British Hindu Manifesto GE 2024: Why the manifesto and key demands

Hinduism in England is the third largest religion in the country and represent over 1.8% ofthe English population. British Hindus include Hindu communities like Gujaratis, Punjabis, Tamils from Srilanka, Nepali Hindus, Fijians, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyanese & Mauritians among others.

- VINOD TIKOO

In the recent years other Indian origin Hindu communities have made UK their home.

The largest concentration of Hindus is in London and Leicester. A number of regional and cultural organisations have been set up over the years to bring local Hindu communities together. There are also a few umbrella organisations which try to bring together the voice of Hindu communities to engage with each other and represent the community e.g., HCUK,

HFB ETC.

The community overall is highly educated and contributes significantly to the GDP of the country. The crime rate within the community is also very low. Despite all this the communityhas often felt ill represented in the local and national politics.

The Hindu Manifesto for GE 2024 is a first consolidated effort to bring forward the visionand aspirations of the British Hindu community to the forefront so that the political parties and candidates understand the long pressing needs of the community and develop betterunderstanding of what the community expects from them.

In the UK the ethnic minorities distribution and representation is better understood from a religious spectrum as opposed to nationality or other classifications primarily because communities from a number of commonwealth countries have migrated to the UK in the last70 years and they are organised and represented locally through their religious bodies including temples, mosques, synagogues and gurudwaras.