PRESS RELEASE: UK DIASPORA GROUPS COMMENT ON MOHAN BHAGWAT & RSS LEADERSHIP VISIT

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2nd September 2026

21 UK diaspora groups released a letter to the UK government’s Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the UK Foreign Office ahead of Mohan Bhagwat’s visit to Britain, demanding boycott, condemnation and sanctions against Bhagwat and other RSS leaders. Participating organisations commented as below:

Mukti Shah (South Asia Solidarity Group): “The RSS has been responsible for Hindu supremacist violence from the assassination of Gandhi to the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and the systematic ethnic cleansing of Muslims and other minorities today under Modi. Mohan Bhagwat must not be allowed to launder the RSS image internationally and whip up tensions among South Asians in Britain”

Mohammed Owaise (UK Indian Muslim Council):

“Mr Bhagwat’s UK visit is particularly concerning amid growing polarisation of communities in the UK largely orchestrated by RSS-affiliated or aligned organisations. The UK must not become a platform for normalising such fascist ideologies.”

Rajiv Sinha (Hindus for Human Rights):

“The RSS and Mohan Bhagwat do not and cannot speak for all Hindus. They do not speak for Hindus of conscience.

 In India Mohan Bhagwat incites communal violence, promotes Islamophobic conspiracy theories, talks about population imbalances, and speaks of Hindu society being at war for 1000 years. Yet abroad he talks about ‘universal oneness’ and ‘unity in diversity’. The RSS are not welcome in the UK or anywhere.”

Praveen Kumar (India Labour Solidarity):

 “RSS is the ideological backbone of a project built on crushing religious minorities, oppressed castes and working people alike. Britain must not roll out the red carpet for its leader trying to expand their influence here.”

For the full text of the letter from diaspora organisations see https://southasiasolidarity.org/uk-government-boycott-mohan-bhagwats-visit-condemn-and-sanction-the-rss/

Also, Jeremy Corbyn MP has released the following comment

“Britain should not be hosting the leader of a hate group with a grievous history of far-right violence. This is a deeply authoritarian, exclusionary and discriminatory organisation which has suppressed religious freedom and inspired horrific attacks on minorities. There should be no space for this kind of hatred in our city – and it is truly appalling that this is going ahead”. 

And Nadia Whittome MP has tabled a Parliamentary question ahead of Bhagwat’s visit.

Diaspora groups have also written to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan with several demands including an assurance that there will be no Mayoral or Greater London Assembly engagement with the visit and no GLA land or premises made available for it. Read more here Hindu nationalist Mohan Bhagwat in London this week as Sadiq Khan urged to condemn RSS chief’s visit – My London

For more information contact southasiasolidaritygroup@gmail.com

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