This term, Neo Hindus, is a very recent phenomenon, perhaps in the last twenty-five years or so. It was always sort of hanging around amongt us; like an optical illusion, lurking like a thief who is unable to make that final reach to grab the handbag, (so near; yet so far). It may have been about around 1990 or so, once the IIT Brahmins finally got past United States Immigration and then found an objective in life in the “Home of The Brave, The Land of The Free” with the VHP Agenda; after having ofcourse collected their brand new US Passports in 2000s and done the customary “Europe Tour” with the children.
A true symbol of success achieved. Signed with a heartfelt emoji kiss and a FaceBook posted picture of the happy couple in DisneyLand, followed by another at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and someplace snowy in Switzerland. – We have finally made it, suckers. It’s been a long journey from that mudhut with the tin roof shared by 7, the fluorescent tube light hanging off a tree, (the only light from the rail station to the end of the road where we lived with no electricity), cooking off a clay stove. The Broken Bicycles, trading Coupons for Cash, riding the Licence Raj and the Quota System, wheeling-n-dealing in loops-within-loops to get to where we have now made it to the Big Time, where the “Livin’ is Easy”. Hope you boys have running water and a working toilet by the time we come “Back Home” to look see how things are, since it is so hard to find good people to baby sit the kids these days out here in Bhundsville or where-ever in Uncle Sam’s backyard we have ended parked up.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council is fairly big in the US of A but not so much in the United Kingdom, where the Hindus have been around for nearly 150 years now, and are mostly Working Class who came in a surge in the 1950s from India along with Mirpuri Kashmiris after the Mangla Dam Agreement with the UK Government in the mid1960s. There was a later surge of Hindus from East Africa from 1972 onwards, who held British Passports and were unwilling to take Ugandan Citizenship, thus forcing the hand of the newly independent East African Nations to ask them to leave as these Hindus would not accept their new identity as equal citizens; but, rathar arrogantly demanded that they be given special status with a peculiar type of dual nationality. (British, and semi Ugandan/Indian).
All British Asian Hindus, regardless of their root source; be it from the divided Asian SubContinent, East Africa, Bahrain and the Trucial States, had a hard time in 1970s Great Britain, which was starting to sink in Hyper Inflation, Massive Unemployment, severe Workers Protests, Strikes and Turmoil, Mass Privatisations, rampant Union Busting, the Fightbacks by Arthur Scargill and his endless Miners’ Strikes, Ken Livingstone and his Greater London Council and a currency that went bankrupt in 1967 when the British Pound had to be Devalued, followed by Decimalisation in 1971. All of this further exacerbated by Maggie Thatcher in 1979 when she used the Asians as a punching bag and an offset excuse for the cause of the collapsing economy, especially after the 1978 Winter of Discontent, with her rallying calls of Saturday Night “Paki Bashing”; joyfully accepted by the National Front skinheads, the Mods and the Rockers, and Combat18. For the older, more delectable clientele, that kept aloof from the “Working Boys”, doing God’s Work wrecking hell on British Asians, the more refined slogan was a poshed up version of the 1964, – “If You Want A Nigger For Your Neighbour, Vote Labour”. This combination brilliantly spearhead an Electoral Victory for her in 1979.
British Asians, both Hindu and Muslim, stood firm. They stood shoulder to shoulder with the Caribbean youth at Broadwater Farms in 1985, who had had enough of the Suss Laws. They stood with the EastEnd Jews. The Catholic Irish fleeing “The Troubles” in the 6 Counties. They had to. They had no other choice. All their combined backs were against the wall, the house was on fire, there was no “Going Back Home” as this was the only home they knew. Their businesses were being vandalised every second week, their children were being hounded in the State Schools by both the indigenous teachers as well as their cohorts, kicked and spat on in the buses, their wives could hardly leave the house in fear of being attacked or worse. (And all this by the British Police, never mind the British Public).
The 1970s, 80s and 90s taught them to Work Together, Leave Aside Their Differences, to Organise Politically, to Learn to Fight, to form Self Protection Gangs, to Pool their valuable Savings together so a single member could buy a house cash down (as banks did not lend mortgages to Wogs), to get an Education at whatever cost and to help their Cause for Survival by being active participants within the Trade Union Councils as Lawyers, Accountants, Teachers; even just being able to write letters in English and draft Memorandas and understand the intricacies of conducting Legal Representations.
Today, Page 28 of the United Kingdom Passport has a full page picture of an Indian Dancing Girl and I include a copy of mine as proof of the pudding. If this is not evidence of what achieving real power is, then what is? Achieved through a million Broken Bones, Acid Attacks, Motorcycle Chain Whippings and being near lynched; the Massive Concerted Resistance to the Racism and Discrimination in every Facet of Life, Employment, Movement, Housing, Education, HealthCare. Is this “Paki Power”? I can hear you say. So what?, you cry. Well, the British Asians are now one step away from having a son in the Top Job with either Sunak or Javid as likely replacements for BoJo. What about the Jews, the Irish, the Muslims. How come they are not on your famous Page 28. When will they line up for your famous “Top Job”. Well the foundation that was laid in the Common Struggle in the upheaval of the times is what allowed Indian Girl to make it to where she is today and, in due time, perhaps every position within the Political Spectrum will be filled by the Working Class Jews, Catholics and Muslims, as is already happening.
