Sadhvi Rithambara meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2013 during a visit to the city of Gandhinagar in the Indian state of Gujarat, where Modi was previously state minister (Supplied)

By Areeb Ullah / Middle East Eye

Calls are mounting for the British government to ban a controversial Hindu activist accused in India of inciting anti-Muslim hatred from entering the United Kingdom for a speaking tour next week.

Sadhvi Nisha Rithambara is the leader of the Durga Vahini organisation, the woman’s wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu nationalist movement, and a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rithambara was scheduled to visit Hindu temples in Birmingham, Bolton, Coventry, Nottingham and London from 20-24 September as part of a tour organised by Param Shakti Peeth UK, a UK-registered charity founded by Rithambara.

Param Shakti Peeth UK released a statement on Friday afternoon, saying that it will postpone Rithambara’s UK tour due to her poor health.

MEE understands that one scheduled event at a temple in east London at which Rithambara was due to speak has already been cancelled.

The VHP was designated by the CIA as a “religious militant organisation” in 2018 and forms part of an umbrella group of Hindu nationalist groups close to Modi’s ruling BJP party.

This story was originally published in middleeasteye.net . Read the full story here