Hindus have migrated to the U.K from all over the world – India, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and from the 1950's onwards, East Africa. The mass migration of East African Hindus in the 1960s and 1970s was due to the ‘Exodus’ in Kenya in the 1960s when Kenya gained independence from British rule, and the expulsion of all Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. Most Hindus who came to the U.K initially worked in factories, grocery stores etc. as laborers and settled in cities and urban areas. The majority of the Hindu community in the U.K. was and still remains Gujarati.

Today, the Hindu community in the UK is in its third generation, forming around 1-2% of the population, and has assimilated well into the British culture. Hindus achieve highly in education, have diversified into many professions and have very low crime rates. In the UK there are over 400 Hindu organizations and 150 temples of varying sizes. The Hindu community has also established many learning centers for teaching language and Hindu culture.

There are a number of key challenges, however, that still need to be overcome. One of the major issues is that of identity. For a long time Hindus have been labeled ‘Asians’ by the media – the term referring to anyone from the Indian subcontinent. This generalization has had negative impacts.

For example, in 2001 there were major riots in parts of North England between Pakistani/Bangladeshi and white communities. This incident was described by the media as ‘Asian’ vs. white, although there were no Hindus involved. Many Hindus have now rejected the term ‘Asian’, but that leaves a question as to what our identity is. Are we Indian? But most of us were born in the UK and our parents in East Africa or Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad etc. The links to India seem to be distant in this respect. To resolve this there has been an assertion of a new term – British Hindu, which National Hindu Students Forum (NHSF) is actively promoting – the theme of the 2002 Annual Conference being ‘Be British, Be Hindu’.

Generally, knowledge or awareness of Hindu Dharma is limited – in trying to assimilate into a new country, many have forgotten their heritage and own culture. The wider community still has many misconceptions – even today many teachers inform pupils that Hindus believe in 30 million Gods!! Action taken to educate Hindus and Non-Hindus alike include Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK producing and publishing a book entitled ‘Explaining Hindu Dharma – A Guide for Teachers’, which has been very successful and NHSF providing concise ‘Utsav’ leaflets (leaflets explaining different festivals) for people to access. The Oxford Center for Hindu Studies has also set up a British Hinduism Oral History Project to preserve this knowledge.

Hindus make a large contribution economically and culturally to British life – e.g. 2 of the top 20 richest people in the UK in 2004 are Hindu, but we lack on the political front. There are only 3 Hindu Members of Parliament and very little representation in other organizations e.g. the National Union of Students, which is one of the largest student organizations in the world. This results in the Hindu community not having a voice in public affairs. But even when an opportunity is given to express an opinion, the Hindu community is divided – when the U.K went into war with Iraq every community except Hindus had given their view point. This lack of unity between Hindus is quite common and does not exist among other faiths in the UK such as in the Muslim and Jewish communities.

These are some of the issues faced – questioned identity, limited knowledge of Hindu Dharma, lack of unity and little political participation. For the Hindu community to prosper, the above challenges need to be overcome. As students – future leaders of tomorrow, this responsibility is on our shoulders and organizations such as National Hindu Students Forum therefore form an essential and leading role for the future of Hindus in the U.K.