A group of 15 civil society organisations and individuals in the United Kingdom on Wednesday wrote to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, seeking that no venue owned by the Greater London Authority be made available for any event of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ahead of a visit by its chief Mohan Bhagwat.They described the Hindutva organisation as “an authoritarian and militarist group which drew explicit inspiration from European fascism”.In their letter on Wednesday, they also urged the mayor to confirm that no mayoral representative would attend any RSS-linked event.The RSS is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.Bhagwat is expected to arrive in the United Kingdom on Wednesday after having visited the United States and Canada.The groups took note of allegations of the involvement of RSS-affiliated groups in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and mentioned that a report by the British High Commission from that time had described the riots as having “all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”.The 2002 riots had led to a de facto travel ban on BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the UK. It was lifted in 2012.In their letter, the organisations also said that there was “overwhelming evidence” of the RSS and its affiliates perpetrating violence against marginalised communities, including caste-oppressed groups.“Over the past decade, United Nations mechanisms have advanced a mounting body of allegations that senior RSS and BJP figures have incited hatred and discrimination, and that authorities have targeted religious minorities and sought to render them second-class citizens,” they noted.“Bhagwat himself has cautioned India’s Muslims to ‘abandon their boisterous rhetoric of supremacy’, has denied the reality of mob lynching in India,” the letter read. “...and claimed that the country’s ‘real freedom’ dates from the Hindu nationalist consecration of the Ayodhya temple rather than 1947.”The Ram temple in Ayodhya was built on the site of the Babri Masjid, which was demolished by Hindutva extremists on December 6, 1992, because they believed that it stood on the spot where the Hindu deity Ram was born. The Ram temple was inaugurated in a ceremony led by Modi in January 2024.The civil society groups also referred to a recent report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which recommended that the US impose “targeted sanctions” on the RSS and its leadership.The signatories also asked whether the mayor would “write to the Home Secretary asking what assessment has been made of this visit against the Home Office’s unacceptable behaviours criteria for exclusion, and against the commitment in Protecting What Matters to prevent extremists entering the UK”.They also highlighted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “clear statement” that he did not support an event at the city’s Madison Square Garden on August 29, during which Bhagwat gave a speech.Among the civil society groups that wrote to the London mayor were Hindus for Human Rights, UK-Indian Muslim Council, India Labour Solidarity and South Asia Solidarity Group.Call for sanctionsOn Tuesday, a group of civil society organisations – including several of those who wrote to the London mayor – also addressed a letter to David Smith, the UK special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, and Jim Shannon, the head of an all-party parliamentary group on freedom of religion.“Mr Bhagwat’s planned visit to Britain…is part of a charm offensive of public outreach, supported by his allies in the UK,” they wrote. “The British government should not allow him this opportunity.”The letter urged the officials to recommend that the UK government should impose sanctions on RSS members and its affiliates.British MP Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK-based Your Party, also said that the country should not be hosting “the leader of a hate group with a grievous history of far-right violence”.Corbyn said: “This is a deeply authoritarian, exclusionary and discriminatory organisation which has suppressed religious freedom and inspired horrific attacks on minorities. There should be no space for this kind of hatred in our city, and it is truly appalling that this is going ahead”.Written by Neerad Pandharipande. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.Also read: At New York event, Bhagwat preaches ‘oneness in diversity’ amid a storm of protestsTwo days after Bhagwat’s speech in New York, 90 US politicians pledge to not take RSS-linked funding