Hindu organisations in the United Kingdom have expressed 'outrage over the Home Affairs Select Committee's decision to accept oral evidence from only the Muslim community in its investigation into the backlash following the July terrorist attacks in London.
This, despite recent figures released by the Metropolitan Police, showing that more Hindus and Sikhs were victims of hate crimes than Muslims during the backlash that affected the capital, the organisations said.
"We are completely outraged that the Home Affairs Select Committee informed us they do not have time to take oral evidence from the Hindu community as part of their investigations into the aftermath of the London bombings even though we are more vulnerable to hate crime than the Muslim community," Ramesh Kallidai, Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said.
The Forum had earlier submitted written evidence to the Committee, in which they had expressed deep concerns at the 'lack of engagement' with Hindus by the Home Office and police. The Committee was to accept oral evidence on Tuesday.
In recent times, Home Office ministers had been touring the country in an attempt to meet Muslim community leaders and understand their concerns. Additionally, the Home Office has announced the formation of working groups composed almost entirely of Muslim members to tackle extremism.
The Metropolitan Police has recently indicated it is considering extra funding for a structured engagement with the Muslim community.
"In our written evidence to the Select Committee, we pointed out that the structured approach to the efforts of the Home Office and the Police in engaging with the Muslim community is very commendable," Kallidai said. "However, it is in stark contrast to the manner in which the Hindu community has been treated. Requests for ministerial meetings to discuss our concerns have been brushed aside under the pretext of more important 'priorities and commitments'.
A lack of engagement in understanding the affect of increasing hate crime against our community has left British Hindus feeling more vulnerable and insecure," he added.
Ratilal Chohan, General Secretary of the Hindu Council of the North, said, "The government has not yet indicated how it proposes to formulate a strategy to address increased hate crime against our community and the issues surrounding community confidence, safety and security."
"It is baffling there has been no attempt until now to establish a structured approach to understand our concerns," Jo Thanki, President of the Hindu Council of Birmingham, said. "The government needs to consider a more equitable methodology of engaging with all affected communities to be more effective in dealing with issues of extremism and hate crime in our multi-cultural and multi-faith society."
Chair of Hindu Council of Brent, Venilal Vaghela said, "As Asians we all look the same and are equally vulnerable but our concern is that there is no official recognition yet that Hindus and Sikhs are more vulnerable than Muslim community."
Home Secretary Charles Clarke will meet faith leaders of Britain later this week, when it is hoped that some of these issues will be discussed with a view to more equitable engagement with diverse communities in the country.
