The 2022 clashes between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Leicester, England, were heavily fueled by “disinformation and misinformation”, an independent inquiry into the violence has found. The inquiry was carried out by researchers from the School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics.   

The report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry, ‘Understanding the 2022 Violence in Leicester’, chaired by the human rights expert and former UN special rapporteur Juan Méndez, was published on February 23. It was based on interviews with Leicester residents, witnesses of the 2022 violence, and local Hindu and Muslim religious and community groups. 

The report calls on the UK government to recognise “radical and militant Hindutva”, “Hindu nationalism”, or “Hindu supremacism” as a form of extremism similar to militant political Islamism and far-right white nationalism. 

“Disinformation and misinformation (‘fake news’ spread with or without the knowledge that it is inaccurate) were central accelerants of the crisis, as motivated actors promoted false narratives that blamed others for the violence,” the report said. 

It found that the tensions had a wide range of complex triggers and provocations from both Hindus and Muslims. One of the factors that fanned the communal rhetoric on social media was content from coordinated accounts in India, framing the incidents in Leicester as Hindus being under attack from ‘Pakistani’ and ‘Islamist’ gangs in a way that aligns with the narrative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to the report. 

The 2022 Leicester unrest

Leicester is a diverse city with a massive Indian population. As per the 2021 census, 34 percent of the population is of Indian origin. Only 3.4 percent are Pakistani and 1.9 percent are Bangladeshi. But in terms of religion, there are more Muslims (23.5 percent) than Hindus (18 percent). Most of the Hindus and Muslims in Leicester are Gujaratis of Indian origin, according to the report. 

The communal unrest in Leicester during the months of August and September 2022 involved protest marches, vandalism, physical attacks, provocative behaviour, and disinformation campaigns from both Hindus and Muslims. 

“Both Hindu nationalist and political Islamist actors actively sought to inflame division for political ends,” said the report, authored by Chetan Bhatt, Vedika Puri, Syed Fahad Kamal, S Patel, Subir Sinha, Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves, Suresh Grover, Lisa Magarrell, Juan E Méndez, and Neelim Sultan. 

However, the influence of both groups was uneven, it found. 

“Hindu nationalist groups possessed greater........

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