Chasing Euro-Hindus: An Exploration of the Public Articulation of European Hindu Identity

Abstract

In 2007, the Hindu Forum of Europe (HFE) was established at the European Parliament in Brussels, proposing to act as ‘an interface between European institutions and Hindus in Europe’. This article explores the development of this organisation and the idea of European Hindu identity that it seeks to represent. It examines the processes by which this idea of European Hindu identity is ‘becoming public’, arguing that specific issues related to identity formation, public space and organisational dynamics have affected the trajectory of public representation in a formative fashion. One key factor has been the opening up of opportunities for religious identities as the Union explores strategies for developing notions of European belonging and citizenship. The case of the HFE demonstrates that the ability of specific groups to take advantage of this development is contingent upon a complex range of unpredictable pressures which are both global and intensely localised.

Keywords:

• Hinduism
• European Union
• religious identities
• diaspora
• religions
• ISKCON

Notes

My focus on public space, identity formation and organisational dynamics is strategic in relation to the current situation of the Hindu Forum of Europe. Other factors, such as the lens of media scrutiny, may of course be significant in processes of visibilisation. Media scrutiny has, for example, been a significant factor in the development of Muslim identity in Europe (see, for example, Abbas 2000; Werbner 2009), and is something I have commented on in relation to British Hindu identity in previous work (Zavos 2008).

It is interesting to note that in 2011 neither Hindu nor Sikh representatives were present, although there was a Buddhist presence (Bureau of European Policy Advisors 2011).

The wide margin of error here results from divergent figures presented by two good sources: Eurel project (n.d.) records a population of 215,000, and CBS Statline (2012) 99,000. See also Nugteren 2009, who indicates that the number is ‘definitely not above 150,000’ (118).

The numbers in Italy are again uncertain, with one source indicating a range of between 45 and 90,000, or 0.08/0.16 of the total population (CESNUR 2012).

Although Vertovec estimates only about 8000 Hindus in Portugal, about 0.08% of the population (2000, 14).

This Union is largely dominated by one Italian-born Swami, Yogananda Giri, who opened an ashram in Savona in 1985; the Italian Hindu Union's website claims that as an organisation it existed for many years before 1996, but was institutionally recognised at this point.

Portugal has had a well-established Hindu representative association since the early 1980s, but strongly linked to the Templo Radha Krishna in Lisbon and apparently limited in its scope to managing this institution (Communidade Hindu de Portugal, n.d.).

ISKCON is now the official ‘faith partner’ of the first Hindu voluntary-aided state sector school in Harrow, north London, as well as its sister school opening in Leicester in 2011.

The HFE registered office moved during 2012 to a new venue in Brussels, which is also listed as an ISKCON temple (see Hindu Forum of Europe, 2012, www.iskconcenters.com/brussels/). The Hindu Forum of Belgium at the time of writing (November 2012) remains registered at its old address.

Interview with Mahaprabhu dasa, 13 September 2010.

The minutes of the 2010 General Assembly (viewed in the HFE office, Brussels) record that two representatives of the HFB attended, along with one from the NCHT, one from the Hindu Council of Holland, one from the Italian Hindu Union, one from the Federaciion Entidades Religiosas Hindues in Spain, plus Mahaprabhu dasa representing the Hindu Forum of Belgium. The 2012 Assembly was attended by one representative each from the Hindu Forums of Belgium and Britain, the NCHT, the Hindu Council of Holland, the Italian Hindu Union and the Federazione Italiana per la conzienza di Krishna (personal communication from Mahaprabhu dasa).

Again, evidenced by minutes viewed at HFE office, Brussels.

A dedicated url has now been established (Hindu Forum of Europe, 2012), which is gradually being populated with content. As at November 2012, the most comprehensive area of the site is that dedicated to an explanatory narrative of Hinduism as a religion.

Interview with Administrative Council, 2 December 2010.

Interview with Mahaprabhu dasa, 13 September 2010. This interest was affirmed by the attendance of Jagat Guru Amrita Suryananda Maharaj of the Portuguese Yoga Confederation at the European Parliament Conference organised by the Forum in March 2012, along with six of his followers (on the conference, see below, note 19).

This reference to conversion to a certain extent allied Kallidai's approach to the concerns of Hindu nationalism, a point developed at a later date in an Evening Standard article accusing Kallidai of being a ‘fundamentalist’ (Gilligan 2007).

Personal communication, December 2, 2010.

As well as his campaigning column in Asian Voice, Ramesh Kallidai was prominent in the Hindu Council UK before being instrumental in setting up the HFB.

Watson sponsored the HFE's conference on ‘Hindu Contributions to the European Project’ at the European Parliament on 28 March 2012.

Meeting at the HFE Office, Brussels, 2 December 2010. Bharti Tailor, the Secretary General of the HFB, has been in post since 2009. She runs her own business as an Equality and Diversity Consultant.

Unlike many other transnational Hindu organisations, there is some evidence to suggest that ISKCON tries proactively to distance itself from the politics of communalism both in India and the diaspora. This point was emphasised to me by Mahaprabha dasa (interview 13 September 2010). See also O'Connell 1997 for further evidence on this issue.