In many ways, if the East African Asians had chose to remain in their newly liberated East African nations as equal citizens, they too would have achieved political power and dignity rather than end up as refugees in the “MotherLand”; and left to wallow in memories of lost opportunities and self pity; which ultimately led them to find solace in a “Hindu Identity” that they themselves hardly even understood, much less ever even gave it much thought or care.
The VHP boys, however, were sadly missing in all this drama, (a post consequence of the Empire losing control over the Trucial States and the subsequent imposition of the 1974 Oil Embargo). They were no where in sight during these Monumental and Critical Times in Britain from the 1970s until about the mid to late 1990s, (when Labour came to power and put a halt to the rampant Race War ignited by the “Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack” boys). To say that they acted as collaborators, would be pushing the boat too far out to sea. It might be kinder to say that they discouraged the fightback and sort of played themselves quietly into the Establishment, turning their strained backs on the war zone outside. Most of them were Brahmins and slightly better educated than the 1950s Indians and Mirpuris. They dis-associated themselves from their fellow ethnic compatriots, and played it safe in order to garner for themselves better opportunities. They implicitly encouraged the Hindus to give this battle a big miss and abandon their Muslim, Jewish, Catholic colleagues and instead, join the ranks of the “Colonial Cousin fighting to keep the Empire Clean”. This strategy did not work out too well for them and they failed miserably as it was the Working Class within Labour and later the Conservatives themselves, that achieved Political Power whereas all they ended up with was basically nothing except the keys to the Corner Shop.
The VHP did however, like a Vision from Hell that comes leaping out of the flames, make a sublime yet understated entrance at around 1998, with the first installation of a BJP Government in India albeit under the coalition flag of the National Democratic Alliance. The RSS, who had systematically placed indoctrinated IIT Brahmins into the United States from the late 1980s onwards and; in much larger numbers starting in the 1990s, were then able to hook themselves up with the VHP affiliated IndoAmericans in the hugely influential Information Technology Corporations of Silicon Valley in the very late 1990s, thereby gaining access to the entire database of Hindu Voters in the United Kingdom, thereupon being oncourse to initiate a targeted campaign towards bringing them “Onto the Righteous Path”. Using the own language of the IITian Brahmins, these US wannabe boys were “freshies” in comparison to the UK Hindus, who had been in the UK for close to 4 generations even as the US boys were just disembarking, “fresh off the Boeing boat” in the 1980s. They had left New Delhi and landed in New York as God’s Own Gift to the American “Way of Life”, completely untouched and ignorant of the incredible story of the British Asians’ monumental struggles and achievements.
With the arrival of the 2014 Government within the Indian Republic, things really took off nicely but it had all been brewing in the pot since 1998 only to come to a boil in 2014; as the Champion of the Hindu Cause proclaimed his arrival, and, that of the Hindutva Rashtra, with the bellowing proclamation of – “Acha Deen” upon the Republic.
The term Neo Hindu now started to seriously make the rounds. It actually all sort of kicked off in the United Kingdom at round 2005. Women organised women-only “kitty parties” where the subject of Hindu Dharma and Ram would be broached; along with requests, (laced, with polite menace), to donate to “Hindu Charity”. The husbands would start getting to bond in peculiar “meat day” evening sessions; which involved going out as a group of guys once a week to eat meat at an Asian Eatery, (as being vegetarians they could not cook or eat meat in their homes). There the talk would be all about the imminent arrival of a Grand and Glorious Hindu State where all the Faithful would congregate in Joy and Harmony; and, it was their individual responsibility to make it happen, each in their own little way.
They would come into your house as a group and start pressurising you to let your 6 year old child attend “Hindu Weekend Camps”, where the virtues of Militant Dharma would be imbibed into their souls. (That included learning to avoid the unwashed children of other faiths; mainly Muslim kids as friends in school). To myself, at the time, it all seemed to basically reek of laying the platform for a nascent massive proto-5th Column State that would spread its roots into the Establishment and become a “Protective Agency”, upholding the Honour of Hindus in British Society, and would then spring into action to align the British State with Bharat, aka The Hindu Rashtra, once Lord Ram descended from the sky upon completion of the Temple. (They, like RightWing Muslims and Christians fervently believe in this, by the way).
I found all this odd and also very funny. I also thought to myself that these boys were dangerous, London is a small place and I did not want to cut myself off socially from them as I knew, — “that what goes around, comes around to haunt you in London”, and my assumption was that if I kept politely saying no they would eventually get the message and start to well enough leave me alone. But, as they say – Persistence is the Hallmark of Success. So in 2005, I found myself, along with my wife and our 6 year old son on a coachload full of the Faithful heading towards Southend on a cold, Sunday morning with the aim, as I was told before we took off, being a picnic on the beach off the freezing English Channel. I did beg to ask as to what was the purpose of this outing and I was told it would be a Group Yoga type of Exercise, to keep Body and Soul intact, by the seaside. It was this bit that sold my wife and I thought why not, as I had been to Southend countless times and knew that there was a nice pub overlooking the beach where I could exercise the soul with the Amber Nectar whilst watching whatever these guys were on about.
