Prior to a few weeks ago, Leicester was regarded as one of the most successful varied communities in the United Kingdom, a shining example of multiculturalism.
Since the early 1960s, when new newcomers from India and Pakistan first began to arrive, people of all religions, whether Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, or Christian, have lived peacefully as neighbors, with tolerance and understanding, in the eleventh largest city in England.
In recent days, however, disturbing images of sectarian violence and masked hate mobs on the streets, along with regular skirmishes between angry young men, have exposed the simmering tensions between the city’s various ethnicities.
This weekend’s riots, which resulted in the injuries of 25 police officers and the arrests of 47 individuals, were blamed on a cricket match between India and Pakistan.
Under the surface, however, it is evident that Leicester, with its competing religious views, high unemployment, poor wages, and large families living in Victorian terraced houses, is a potential flashpoint. And there are legitimate concerns that the problems could spread to further cities.
Two nights ago, a mob of 200 Muslim men demonstrated outside a Birmingham temple in response to a planned speech by a Hindu extremist woman with ties to India.
After the recent violence in Leicester, MailOnline dispatched correspondent Nick Fagge to a city at war:
“Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with cricket,” says barber Muhammad Sandhi outside his business on Green Lane Road in Leicester. ‘I am Indian and I am a Muslim.’
Muhammad, a 26-year-old native of Gujarat, India, relocated to the East Midlands 16 years ago and has never witnessed anything comparable to the violence that has shook his family in recent weeks.
In Leicester, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs all are permitted to celebrate their faiths. However, we should not be permitted to force our religions upon others. We must be able to coexist and respect one another.
This affects the reputation of Leicester and this neighborhood in particular. No longer does anyone come here in the evening. We must close the barbershop earlier than usual.
Bansari Shukla, a mother of two, says that people who had lived peacefully in the multicultural melting pot for decades are now on edge. Spices waft through the mechanic’s garage and through the saree shop in this section of Green Lane.
In the midst of violent skirmishes between Hindus and Muslims, a group of masked men march through Leicester on Sunday, with one seen carrying a 2-by-4-foot board.
Prior to a few weeks ago, Leicester was regarded as one of the most successful varied communities in the United Kingdom, a shining example of multiculturalism. Yesterday, in Belgrave, Leicester, a mural was painted on the side of a furniture store.
The eleventh largest city in England, where over 70 languages were spoken and people of all religions, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians, have lived in harmony with one another.
On Saturday and Sunday evenings, Leicestershire Police patrolled groups of individuals congregating in city neighborhoods.
On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of people gathered in eastern portions of Leicester during major marches, yet there were very few police officers there to regulate the situation, as evidenced by video footage.
Leicestershire Police’s acting chief constable, Rob Nixon, stated that officers previously stationed in the capital had been redeployed to the city in the East Midlands to assist with any potential additional unrest (police pictured at the unplanned march on Green Lane Road on Sunday)
Bansari, age 40, stated, “I don’t know what this is about, but it’s quite frightening.” Even my children are currently terrified. They have diverse pals at school, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, English, and Poles.
People like Bansari hid in their houses over the weekend as gangs of young male Muslims and Hindus raged in the city’s east, with police arresting individuals for crimes such as threatening to kill, possession of a firearm, and affray.
After India defeated Pakistan in an Asia Cup cricket match on August 28 in Dubai, the widespread disruption involving predominantly young males from Hindu and Muslim populations is viewed as a “country-based quarrel.”
Large numbers of young guys dressed in Indian flags came to celebrate on Melton Road in Leicester after the game. There is video evidence of Indian fans chanting “Pakistan Murdabad,” a cry from the partition era that means “death to Pakistan.”
On Saturday, a group of young Hindu men were captured marching through Green Lane Road, which is home to businesses owned by Muslims.
Yesterday, members of the public were photographed in front of Aaliya’s Collection and Beauty on Green Lane Road in Leicester.
“Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with cricket,” says barber Muhammad Sandhi outside his business on Green Lane Road in Leicester. ‘I am Indian and I am a Muslim.’ Left: the Ashraf Haircut barbershop on Leicester’s Green Lane Road. Right: Citizens in front of the Sikh Community Centre on Leicester Street
Bansari Shukla, a mother of two, asserts that individuals who have lived peacefully in a multicultural melting pot for decades are now on edge. Pictured: An individual in front of the Saree Mandir store on Belgrave in Leicester
An emergency worker was assaulted during that night’s outbreak of widespread violence, which was presumably fueled by misinformation on social media.
During the following weeks, there were bogus claims of an attempted kidnapping of a young girl, unsubstantiated accusations of attacks on mosques, and false claims that a Muslim man had been attacked at a cricket match, all of which contributed to the rising animosity.
According to the police, rival gangs of adolescents from other cities and towns, including Birmingham and Luton, converged on Leicester last weekend, with some of them encouraged by an online campaign headed “We’re going to land in Leicester.”
Religious leaders have warned that clashes similar to those in Leicester threaten to spread across the nation.
The situation is so grave that both the Indian and Pakistani high commissions have issued statements condemning the violence against the Hindu and Muslim populations and urging the British government to take action.
Yesterday, a photograph of the Jame Masjid mosque in Spinney Hill, Leicester
Yesterday, members of the public stood outside of St. Stephen’s Anglican church at Green Lane Road.
How do the RSS and BJP relate to the upheaval in the United Kingdom?
Sadhvi Ritambhara, a radical Hindu nationalist, was scheduled to speak at the Durga Bhawan Mandir.
