Ramesh Kallidai
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Ramesh Kallidai is the Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain which is the largest umbrella body representing British Hindus. Ramesh Kallidai was the first Secretary General of the organisation and has continued in this role while introducing different projects and raising the profile of the community in Great Britain. His initiative in partnership with the Runnymede Trust called Connecting British Hindus highlighted the question of the identity of British Hindus. The report claimed that over 80% of Hindus in Britain did not want to be called Asians but Hindus or Indian.
Ramesh Kallidai was recently appointed as a Commissioner of Integration and Cohesion by Ruth Kelly the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to report on issues surrounding segregation and community cohesion. He advises many Government bodies including the London Criminal Justice Board, the Race Hate Crime Forum, the Metropolitan Police Diversity Forum, the Faith Communities Consultative Council, the London 2012 Forum and other bodies.
His comments are carried by British media and Indian broadsheets regularly and he has been quoted on issues ranging from the 7/7 bombings and hate crime to the death of the Pope and the marriage of the Prince of Wales.
He has submitted written and oral evidence to the House of Commons and the House of Lords Select Committees on various matters including the Relgious Hatred bills and Terrorism and Community Relations.
Many British Hindus believe that Ramesh Kallidai has created a platform that has given shape to the political voice of Hindus in the UK for the first time. Recently, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and David Cameron, Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition paid glowing tributes to him and his organisation at the Diwali reception he had organised at the House of Commons. A week later Cameron was attending a dinner as his guest at a Hindu temple to meet 300 stakeholders from the Hindu community.
