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The Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) is an umbrella organization that represents over 275 Hindu groups throughout Great Britain. HFB organises many high profile events every year including Diwali at the House of Commons and dinners with leaders of the three parties.

HFB advises many Government Departments and bodies including the Home Office, the Department for Communities and Local Government, London Criminal Justice Board, Race Hate Crime Forum, London 2012 Forum, Commission for Integration and Cohesion and many others to put forward a Hindu perspective in public affairs.

HFB launched the Connecting British Hindus report by the Runnymede Trust in June 2006 which established a structured platform for the identity of British Hindus and their access to public services. The report established that over 80% of Hindus in Britain did not want to be called Asians but preferred to be called Hindu or Indian.

Some of the high-profile campaigns that HFB have launched include safegaurding the use of Hindu images and icons in commerce and arts, the Defend Russian Hindus campaign, persecution of Hindu rights in Bangladesh, changes to immigration laws for Hindu priests entering Britain, Save the Hindu Swastika campaign and many others.

Criticism

The organisation has been accused of sustaining links to right-wing Hindu fundamentalist formations in India. In early 2006, it had demanded closure of the London's Asia House Gallery claiming that it contained obscene images of Hindu goddesses.

A statement by British-based Indian academics, after a vandal incident in the gallery, denounced the Hindu Forum of Britain. It declared that these organisations were using the same tactics as Hindu fundamentalist organisations in India and were undermining India’s constitutional right to freedom of thought and expression.

The organisation tried to mobilise support to protest against the blockbuster French comedy Les Bronzés 3: Amis Pour La Vie for alleged denigration of idols.

Awaaz South Asia Watch, a web site that monitors religious hatred in South Asia and Britain, pointed out that the Hindu Forum of Britain had actively supported or defended the activities of the Hindu fundamentalist organisations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the associated World Hindu Council and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. These organisations are notorious for fomenting communalist attacks on Muslims and anything deemed to be insulting Hinduism.

The organisation clashed with the Welsh government in a campaign to prevent slaughter of a bull tested positive for bovine tuberculosis.

The Evening Standard accused the secretary general, Ramesh Kallidai, of the organisation of having close association with Hindu extremists in India.

Lord Desai, a prominent British Hindu, too distanced himself from the organisation branding them as dangerous and fascist.

In early 2007, the brother of Rickie Sehgal, a secretary of the the organisation, was accused by the US authorities of being central to an insider trading ring which made millions by buying lucrative options contracts just days ahead of takeovers, including the record-breaking $45 billion private equity buyout of TXU, the Texas power company.

External link

• HFB.org.uk

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