By MEE staff
Several British Indian organisations have slammed the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, after he co-organised a Diwali celebration on Sunday with groups accused of having links to India’s Hindu nationalist movement.
One of the groups that organised the event was the Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHP-UK), the British arm of an organisation that a UK government report found organised mass anti-Muslim violence with “all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing” in India.
Hindus for Human Rights UK, an advocacy group, wrote to Khan to express its “dismay” at the Diwali celebration being organised “by a coalition of groups that perform, to varying degrees, a whitewashing or supportive function for the Hindutva (Hindu nationalist/supremacist) movement”.
Rajiv Sinha, director of the organisation, said Khan told him in July he was aware of the issue.
“Since the mayor has taken ownership of the event,” he told Middle East Eye. “I hope that he also takes responsibility for the due diligence that should have taken place with regards to the event, its organisers, and their underlying affiliations and activities.
This story was originally published in middleeasteye.net. Read the full story here.
