India vs Pakistan Asia Cup matches have taken a violent turn now that Islamists, most of whom are Pakistani immigrants in the UK, have taken to the street to attack the Hindu community while shamelessly playing the victim and putting the blame on ‘Hindu nationalists’. A journalist associated with UK-based leftist media outlet The Guardian, Aina Khan, tweeted about her ‘tense day’ while covering the Leicester violence. She claims to have interviewed one Hindu man who was wearing a motorbike helmet and holding an Indian flag.
It was a tense day of reporting from Leicester for me today. I interviewed a Hindu man wearing a motorbike helmet, holding an Indian flag on Belgrave road, the site of some of the unrest yesterday between a group of Muslim and Hindu men. Here’s what happened. 👇🏼
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
She does not name him and there is no visible picture of him, but we have to take her word for it. The man holding the Indian flag could also be a Muslim – since India is home to over 15% Muslims, and we are made to believe they love and respect the Indian flag as much as ‘Hindu nationalists’ do, so in absence of his name, it is bigotry to assume the man wearing a helmet and holding Indian flag was a Hindu man.
He said India’s independence did not truly begin until Narendra Modi took office as PM, eight years ago, and that Modi’s leadership was the panacea for “jihadist Muslims” in India. Muslims were a problem in the U.K., helmet man said, pointing to grooming gangs in Rotherham.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
Khan then claims that the man in the helmet claimed he was an RSS supporter. She then adds one disclaimer that the RSS was inspired from Italian dictator Mussolini. This is surprising because usually it is claimed RSS was inspired by Hitler’s Nazism and it is done to dehumanise those associated with the Sangh. Amusingly, it was actually Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s father, Stefano Maino, who actually served as a foot soldier in Mussolini’s army. Maino was not only unapologetic about his support for the fascist leader but he was immensely proud of fighting against the Russian Reds alongside Hitler’s Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in World War II.
Further, Khan then claims that the ‘RSS-supporting Hindu man wearing a helmet’ said that India’s Independence truly began only after Narendra Modi took office as PM, eight years ago. This is laughable to say the least, because even in India, the home of the RSS – they do not have this as an official line. While the Sangh parivar has been supportive of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, the above stand has been for many BJP supporters and fans of Narendra Modi. While BJP and RSS are sister organisations on the same side of ideology, they are two distinct bodies and have held differing views on many issues – that is exactly how healthy democracy is.
She then said how the helmet wearing man said Muslims are a problem in the UK and talked about the Rotherham grooming gang. There is no video clip evidence of the man saying ‘Muslims’ are a problem, but the fact that many Muslims are prime accused in the Rotherham grooming gang case, one does not see what exactly is incorrect in this.
Rotherham grooming gangs
Over 1400 minors were sexually exploited and abused in Rotherham, Northern England between the late 1980s to 2010s and it is dubbed as the biggest child protection scandal in the UK. Young children were sexually exploited and the first conviction was in 2010 when five British Pakistani men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 12-16. Taxi drivers would pick up the girls for sex from care homes and schools and rape and gang rape them. Some were also doused with petrol and threatened to be set on fire.
Names of convicts in the Rotherham sexual abuse case are: Qurban Ali, Arshid Hussain, Basharat Hussain, Bannaras Hussain, Karen MacGregor, Shelley Davies, Sageer Hussain, Istiaq Khaliq, Masoued Malik, Waleed Ali, Asif Ali, Naeem Rafiq, Mohammed Wheid, Basharat Dad, Nasser Dad, Tayab Dad, Mohammed Sadiq, Matloob Hussain, Amjad Ali, Zalgai Ahmadi, Sajid Ali, Zaheer Iqbal, Riaz Makhmood, Asghar Bostan, Tony Chapman, Khurram Javed, Darren Hyett, Mohammed Imran Ali Akhtar, Nabeel Khursheed, Iqlak Yousaf, Tanweer Ali, Salah Ahmed El-Hakam.
As can be seen, most of the men convicted of one of the worst sexual exploitation cases in recent history were Muslims, many of Pakistani origin living in Britain. This is fact and stating it so should not be considered ‘Islamophobia’.
Aina Khan’s tirade on the RSS
Khan then claims how the ‘helmet man’ said how the RSS is a great organisation while standing very close to a Gandhi statue. She claims that this was ironic since Gandhi was assassinated by an RSS member, Nathuram Godse. While Godse was once associated with the RSS, at the time of MK Gandhi’s assassination, he was not.
The interview got heated when another man, an RSS member, accused me of bias when I shared concerns about yesterday’s impromptu marchers chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” a Hindu chant appropriated by extremists in India, that has now become synonymous with anti-Muslim hatred.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
Khan then claims that ‘another RSS member’ then joined the discussion and it got ‘heated’ when the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans were raised. She refers to Jai Shri Ram (Glory to Shri Ram), as a ‘Hindu chant appropriated by extremists in India’ and also alleged that Jai Shri Ram is now synonymous with anti-Muslim hatred.
