British Hindus will hold a protest outside the BBC headquarters in London over the “anti-Hindu and anti-India bias” in its coverage of violence in Leicester that engulfed the city for days.
The protest is set to be organized days after an online campaign was launched by Indians, urging people to congregate in large numbers to protest against bias.
“We have got police permission for up to 200 people for tomorrow,” Vivek Gupta, one of the organizers of the three-hour protest, told Sputnik.
Demonstrators have warned of indefinite protests being held if the BBC does not cease its “unrelenting vilification and dehumanization of Hindus globally and license-fee paying British Hindus especially.”
“In 2004, Britain's Hindus came together to condemn the anti-Hindu bias in the BBC’s output. In the past 18 years, the bias has gotten worse, and it is now openly anti-Hindu and Hinduphobic,” Gupta shared.
Hindus living in the UK suggest that targeted misinformation on social media platforms has been amplified by the British public broadcaster, fueling violence against the Hindu community in Leicester.
In this regard, the upcoming demonstration is aimed at sending a strong message to highlight to the world that UK media is not providing objective coverage of the incidents that recently took place in Leicester and Birmingham.
The BBC reports are almost invariably half-truths and innuendo, intended to malign and "demonize' the Hindu community both in the country and internationally, local Hindus allege.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has urged UK authorities to take swift and appropriate action against those involved in vandalizing Hindu religious premises in Leicester.