherlands have been prohibited from entering the country for remarks far less contentious than Bhagwat’s utterances. There is a set of 'unacceptable behaviour criteria' which can lead to a person being forbidden to enter the United Kingdom.

Bhagwat’s critics said he far exceeds this threshold. The organisations that urged the Home Secretary to issue a banning order include Hindus for Human Rights, UK Indian Muslim Council, India Labour Solidarity, the Dalit Solidarity Network, the Indian Workers’ Association, and others.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is a practising Muslim and a member of the ruling Labour Party. He publicly pleaded with the government to prevent Bhagwat’s entry into the UK. The Greater London Assembly has forbidden him from using any buildings owned by it.

The RSS has some members overseas, and they are important donors. The organisation seeks to spread its tentacles worldwide.