Throughout the conflict between Muslims and Hindus in the United Kingdom, the RSS and BJP have been mentioned.
RSS refers to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an all-male Hindu nationalist volunteer organization that is frequently referred to as a paramilitary organization.
It is reported that the right-volunteer organization created in the 1920s has as many as six million members.
The organization was founded to promote the idea of Hindu nationalism, the most prevalent form of which is Hindutva, and it continues to propagate this philosophy among its followers to this day.
Although this organization has been known to establish schools, charities, and clubs, it has also been linked to communal violence and has been outlawed three times since its inception.
The BJP was derived from the RSS.
The BJP refers to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling political party in India, which has been accused of implementing divisive legislation and pursuing a divisive religious agenda.
Sadhvi Ritambhara rose to fame in the 1990s and is currently the head of the RSS’s women’s branch, with ties to the BJP.
Some communities fear Hindu nationalism is gaining a foothold in the United Kingdom.
Before the tour was canceled, Ritambhara was scheduled to speak at temples in Birmingham, Coventry, Nottingham, and London.
The Birmingham temple where a protest occurred on September 20 denied having any ties to the BJP or RSS and maintained that Ritambhara had spoken at the temple without issue before to the planned event and was well-known for her philanthropic efforts in India.
On Saturday, a group of young Hindu men were captured marching up Green Lane Road, which is home to a number of shops owned by Muslims. Some were captured on camera chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” which translates to “Victory to Lord Rama,” a cry increasingly utilized by Hindu nationalists in India as a symbol of their religious commitment.
In retribution, Muslim men gathered in large numbers, videos of the groups throwing bottles at one other were posted online, and the saffron flag on a Hindu temple was vandalized.
Police investigating recent incidents in the eastern portion of the city have made 45 arrests for crimes such as threatening to kill, possession of a firearm, and affray.
What has caused the disturbance, and may it be duplicated elsewhere? Until recently, Leicester has been seen as a model of multiculturalism in the United Kingdom, with 14 faiths represented.
Some areas of Leicester may be largely not multicultural and integrated, despite the fact that many residents of the city are multicultural and integrated.
In these locations, individuals live in communities concentrated inside the same postcodes, where everyone has the same background and some do not speak English. Hundreds rarely interact with others who do not share their beliefs and background.
This has fostered hatred among persons of Hindu and Muslim, Indian and Pakistani descent.
And recent events, exacerbated by fabricated and exaggerated social media posts, have exacerbated these preexisting tensions.
The role played by extremist groups on both sides, as well as the repercussions of Narendra Modi’s rising marginalization of India’s 200 million Muslims, cannot be overlooked.
Recent conflicts have taken place in a region where Muslim and Hindu groups have historically lived in close proximity and relative peace.
Green Lane Road, surrounded by sweatshop textile companies and light engineering manufacturers, is less glamorous than the more famous ‘Golden Mile’
It is an industrial district. Close by is the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal. An industrial chimney made of brick soars above.
However, it had previously been seen as a region where people of diverse faiths coexisted together.
In one block, Hindu symbols cover one door, a Koranic prayer adorns the next, and the Sikh Gurdwara is located across the street.
Soand Singh, a 40-year-old Sikh butcher, told MailOnline, “People from India and Pakistan have lived in Leicester in peace for generations.” We are Sikhs, and we have no issues with anyone. However, this is terrifying. And it’s detrimental to business.
This has no relevance to cricket.
On one side, ‘Hindutva’ or ultra-nationalist Hindu organisations and on the other, radical Islamist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir preach the beliefs underlying this formerly cold conflict.
In essence, it seeks to build a religiously-based state in which adherents of other religions would be treated as second-class citizens.
In 2021, with a 6.8% unemployment rate compared to the national rate of 4.1%, Leicester has shown to be a fertile breeding ground for those who desire to foster politics of division and hatred.
And many other problems in the city stay hidden, such as the horrible sweatshops of the apparel industry that persisted for years before a 2020 newspaper exposé brought them to light.
According to some sources, the exploitation of workers continued in a number of factories, with workers being paid less than the minimum wage and officials turning a blind eye out of fear of being accused of racism.
According to a new analysis by the Leicester Garment and Textile Workers Trust, sweatshops are still thriving two years later, with employees subjected to physical violence, refused maternity leave, and paid barely £3 per hour. More over half of the examined workers stated they were paid less than the minimum wage.
Leicester also earned the terrible distinction of being Britain’s first ‘shut down’ city during the pandemic, with sky-high Covid rates attributed to chronic overcrowding in Victorian terraced houses where the majority of the Asian population resides.
Although individuals of different ethnic communities may share the same postcode, real contact between them can be uncommon, particularly if they do not speak the same language.
Certainly, hostilities between Muslims and Hindus on the Indian subcontinent date back to the 7th and 8th centuries, when Islam was introduced to the region. Some estimates place the death toll as high as two million as a result of the horrific bloodshed that erupted during the partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. Three wars fought between India and Pakistan in 1947, 1965, and 1971 over conflicting territorial claims in Kashmir have left a legacy of mistrust and suspicion in their ties.
Consequently, it is not surprising that such animosity can periodically spread to cities in the United Kingdom where Muslims and Hindus have relatively coexisted happily for decades.
“The threat posed by the rise of Hindu nationalis
Share on Facebook «||» Share on Twitter «||» Share on Reddit «||» Share on LinkedIn