Hindu Umbrella Organisations in Europe

CHAPTER 23 Hindu Umbrella Organisations in Europe Ferdinando Sardella During the twentieth century, various unsuccessful attempts were made by certain European Hindu communities to organise forums and umbrella organisations at the national level. That changed in the first decades of the twenty- first century when several such organisations were formally registered, thus providing their communities with a platform for political, social, and cultural interaction and exchange. This chapter focuses on the twelve national umbrella organisations that are members of the Hindu Forum of Europe (HFE) and the challenges they face when interacting with Europe’s secular states, which have been challenged by the growing diversity of their national religious landscapes.1 These organisations are as follows: 1) the Hindu Forum of Belgium; 2) the Hindu Forum of Britain; 3) the National Council of Hindu Temples UK; 4) ISKCON Hungary; 5) the Italian Hindu Union; 6) ISKCON Italy; 7) the Hindu Forum Luxembourg; 8) the Hindu Council of the Netherlands; 9) the Portuguese Yoga Confederation; 10) the Hindu Federation of Spain; 11) the Hindu Forum Sweden; and, 12) the Swiss Federation for Hinduism. For com- parative purposes, we also will explore one Hindu umbrella organisation that is not a member of the Hindu Forum of Europe: the Hindu Council of Russia.2 We begin with a brief overview of the Hindu Forum of Europe itself. 1 Hindu Forum of Europe The Hindu Forum of Europe was officially inaugurated in 2006. Since then, it has become a powerful advocacy vehicle, addressing the specialised needs, aims, and concerns of the 1.5± million members of the European Hindu community, often as it relates to the expression of their various religious traditions in the public sphere (Roos 2014: 77). Indeed, the Hindu Forum of Europe is currently the only pan-European organisation to provide a platform for Hindus across Europe who seek to expand their social and political status, representation, 1 See also the chapter by John Zavos in this volume. 2 The primary material for this chapter consists of interviews, participant observation at organised events, internet sources, and reviews of promotional documents. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004432284_024 688 Sardella and voice. Functioning as an overarching umbrella organisation for Hindu forums and umbrella organisations from various European countries, it aims to create greater Continental awareness of Hinduism, to expand the number of national Hindu organisations, and to assist those organisations in sharing Hindu cultural, religious, and ethical values with other Europeans.3 Although the Hindu Forum of Europe’s history officially began with its in- auguration in 2006, the phases that led to its formation spanned a number of decades. In the mid-1980s, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) created a European platform named the European Council of Hindu Organizations (ECHO). Its aim was to develop alliances and support among various Hindu organisations, largely in response to the difficulties it was ex- periencing in several European countries due to the Indic practices, modes of dress, and forms of worship that were unfamiliar to most Westerners. In the end, however, the ECHO initiative garnered the support of only a handful of Hindu organisations and endured for only a couple of years. Still, it can be said to have laid the groundwork for future pan-European efforts to organise the Continent’s Hindu communities, the next of which was also initiated by ISKCON in response to similar external challenges and pressures in Belgium. In 1997, Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives generated a synoptic table that listed 189 active religious organisations that were separate from the six “official” religions the Belgian state officially recognised (Chambre des Répresentants de Belgique 1997: 227–73). The table, which included many Hindu organisations, was not intended to judge but merely to enumerate these “new religious movements.” That enumeration, however, was taken quite dif- ferently by the general population, which viewed it as a list of sects (or cults) that posed a potential threat to Belgian society, especially to Belgian youth. As such, an inadvertent consequence of the synoptic table was that it tarnished the reputations of these organisations, creating various obstacles to the public expression and propagation of their beliefs. In response, several of Belgium’s Hindu organisations made another attempt to create a pan-European forum through which Hindus could confront this sort of challenge to their integ- rity and champion their cause. As previously noted, this second initiative was also spearheaded by ISKCON, which viewed such an umbrella organisation as the most effective means by which Europe’s Hindu communities and new religious organisations could advance and protect their cultural and religious interests.4 3 Hindu Forum of Europe 2018: 18–19. 4 Mahaprabhu, interview, September 27, 2016. It should be mentioned here that Mahaprabhu, who is a member of ISKCON Brussels, was an instrumental figure in the establishment of the Hindu Forum of Europe..

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