Headlines
Britain denies visas to radical Hindu activists
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By Anasudhin Azeez London, May 5
The British government has
revoked visas issued to two prominent members of right-wing Hindu
organisations in the south Indian state of Kerala after the Indian
community here filed complaints against their visit.
Sasikala
Teacher, chairperson of Kerala-based Hindu Aikya Vedi (United Hindu
Front), and N. Gopalakrishnan, director of Indian Institute of
Scientific Heritage, were invited to attend the first Hindu Religious
Conference at Croydon in London.
The British consulate in
Chennai revoked the visas issued to both the leaders after a section of
the Indian community complained about their campaigns on radical
Hindutwa ideology, London-based Asian Lite newspaper reported.
Translations of the two leaders' YouTube speeches and other social media messages were handed over to the authorities.
Britain
had earlier denied visa to Narendra Modi for his alleged involvement as
the Gujarat chief minister in the 2002 riots but changed the stance
when he became the prime minister. Britain is following a tough policy
on radical preachers and activists after many of them fuelled young
minds with right-wing religious ideas.
The British Home Office
earlier denied visa to Zakir Naik, a controversial Islamic preacher from
Mumbai, on similar grounds. The Home Office said the controversial
preacher’s visit would spoil the community cohesion activities in
Britain.
Kerala-based Hindu Aikya Vedi and Indian Institute of
Scientific Heritage are closely associated with the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party. Both Sasikala and Gopalakrishnan were known for their
controversial speeches based on right-wing Hindu ideology.
Hindu Aikya Vedi-Britain, the organisers, said the event was cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".
They claimed the first Hindu Conference in Britain was organised to promote traditional Hindu values.
“We
target to relieve the minds of the people from the darkness of
superstitions and immorality and induce in them the spiritual and
philosophical principals of Hinduism based on the spirit of full
consciousness and selfless human behaviour,†a press release stated.
The
event included academic, philosophical lectures and competitions,
debates, question and answer sessions, devotional music, traditional
classical dance and music recitals, and Kathakali recitals.
(Anasudhin Azeez can be contacted at [email protected])