The evidence exonerating Hindutva groups’ involvement produced by Littlewood are interviews with the Hindu youth accused of being Hindutva supporters, police reports of some of the events, and finally a detailed analysis of social media posts by the ‘Muslim influencers’ who are presented as the main instigators.
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The UK-based Henry Jackson Society published a report on the recent violence in Leicester. Authored by Charlotte Littlewood, a society fellow, and titled ‘Hindu-Muslim civil unrest in Leicester – Hindutva and the creation of a false narrative’, the report and its main conclusions that there was no involvement of Hindutva groups in the violence, and that there was a concerted effort to create that narrative, were widely reported in the Indian media.

The evidence exonerating Hindutva groups’ involvement produced by Littlewood are interviews with the Hindu youth accused of being Hindutva supporters, police reports of some of the events, and finally a detailed analysis of social media posts by the ‘Muslim influencers’ who are presented as the main instigators.

The violence itself, is said to be the result of “micro-community cohesion issue with Muslim and Hindu youth holding prejudicial attitudes towards one other.”

Report Debunking Hindutva-Led Violence Unquestioned

Surprisingly, while several Indian media outlets did run stories in the wake of Leicester violence on the growing activities of Hindutva groups led by the Hindu Seva Sangh, none of them have so far produced an analysis of the contents and the motivations for the report. No one has asked the question as to who has commissioned the report, what is the targeted audience, and what is the intended purpose.

One must first start with the history and activities of the Henry Jackson Society (HJS)—a ‘security think-tank’ with close ties to conservative and right-wing groups and with a special focus on Islamic radicalism. The Georgetown University Bridge initiative factsheet describes it thus:

“The HJS is a neo-conservative think-tank that has been described as having an ‘anti-Islam’ agenda. The HJS claims British University campuses are breeding grounds for ‘Islamic extremism’, and labels any Muslim-led community, advocacy, and legal rights groups critical of its work as ‘extremist’.”

The factsheet goes on to list a long list of personalities associated with the HJS in line with right-wing agenda as well as the various activities of the HJS. These include hosting controversial speakers, making false claims and publishing research reports with questionable methodology.

In another report titled ‘The Henry Jackson Society: The Threat to British Democracy caused by Security Think Tanks’, three British academics discuss the threat posed to democratic freedoms by groups such as the HJS for repressive policies against Muslims and minorities across the UK.

It is perhaps not a coincidence that an organisation that routinely puts out questionable reports on extremism and has little credibility for being objective and balanced should come out with a report specifically exonerating Hindu extremism. We now turn to the report itself.

Selective Posts Peddle Biased Narrative

The report starts by discussing the changing demographics of Leicester with the influx of newer migrants from India. The author Littlewood reports incidents starting from May onwards when youth from both communities attacked each other in sporadic incidents.

We are also informed of the disturbance experienced by several Muslim residents by the loud Hindu festivities which seem to have increased in recent times.

As evidence of the fraying social fabric, Littlewood provides three social media posts—all by Muslims. The first one announcing a cessation of loud Hindu festivities owing to Muslim action, the next, a post disparaging Hindu festivals, and then a tweet complaining about loud Hindu festivals blocking roads.

Strikingly, similar posts by Hindu groups or individuals critical of Muslims are absent. This is intentional and not an oversight. Throughout the report, Littlewood focuses almost exclusively on posts, messages and allegations by the Muslim influencers and other UK Muslims to the near exclusion on those on the Hindu side.
This story was originally published in thequint.com . Read the full story here