Hindus Irked by British Politician’s Pitch for Votes At London Temple’s Tsunami Event

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LONDON, UK, February 19, 2005: Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, visited the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden, north London, and made a pitch for ethnic minority votes in the forthcoming British general elections. Kennedy slightly offended orthodox Hindus by making an overtly political speech (mostly about Iraq) at a semi-religious function whose main purpose was to hand over “more than half a million pounds” to the diplomatic representatives of the tsunami affected countries — India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and Bangladesh. The money was distributed “according to need,” explained a spokesperson, who said Hindu devotees stood in shopping centres with collection buckets and mobilized their network to raise the funds. Unlike senior members of the 1.5-million strong Muslim population in Britain, Hindus have been much more restrained when commenting on the Iraq war. For one thing, the more important of the one million Hindus tend to operate not as Hindus but as figures in the world of business, the arts, media and academia who just happen to be Hindu, explains this report.