What is the 1928 Institute?

The 1928 Institute is a British-India Think Tank. It was formed in 2020 by a few Indian academics based in Oxford. Their professed aim is to represent British Indians to policy makers and the media of the United Kingdom. They seek to foster better understanding of our community as well as explore wider public perceptions of India. They further want to, ‘De construct colonial narratives on our community through creative written form and visual media’. This is a loaded term and needs to be explained in simple terms.
They claim to be Non-partisan, Inclusive, Internationalist and Pioneering. They are mostly funded by the founders. They are also partly funded by Linacre College, University of Oxford.
They have carried out a survey which claims only 56% of Indians would take the Covid vaccine and Indian women are significantly less likely to have the vaccine than men. They also claim that their survey showed that 80% of Indians experience prejudice as a result of their Indian identity in the UK. The largest part of this prejudice according to them is Hindu phobia.
I believe that the Indian community should be very wary of imposing on itself the word Hindu phobia. It has many negative connotations. First of all there is no Hindu phobia in this country. We are in fact living in a very tolerant country in which we have magnificent temples and Hindu faith based schools. Adopting the word Hindu phobia means we want to play the victim game. We are not victims and we do not want the great British public to think that from being a vibrant, confident and very successful community which has integrated well, we are suddenly playing the victim card. There is mention also for a desire for, ‘Open Air Cremations’ amongst those they surveyed. This issue has been dead and buried(excuse the pun) twenty years ago. There was one individual who was campaigning for open air cremations and the Government held a consultation to discuss the issue. I was present at the meeting and I said there was no need for open air cremations and that even in India all the cities have modern crematoriums. If anyone wanted open air cremations they could inform their relations and be transported to India after their death. The whole matter was dropped. These are the types of demands that get us classified as extremists.
Membership of the Institute is free. Lord Desai, Lord Parekh, Baroness Sandip Verma, Virendra Sharma MP, Indian MP Shashi Tharoor are amongst the members.
I have some reservations about this Think Tank. They seem to have taken on the task of representing the British Indian’s unilaterally. With their base in Oxford and the founders being Oxford academics the media will increasingly turn to them for issues impacting the Indian community. There is a danger that the Indian diaspora which has cultivated a positive, moderate image will find that it is being represented by an institution that can possibly give it a negative, confrontational appearance. I hope the Hindu organizations will look into this matter.
Nitin Mehta
29 January 2021.

Total Page Visits: 616 - Today Page Visits: 1

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This