UK Hindu groups slam SOAS-led 2022 Leicester riots report

LONDON: Hindu groups have rejected a new SOAS-led report into the 2022 Hindu-Muslim Leicester riots that seeks to blame Hindus and “Hindutva” for much of the violence, saying they have serious concerns about its impartiality, funding and composition of the panels.Leicester’s Hindu Community Organizing Group (HCOG), which represents more than 50,000 Hindus, said the vast majority of Hindu groups had boycotted an “independent commission of inquiry” led by SOAS, London School of Economics and the Monitoring Group, which released its report titled “Better Together” on Monday. It received funding from the Open Society Foundations, the report said.

HCOG said the inquiry was funded by £620,000 by George Soros, “known for his critical stance on India and Hindus”, and said it did not reflect the true nature of what happened. “The 2022 violence in Leicester featured targeted attacks on Hindu homes, temples and individuals, vandalism of Hindu temples and attacks on Hindu youths that reflected clear anti-Hindu sentiments. However, the SOAS investigation appears to downplay these incidents while amplifying unsubstantiated claims,” ​​the report said.Although the SOAS investigation in London, chaired by human rights expert Professor Juan Mendez, found that no one community was to blame, it went on to blame the riots primarily on Hindus and “Hindutva”, devoting an entire chapter to Hindus. This is in stark contrast to the Henry Jackson Society’s report. Recommendations of the SOAS report include “political will to counter Hindu extremism” and recognition of Hindu extremism as a form of extremism on a par with political Islamism.