A director and trustee of the Hindu Council UK has stepped down after a string of vile, Islamophobic posts from his Twitter feed were widely publicised.
There is no longer any mention of Anil Bhanot on the website of the Hindu Council UK and Companies House says he has resigned his directorship.
He is also being investigated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
However, Bhanot remains associated with Diversity UK, the Ethnic Inclusion Foundation and still has his OBE.
Bhanot, who describes himself as “Hindutva,” called Islam an evil and violent religion and described Muslims as “Shaitans.”
Here are a selection of his tweets:
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The Hindu Council UK is a registered charity whose main purpose is to give British Hindus an effective voice on policy matters with the government “whilst enhancing mutual understanding among the major faiths predominant in the UK.”
Bhanot is a chartered accountant who has received an OBE for interfaith work, even though his tweets also targeted Christians.
Following the revelations a few weeks ago the Hindu Council UK said: “It has been brought to our notice objectionable views expressed by one of our Directors which we distance ourselves from and assure all these are not HCUK views.
“We wish to reassure all our commitments in working together with all faiths and communities and deal with any differences respectfully we are committed to our vision of VASUDEV KUTUBhKAM (The entire world is a family) Chairperson HCUK.”
And Rajnish Kashyap, Secretary General, told 5Pillars’ Dilly Hussain: “We absolutely condemn and distance ourselves from the social media activities of Anil Bhanot. We want to work with every community like we have been since 1994. His social media posts do not represent that of the Hindu Council UK.”
When he was confronted by the tweets by a complainant, Bhanot said: “Thank you for your email and the attachments which have shocked me as you showed them. I think ever since the Bangladesh violence of killing Hindus I felt a gross injustice against them and here even the BBC did not report. As I followed some handles my vocal replies became like this, but I should’ve known better.
“I have deleted these and more, there is no point bringing the subcontinent politics here. So I shall be more careful about what I post from now on. My philosophy is to respect all religions as they all have spirituality in them and probably get annoyed and angry when one religion tries to convert another and any unnecessary violence against humanity. Anyway thanks for making me aware of my own limitations/failings as a faith person.”
