The causes of the surge in communal violence in Leicester can be traced back to demographic changes in the city’s South Asian population and the use of social media as a tool by the direct preparators and indirect influencers of violence. Extremist ideologies of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist groups and religiously-influenced political figures are also chiefly responsible.
The clashes that occurred in September 2022 between Hindu and Muslim communities in Leicester were shocking news for many. But the incidents did not come as a surprise for those who have been observing a growing trend of extremism in the Indian polity which has all the ingredients for its spill over to the countries where the Indian diaspora has been thriving and multiplying in number.
In 1951, Leicester had only 624 South Asian residents; today, it has one of the highest numbers of South Asian residents, the majority of whom are from India. Of these Indians, 13 percent are Muslims and 12.3 percent are Hindus. Until the recent incidents of communal violence, Leicester was considered to be a model city for religious harmony and tolerance with freedom for both communities to celebrate their religious festivals like Diwali, Eid, and Vaisakhi.
The recent communal riots that occurred soon after the India-Pakistan cricket match in late August 2022 shattered the peaceful image Leicester had for many decades. Although victims tend to cite reasons that suit them well, the real causes of it are far more complex than what is currently being perceived and discussed by many analysts. The use of social media for spreading rumours and false news, uncontrolled migration into the UK, pursuing Hindutva policies away from home, and the delayed action by the police force in defusing the tension in the area are some of the main factors for this sudden outburst of violence in a city known for its peaceful environment.
The press in India and Pakistan is also playing a role that often promotes a message of blaming others. The Indian press reported the incident as a result of an aggressive attitude of the Muslim community towards the Hindu community at a time when they were celebrating the victory of the Indian cricket team over the Pakistani team. A man claiming to be a Pakistani Muslim started disrespecting the Indian flag, which infuriated Hindu boys who thrashed him for being adamant to continue his disrespectful attitude. Later, it was found that the man was neither a Muslim nor a Hindu. By then a video of the scuffle had already gone viral prompting reactions from people belonging to both communities. The statement of the Indian High Commission also attained coverage in the Indian press as a most pertinent approach that raised serious concern for the safety of Indian-origin people and criticized the local authorities for their failure in preventing the vandalism of Hindu temples[1]. The New York Times pointed out that the statement of the Indian High Commission was a little biased as it made no mention of the Muslim religious places that were also vandalized during the violence.
For the Pakistani press, the extremist policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the social media campaign by the Indian sources were the key players in spreading false and distorted reports of the incidents fomenting an already charged-up community. The mysterious man who had falsely identified himself as a Pakistani Muslim couldn’t draw any attention from the Pakistani press though he appears to be the main person responsible for triggering the violence that engulfed the city. His was a very calculated step to paint a negative picture of Pakistan and create a situation that turned peaceful people into a frenzy of violence and thus proved that Leicester is not a model city of interfaith harmony.
Blaming the extremist policies of BJP and its affiliate Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for being responsible for communal violence is a partial truth as well. For more than two decades, the Islamist groups run by Jihadists from different Muslim countries have been involved in all sorts of militancy in England. Al-Qaeda, Daish (Islamic State), and some self-radicalized Muslims have been very active not only in England but in other European countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. In 2016, Germany raided 190 mosques, flats, and offices linked to an Islamist group in Germany because they were suspected of radicalizing youngsters and persuading them to join militants in Iraq and Syria[2].
Many of these Islamist militant groups like Daish, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), al-Qaeda (AQ), Jaish-e-Muhammadi (JeM), and Hizbut Tahrir (HuT) are also functioning in India for a long time. Quite often their acts of terrorism have caused conflicting situations between India and Pakistan, prompting India to view them as proxies of Pakistan.
Some of these militant groups have their presence in Pakistan as well where they are not kind to Pakistan either. They often carry out terror attacks in Pakistan targeting security personnel and innocent people belonging to Muslim and non-Muslim faiths. The majority of these attacks are claimed to have been carried out by militant outfits like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Daish, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), AQ, and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
Both, Pakistan and India, have their militant groups and with the emergence of the BJP as the ruling party, the secular image of India is constantly being replaced by fundamentalism. What Pakistan experienced during the Zia regime, India is experiencing now. The policies of the BJP and its ally RSS are as bad as the policies of the Zia era and those who still follow those policies in Pakistan are no different either. To save the overseas communities of Indian or Pakistani descent from the communal violence they experienced lately in Leicester, it is necessary that all acts of extremism committed by Indian or Pakistani extremists be condemned unequivocally by all.
[1] https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindu-muslim-violence-in-the-uk-revisiting-leicester-8181005/
[2]http://www.dawn.com/news/1296506/german-authorities-raid-190-mosques-flats-offices-linked-to-banned-islamist-group