This trope is straight out of the book of the Islamists in India who have tried time and again to defame the Jai Shri Ram chant. There have been innumerable times where Islamists have claimed that a ‘Muslim man’ was beaten up for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. In fact, one such fake news was shared by ‘fact-checker’ Mohammed Zubair who shared a mute video clip making these allegations about an incident in Loni, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Later it turned out the elderly Muslim man had made up the entire incident and he was beaten up over black magic by his coreligionists.
This fake narrative has often been used by political parties to further the ‘dara hua Musalman’ narrative, which is why the Islamists in India have started this movement to defame the Jai Shri Ram slogan. This urge comes from the fact that their pious chant Allahu Akbar has become so dreaded and that they can’t do much about Islamic terrorists continuing to stab, behead and blow up (themselves and others) while chanting it. And now, the toolkit has reached the UK.
Back to the interview.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
Another man joined the discussion, and very quickly, all three began shouting at me. It was an extremely uncomfortable position to be in.
She then shared a clip she claims a ‘witness’ recorded. The group is peacefully taking out a march chanting Vande Mataram (Mother, I bow down to thee), a chant Indians use while hailing India, Jai Shri Ram and Har Har Mahadev. It must be noted that the violence started after India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match. Indians were getting attacked by Pakistanis. While many may think this was Hindu vs Muslim thing, it was actually more of Indians vs Pakistani thing. And while it is true most Pakistanis in Britain would be Muslims (because Hindus are very few left and are either forcefully converted, tortured or have fled the country), Indian diaspora in the UK could be Hindus, Muslims and even Sikhs.
Hence, Khan’s analysis reeks of racism towards Indians. The Indian men ‘shouting at her’ could also be a Muslim man who loves India and is faithful to the motherland. A little preposterous for Khan to assume his religious identity.
If I were a white journalist, and not visibly Muslim, suffice to say I would not have faced this level of scrutiny. But it is what it is. It’s hard not to let your emotions get the better of you, when you’re attacked in this way, fortunately only verbally.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
Khan then suddenly claims she would not have faced this if she were a white woman. She also claimed she was called Talibani, an extremist and accused of not scrutinising role of Pakistanis in the violence. Which now seems quite evident.
We eventually all went our separate ways. I tried to listen. To question. But the accusations of bias, and the constant shutting down, it was hard to get a word in edge ways. I heard one of the men was later detained by the police.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
She then accuses the group of ‘refuting’ her. Because how dare someone try to call out someone’s biased reportage along with a factually incorrect narrative-building exercise. Apparently, refuting someone is now wrong if the person you are refuting is a non-white Muslim woman who can never be wrong.
There were some lovely things I observed.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
I accompanied local activist from the Muslim community, @Majstar7, who escorted a woman with a sindooram on her forehead, to her home near Belgrave road.
And then came the disclaimer that not all ‘Hindus’ are the same. Again, to put things in perspective, the violence started with Indians vs Pakistanis in Britain. She then even finds a ‘nice Muslim man’, a good Samaritan, who ‘escorted’ a woman with ‘sindooram’ on her forehead to her home. See the subtle reference to the woman ‘being escorted’.The ‘good samaritan’ Majstar7 is one Majid Freeman, who runs a website seeking donations for the ‘Ummah’ (Islamic community) and raises funds for Syria, Afghanistan amongst others.
Nearby, I watched an English woman hold back tears, as she scrubbed blood from her window sill with some anti-bacterial wipes. Remnants of yesterday’s violence when there was a stand off between a group of Muslim and Hindu men. Close by, a red car had had its rear window smashed.
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
More attempts by Khan to make it appear like the Hindus have been the aggressors when it has clearly been the other way round.
Some footage of my interview with helmet man, that snowballed into a shouting match with an RSS member. Compared to the palpable aggression and fear that hung around Leicester yesterday, this paled in comparison, although it is a concerning hazard of being a journalist. pic.twitter.com/eQU9Yo4KFo
— Aina J. Khan (@ainajkhan) September 18, 2022
Even in the video, the Indian man appears to be speaking about Pakistan and not Muslims. The video does show one ‘helmet man’ but in this, no one is speaking about the RSS. When Khan wrote an entire thread about ‘RSS/Hindutva extremists’, how come in this one-minute video that she shared no one is talking about it?
This is the confirmation bias. Khan wanted to see what she wanted to see. She wanted to hear what she thought she would hear because of the chatter that has been going on on Twitter by Islamists over the years. Because now it seems the Ummah will go to any extent to make Hindus appear like aggressors so that their radicals also appear moderate.
