Was Hinduism ever persecuted by the British?

Answer 1

While there is no evidence that the British rounded up Hindus and killed them just because of their religion, Indians (including Hindus) were frequently subjected to racism and discrimination during the British colonial period; and there were periodic clashes between British troops and Indian protesters, which resulted in the deaths of large numbers of Indians. It should be noted that most British people sincerely believed in the mission of colonialism and saw it as a way to "civilize" the countries under their control. But that is obviously not how most Indians felt about the way the British treated them. In fact, discrimination against Hindus (and also Buddhists and Sikhs) was one of the common features of British rule in India.

For many years, the British government tended to only promote white, Christian, Englishmen to positions of authority in their colonies, and were very patronizing towards the native populations. Most British leaders saw Christianity (especially the Church of England) as a superior religion, and Hindus were often perceived as polytheistic idol-worshipers who needed to be converted. True, the British generally did not force the Indians to convert, but it was a known fact that to get ahead, Indians had to adopt the dress, language and customs of the British rulers. Even Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi was the victim of this discriminatory attitude and that eventually led him to begin protesting against British colonialism. And while some Indians decided to ally themselves with their colonial masters in order to advance, there were always strict (although sometimes unspoken) limitations as to how much a non-white, non-Christian person could move up under British colonial rule.