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In its most controversial move yet, the far-right British National Party has said it will make peace with Hindus and Sikhs, but not Muslims.
The announcement by BNP leader Nick Griffin drew instant condemnation from minority groups. "We will not allow a racist party to divide the Asian community in Britain," a leader with the Anti-Nazi League told the Indo-Asian News Service.
The move by the BNP came as a major shift in the policy of the far right, which has until now been campaigning for the removal of all non-white people from Britain.
The move gained ground on Thursday following discussions between Nick Griffin and Sikh leaders in Southall to forge areas of agreement.
This is the first time the far right in Britain has made a move to accept any non-white group as a part of British life. The move comes after extensive racial rioting this summer in the northern cities of Bradford and Oldham.
The rioting involved white extremists and youth of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. Indians were not involved in any of the rioting.
Griffin told BBC's Today programme on Thursday that he had discussed "problems that our people and their people have had with Muslim extremists". He said he wanted to forge new links with Sikhs.
He said: "I've had a lot of conversations and discussions with a member of the Sikh community in Southall. We found a great deal in common." He said the BNP accepts that Britain can no longer be a whites-only nation.
The BNP has abandoned older policies of demanding forced repatriation of expatriate families. Griffin spoke of "Indians" and "Hindus" being victimised by Muslim groups. "This is not an Asian problem, this is a Muslim problem," he said.
Several Hindu leaders denounced the move. "There is no way that any of us will want to deal with the BNP," a spokeswoman for the National Hindu Students Forum told IANS.
"Those polices are repugnant and we all see them as repugnant," she said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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