Right-wing group Hindu Sena "hailed" Queen Victoria and paid tributes on her 118th death anniversary
The Hindu Sena, a right-wing group, paid tributes to Queen Victoria on Tuesday, marking her 118th death anniversary. The ceremony was organised in New Delhi. Members of the Hindu Sena praised Queen Victoria, saying it was she who "freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals."
The organisers of the event at Jantar Mantar in Delhi said it was the first time they paid tributes to the Empress and credited her with "uniting the princely states of India in 1857."
Surjeet Yadav, the national spokesperson and vice-president of the Hindu Sena, claimed, "India would have disintegrated into thousands of pieces had it not been the Britishers, who under the Queen, united a large number of princely states into one entity in 1857."
He also claimed that "The Britishers gave what we have today, be it the law, railways, roads, communication networks, schools, buildings, etc."
"The Britishers did not destroy our temples like the others did...They gave us the law which we follow even today," Mr Yadav claimed.
Mr Yadav went on to make a bizarre claim that the British Empire was "not autocratic".
"Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru could raise their voice because it was not an autocratic government. They gave Indians the first taste of freedom by allowing local self-governance in 1882," he claimed.
He also claimed that the imperial army strived for equality among all castes in India.
"They (the British) formed the Mahar regiment. Earlier, in Bengal Presidency, only people belonging to upper castes were allowed to enlist in the army," he claimed, adding "if there is a gentlemanly race in the world, it is the British."
In 2017, the Hindu Sena had also celebrated the birthday of US President Donald Trump with a cake weighing 7.1 kg.