Sikh extremism, Hindu nationalism in UK review; Indian illegal immigration into Britain grows; BBC chair quits

Note: The podcast was recorded on May 6, 2023What is the Bloom Review, which has flagged ‘Sikh extremism’ and ‘Hindu nationalism’ in the UK?What new data show Indian illegal immigration into England growing?Why was BBC chairman Richard Sharp forced to resign?In London Live, the buzz from BritainIn London Live, we get our weekly dose of the buzz from Britain. And in this podcast we discuss the resignation of the BBC chairman, the backlash to the Bloom Review that flagged ‘Sikh extremism’ and ‘Hindu nationalism’ in the UK, and new data on Indian illegal immigration into England.Bloom Review flags Sikh extremism, Hindu nationalismColin Bloom was appointed as an independent faith engagement adviser by the former British prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019 to look at how faith operates with government. This kind of detailed report has never been done in Britain before. The former spin doctor of Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell, had once told a magazine: ‘I'm sorry we don't do God’ -- referring to the government not getting involved in matters of faith. The Bloom Review, in contrast to the findings of the census, found that faith is still really important in Britain and it plays a profound role in British life. That there's a lack of faith literacy within government and the civil service. And that faith groups do a lot of great work. The review highlighted things like food banks, the langar of gurudwaras and the work groups did during the pandemic. The review said that the government should work much more closely with faith groups.Within the report, Chapter Six is called Faith Extremism. The chapter has caused a lot of controversy. Bloom looked at issues such as Islamist extremism and other forms of faith extremism. He included Sikh extremism and Hindu nationalism. The review said that Islamic extremism is the largest threat facing the UK but then in the actual chapter he doesn't give a lot of space to it. Bloom devotes 12 pages to Sikh extremism and also a paragraph on Hindu nationalism.Bloom said that there are that there's a growing movement of Hindu nationalism within Britain within the British Hindu diaspora. He referred to the Leicester unrest and also the 2019 general election and he said that these are people that are closely and passionately tied to some political interests in India. He says that they lobbied against certain political figures and targeted them in the run-up to the 2019 election and that also they were somehow responsible for the Leicester unrest. He said that the government needs to keep a watch on this because it's possible that such a movement could exploit religious rhetoric and incite prejudicial views that might destabilize British society. The chapter has caused an uproar among the British Hindu groups and diaspora who are very upset that they were included in this chapter. They point out that Hindus are totally peaceful and nonviolent, that lobbying for, say, the Conservatives against Labour in the 2019 election is not extremism, and that it's not been proven that Hindus were in any way to blame for the Leicester unrest and that in fact it was a fake social media narrative that was spun by pro-Isis supporters. The Sikhs are also really angry with their appearance in the report, and being blamed by Bloom for -- obviously a minority of them -- supporting the Khalistan movement. Bloom pointed to a lot of different groups and self-appointed community leaders among the Sikhs, and warned that it means that the government doesn't really know which group they should be interacting with. He said that there's now a great risk that the parliamentary state could be inviting organisations and groups that are actually subversive or engaged in secessionist activity.Indian illegal immigration into UKBetween January 1 and March 31 this year, 3,793 people arrived Illegally in small boats to the United Kingdom. Indians (679) were the second-highest among them, behind only Afghans (909) and making up 18% of all arrivals. In the year 2022 the total number of such arrivals was 683 and Indians were the 10th highest nationality. In a recent crackdown on illegal working by illegal immigrants, 60 arrests were made in London and the south of England of moped drivers working for food-delivery apps. The three nationalities arrested were Brazilian, Indian and Algerian.The Indian government had in the recent past said that they were concerned that the British asylum system is getting exploited by pro-Khalistan people.BBC chair quits amid ethics scandalRichard Sharp has been the BBC chairman since February 2021. The chair of the BBC board has a four-year term. The board appoints the director general. Sharp has been forced to resign after a report came out into the manner in which he applied for his job at the BBC.Adam Heppinstall, a barrister, wrote the report. He was looking into whether there had been any breach of the governance code for public appointments. He found that when Richard Sharp was applying for this prestigious job, he was actually working for Boris Johnson at the time in the treasury. Sharp apparently told Johnson that he was going to apply to be the chair of the BBC. It's ultimately the prime minister who decides who gets this job, and that was considered to be one breach of the code – by which he may have influenced Boris Johnson. The other breach of the code is that when he applied for this role in October 2020, Boris Johnson needed some money. He needed to borrow £800,000 and Sharp apparently had a friend, Canadian businessman Sam Blythe, who was able to lend the money. Sharp said he could facilitate a meeting to help Johnson get this loan. Sharp did not declare this in the application form for the BBC in potential conflicts of interest.Host: Sumit Bhattacharya