A report in a British newspaper on alleged links between “Hindu extremists” and far-right groups has sparked a controversy with Hindu groups complaining to the UK’s media watchdog. The Mail on Sunday article quoted a police intelligence report which British Hindu groups said lacked inputs and clarifications from the community. The media watchdog cleared the British newspaper, but the matter has now been escalated to its complaint’s committee.
The Mail on Sunday on March 30 reported that British “Hindu extremists” were joining hands with far-right groups over their “shared anti-Muslim views”.
Hindu groups in the UK called the report baseless and misleading and lodged a protest with the media watchdog.
The key area of concern for the Hindu groups was the explanation, “Hindu extremism — which is known as Hindutva,” in the Mail on Sunday report.
Insight UK, an advocacy group, said, “This article is not just misleading; it is a textbook example of how biased framing, selective omission, and ideological lens can manufacture a moral panic around a peaceful religious community.”
It called the article a “factually flawed hit job on British Hindus”.
“The article repeatedly conflates Hindutva with ‘extremism’, reducing a rich philosophical tradition to a caricature. Hindutva, quite simply, is the outward expression of Hindu identity,” Insight UK said on April 1.
This story was originally published in indiatoday.in. Read the full story here.