Once we got there and offloaded ourselves off the buses, the women and men separated. The men were each given a thin bamboo stick and they started to line up in columns with about 10 to a column, spaced out at arm’s length and all then started to march into the water till about ankle high. Then started these exercises, where they would wave these wands, twirl them, run to the back of the column and back to the front again; all along shouting out Shlokas in Hindi; which evidently you had to do as it added meaning to the Yogic Exercise. After about 10 minutes, I knew this was a joke and I quietly pushed off and headed up to that pub and sat there looking down.
Till this day, the scene remains etched in my mind even after close to 17 years as the most surreal and absurd sight I could never even imagine an illusion to be. These grown Asian men, from 17 to 70, running up and down Southend beach like an army of illegal immigrants who had washed up lost on the British Coastland, waving bamboo staffs and shouting something that sounded straight out of “Mind Your Language”. I also thought that these guys are smart enough not to do this on a Saturday when the beaches are more generously attended by the public but rather on a Sunday morning when most people are still asleep and do not venture out till late afternoon. Else, there would have been calls to the Coast Guard from the British Public of a mass congregation of ship wrecked Indians chanting war cries and brandishing spears, wandering in battle formation on a freezing beach.
The more I watched this Hill Billy performance, I began to instinctively realise that these boys were the Essex RSS Shaka. This was 17 years ago. Today they have openly permeated everywhere, and with the indulgence of those USA IT “freshies”, (as they themselves like to refer to others), they have used social media like a weapon of war, propagating semi-worthless and unconnected videos in a mind numbing deluge of propaganda, that is even able to shape the outcome of a foreign election, vis a vis, the 2019 UK Election.
Today, they very confidently call themselves the Neo-Hindus, and all those who do not confess their allegiance are “Aimless Hindus”, worse than animals who need to reform their ways and align with the True Cause or face being outcast, even put to the sword. They, now take upon themselves the role of Guardians of the Faith, a faith that they themselves are not exactly sure as to what it is, nor what it even entails. A faith that they themselves suddenly discovered hardly 20 years ago. This is akin to re-creating an identity that states – “Yes, I am an Idiot but I am a Hindu Idiot, which is far better than being a Christian or Muslim Idiot, As I am an Idiot in the Land of my Ancestors”. But, the contradiction that remains as unsteady as the shifting sands of Southend Beach, is when did the United Kingdom become the Land of Your Ancestors as the UK Passport is the only nationality and citizenship you hold, since the Indian Republic does not allow dual nationality. By indulging in this sort of deeply separatist socio-political engagement, are you not aware of the likelihood of being identified as a semi-insane 5th Columnist.
Also, who are you to preach to me that we are not good Hindus. Are you even aware of the difference between Hindu Dharma and Hindutva. Do you even understand the atheist spirituality that underpins this vast and complex faith or are you just a useful idiot in promulgating a specific narrow Brahmin Doctrine that craves World Domination via riding on the shoulder of an Imperialist American WarHorse with its “Vampire Squid on the Face of Humanity” Technology and conjunctly subverting the Working Class Indians of the United Kingdom into a trap that will expose them to allegations of sedition and antiNationalism within the Union.
Are you going to hound me down the street and “push me from the pavement with your oversized pram” as is taught in these underground Wahabi Madrassas all over London. Are you planning to emulate your own remake of the Salafi Agenda of planting “the Black Flag on the White House” and announce a call to arms of the Hindu Faithful to take back what you feel your ancestors lost. Are you a Tool of the erstwhile East India Company, being primed to ignite a Global Race War, in the delusion of achieving some sort of World Hindu Domination via the World Hindu Council.
Sadly, it is a huge joke. And, again, sadly the joke is on you. The rights and privileges that your children, (and mine) enjoy today in the United Kingdom. The Diginity and Freedom with which they can freely integrate and contribute within British Society as equals, was not achieved by the VHP, the RSS or any other deeply flawed AntiHumanist organisation. It was achieved on the streets by Hindus who gave blood along with Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Chrisitians, along with countless English patriots who fought as an United Front in the Spirit of the Working Class in a gigantic chaotic Class War confrontation to demand their Diginity and their Honour. As I asked earlier, where were you guys when all this was going down. When the call of Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack, goes out again in another Economic Crisis will the Neo-Hindus crawl back to their Working Class roots, having been dumped by their Brahmin IITian US Brothers, or will they all Stand in Rapture upon the Temple steps awaiting arrival of their slaughter by those who see no more need for their services. The Brahmin Doctrine of this Social Project does not envisage you as of any meaningful consequence in the Final Product.
Supratim Barman, MSc – Queen Mary – University of London. Kolkata, The Republic of India. I live between the two extreme edges of what was the British Empire, in the vast and important cities of Kolkata and London; with the midpoint being where I was born and where I grew up, Bahrain: observing and experiencing events in a time of great change.