30 MAY It has come to our attention that the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple, one of Manchester’s most prominent mandirs, has an upcoming event on the 30th of May 2026 listed as being “Sponsored by Bajrangdal”. This listing was in an email sent out by the temple to its mailing list on the 10th of May 2026.
It is not clear what exactly “Bajrangdal” here refers to. However, it is difficult not to read this and think about the Hindu far-right organisation called the Bajrang Dal, involved in large-scale violence in India, mostly against Muslims and other minorities.
Similarly, we do not know the extent of the meaning of “Sponsored by”. Often sponsoring an event at a mandir refers to making a donation or paying for the prasad or materials used in pooja or aarti.
The Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a militant wing of the Hindutva organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Together, the RSS and all its affiliates, wings and sub-organisations make up the Sangh Parivar, which has had a central role in many of modern India’s most violent episodes including the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the Gujarat 2002 massacres, carried out whilst India’s current prime minister Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state.
The VHP operates in the UK as Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK (VHP UK) or World Council of Hindus UK (two separate charities with shared trustees). Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the VHP UK is amenable to the development of operations of the Bajrang Dal in the UK, given that in India the Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the VHP. RSS networks have been replicating themselves outside of India, in the diaspora, for many decades now. A recent investigation found over 2,500 such organisations worldwide.
This connection becomes even more plausible when the organisational structure and affiliations of the Manchester mandir are examined. The Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple and the VHP UK have a shared trustee—Dr Nawal Kant Prinja.
Prinja is listed as a trustee of the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple, Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK and World Council of Hindus UK.
This is concerning. This shows influence over a Hindu temple in the UK by an Indian, Hindu supremacist organisation. We do not know of any explicit Bajrang Dal organising taking place under a UK counterpart organisation. However, this mention of Bajrangdal in the newsletter of a mandir tied to the VHP UK raises serious questions that must be addressed.
We—
Call on the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple in Manchester to clarify what is meant by “Bajrangdal” in their event listing;
Call on the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple in Manchester to cease all links with the VHP UK;
Call on British Hindus that reject Hindutva, far-right politics and RSS-affiliated religious expression to express their opposition to this by writing to the Gita Bhavan Hindu Temple in Manchester, writing to their MPs and stating their opposition publicly.
Statement signed by—
Hindus for Human Rights UK (HfHR UK)
South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG)
South Asian Liberation Movement (SALM)
UK-Indian Muslim Council (UK-IMC)
