5Pillars can reveal a string of vile, Islamophobic tweets from Anil Bhanot, the director of the Hindu Council UK.
Bhanot, who describes himself as “Hindutva,” has called Islam an evil and violent religion and described Muslims as “Shaitans.”
He is a chartered accountant who has received an OBE for interfaith work, even though his tweets also target Christians.
Bhanot is also a trustee of the Hindu Council UK which 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.”
Here are a selection of Bhanot’s tweets:
Following the revelations 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.”
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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.”
However, no further action seems to have been taken against Bhanot who remains a director and trustee.
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.”
If you would like to complain to the Charity Commission about Anil Bhanot’s tweets please do so here.
And you can complain to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants here.
