Notorious British racist Tommy Robinson has told the world that he plans to go to India in December. On August 4, Robinson posted this on X: “I’m coming to India in December & I can’t wait”, sharing a link to an interview he had done the day before on Indian news channel CNN-News18. We should all be very concerned. It is now time to pay attention to the growing alliance of far-right forces across the globe.
White supremacists and Hindu supremacists together doesn’t sound like a match made in heaven. Most Hindus are brown. Most white supremacists have a problem with brown people. Yet, apparently these factions can put aside their differences to spread racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim hate and violence. This is exactly what is happening with supremacists in India and the UK.
When the recent violence and unrest – now dubbed “the 2024 United Kingdom riots” – broke out, it became clear that racism, Islamophobia, anti-immigrant hate, anti-refugee sentiment and fascism are connected to each other.
Given my work campaigning against Hindutva, I made it one of my main priorities to highlight the far-right alliance between white supremacists and Hindu supremacists (Hindutva ideologues).
I have been doing my best to raise awareness of this unlikely alliance, especially since July 31, when I saw and posted about the fact that Tommy Robinson had been interviewed on July 25 by Sree Iyer on Iyer’s platform PGurus – a California-based YouTube channel that has repeatedly spread Hindu supremacist propaganda and hate speech. Robinson took the opportunity, given to him by Iyer, to promote his so-called “patriotic rally” that took place two days later on July 27, as well as to spout some disgusting, Islamophobic disinformation, including the following statement: “We do have a problem. That problem is from the followers of Islam… they’re literally raping their way through our country.” Robinson went unchecked by Iyer.
This platforming (and the vile statements that were allowed to linger) is remarkable, given that Robinson is best known for having co-founded the English Defence League (EDL), which the anti-racist group Hope not Hate has deemed a racist organisation and whose tactics have been characterised by scholars as “[reflecting] the fundamental characteristics of fascism.” Why would Iyer platform a known racist?
It wasn’t only Iyer. Robinson was platformed again by CNN-News18 on August 5, where he repeated yet more disinformation and gave voice to dangerous, false grievances. CNN-News18 saw fit to post about their interview on Twitter/X with the following caption:
“#Exclusive:Islamic migrants come to UK and declare war. They are here to dominate. Islam is not a race, it’s a fascist violent ideology which masquerades as a religion says Activist, @TRobinsonNewEra in conversation with @akankshaswarups
There is also an article from May 19 by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC UK) with the following title: ‘Tommy Robinson Invited to so-called ’World Religious Convention’ in India’. So Robinson might have had plans to go to India for some months now. I haven’t yet been able to find out the organisations, people, or location involved with Robinson’s planned trip(s). The sooner we can ascertain these points, the sooner we can address the problem.
Tommy Robinson is no stranger to the Hindu far right. Ed Anderson, academic specialist on Hindu nationalism in India and the Indian diaspora at Northumbria University, reminds me that this connection goes back a bit. He writes in his new book, Hindu Nationalism in the Indian Diaspora, that ‘Robinson, and others on the far-right, have on various occasions supported and even formed alliances with Hindu nationalists’ (p. 245).
Anderson continues later in the book:
‘In February 2016, the National Council of Hindu Temples (NCHT)… a mainstream, representative [Hindutva] organisation that is drawn to the Islamophobic far-right… invited EDL founder Tommy Robinson to speak at their annual conference in a Southall temple. The event was grudgingly cancelled after outrage from anti-racism activists and members of the Hindu community. But the fact that NCHT was eager to host one of Britain’s most notorious white nationalists revealed much about the sort of surprising, often hidden, layers of solidarity and even collaboration between diverse, right-wing, anti-Muslim factions that have emerged, globally, in the twenty-first century’ (p. 284).
Reports released earlier this year by the Savera coalition have highlighted the growing collaboration between the Hindu far right and domestic far-right movements in the United States, and we know that this is taking place in the UK as well – during the unrest of Leicester 2022, for example, Robinson fanned the flames of division between Hindus and Muslims.
These connections are particularly alarming given the recent development of Hindutva activity in the UK during the general election campaign, when more than 60 Hindutva lobby organisations came together to put out a so-called “Hindu Manifesto” that secured endorsements from approximately 25 candidates across the political spectrum. At the time, Hindus for Human Rights UK condemned that initiative for its blatant attempts to whitewash the violent ideology of Hindu supremacy, and we echo that condemnation once again today.
Hindus for Human Rights UK has been mobilising against the far right. We were at the counterprotest against Robinson’s rally on Saturday July 27 in central London, we were at Finsbury Park Mosque on August 10, and we were in North Finchley on August 7, when anti-racists and anti-fascists turned out in large numbers and the touted riots did not go ahead.
We are engaged in anti-racist organising because it is the right thing to do and we recognise that all forms of racism are connected.
I will not stand by while my beautiful way of life, Hinduism, is so disgracefully manipulated and abused. As if India’s democratic backslide under 10 years of Hindu supremacist rule were not enough, now the same destructive forces of Hindutva are aligning themselves with white supremacists that have brought about untold violence, damage, and hate in the UK.
Our politicians and public figures must do all they can to stop this exclusionary hate politics and support efforts to unite rather than divide. The message from real Hindus to Muslims is this – we are there in love and solidarity with you.
Rajiv Sinha is with Hindus for Human Rights, UK.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.