UK Hindu temple fights for survival after complex sold to Islamic group for mosque

A 40-year-old Hindu temple in the city of Peterborough in the UK, founded by Indian refugees expelled from Uganda, is fighting for survival after the complex housing it was sold to an Islamic group planning to build a mosque on the site.

The Bharat Hindu Samaj (BHS) temple has run from the New England Complex since 1986. The temple was founded by families expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin in 1972.

That complex, however, has since then been sold to the Khadijah Mosque, part of the United Kingdom Islamic Mission by the Labour Party-led Peterborough City Council as part of its plans to repay it's roughly 500 million pound debt, reported the UK-based newspaper, The Telegraph. The newspaper also reported that the sale went ahead despite temple trustees offering a sum of 1.3 million pounds, an offer which they attest was ignored for months.

"Peterborough City Council told us in March 2025 that we could buy the property, and we put an offer in place for £1.3 million. We did not get any response from them until September 2025. All we came to know was that it was going to the best and final offer stage, and now we had to put in a bid," trustee Gauri Chaudhary told India Today TV.

According to a report in The Telegraph, the Khadiajah Mosque purchased the complex in order to build what it described as a "unity centre" prayer spaces, classrooms, and sports and recreation activities.

Despite the decision being referred back to the council’s cabinet amid an outcry, it was upheld at a meeting in February this year. In response, the trustees secured an injunction preventing the local authority from selling the site and swiftly raised 86,000 pounds via a GoFundMe campaign with the help of donations from across the world, reported The Telegraph.

The UK High Court is now hearing the case, with petitioners telling the Court that the city council's decision to sell the site of the "principal place of worship for Hindus" in the East of England to an Islamic organisation was unlawful and should be quashed.

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