Whilst the mainstream media focusses on PM and parties, the fury against Labour among British Indians has not dissipated. Labour should not think the British Indian vote is banked.
Not once in the 20 years since Tony Blair appointed me to the UK India Roundtable have I seen such fury by British Indians against the Labour Party. Preet Kaur Gill’s Tweet about a ‘Hindu Terrorist’ she hastily deleted (I can imagine who has access to her account) is just one problem for Labour and a major one come the election. That person could be in the Cabinet.
Those Roundtable meetings were to 'examine policies to bring India and the UK closer together.' Labour Peer and close friend of Michael Foot, Lord Paul chaired these.
Since then, the Party has turned full circle. It's just written for Labour-India relations the shortest suicide note in history when it passed the Emergency Motion on Kashmir at its Conference a few years ago.
What makes this time different to others when Labour politicians have condemned India or Indian policies? India has an overwhelmingly popular charismatic Prime Minister whose pull is not confined to India. He won an outright majority for his Party again in the elections – making him by vote count the most popular elected official in history.
But this pull extends to the British Indian diaspora too, as witnessed by a heaving Wembley Stadium at which I was present when he spoke a couple of years ago. (Not even the FA Cup Finals I've seen there equal the emotion and excitement of PM Modi's ability to electrify a stadium).
I am not the supporter of foreign political parties. I am stating things as I see them. So call me a bhakt if you wish.
But there is another reason for the anger. The Indian and Pakistani origin British diasporas have been demographically diverging for decades. They have increasingly less to bind them as 'Asians' – not education attainment, social class, jobs, income levels. As British Indians peak in each category, their Pakistani counter-parts often hit the bottom of the tables.
Of course, there are prominent exceptions. My dear British Pakistani friend and prominent businessman, Asif Rangoonwala without whom I would not have an asset management business, is but one.
But as Pakistanis have built a strong-hold in Labour, so British Indians have had another reason to leave the Party. They've viewed it as the puppet held hostage by a view extremists; led by a sympathiser of terrorist groups who come from Pakistan and bomb Mumbai (Taj Hotel), Kashmir, the Indian Parliament.
The anger also stems from a divergent sense of values. For the British Indians I speak to, hundreds, by the way, thanks to events and social media, it is not so much about articles and UN resolutions, but about the different set of values.
British and Indian values of liberalism, a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-cultural society fit hand in glove.
The UN representative for India put it in these terms at her speech :"Unfortunately, what we heard today from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan was a callous portrayal of the world in binary terms. Us vs Them; Rich vs Poor; North vs South; Developed Vs Developing; Muslims vs Others. A script that fosters divisiveness at the United Nations. Attempts to sharpen differences and stir up hatred, are simply put - "hate speech". Words matter in diplomacy. Invocation of phrases such as "pogrom", "bloodbath", "racial superiority", "pick up the gun" and "fight to the end" reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21 century vision. Prime Minister Khan's threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinksmanship, not statesmanship.
Even coming from the leader of a country that has monopolized the entire value chain of the industry of terrorism, Prime Minister Khan's justification of terrorism was brazen and incendiary. Pakistan's virulent reaction to the removal of an outdated and temporary provision that was hindering development and integration of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir stems from the fact that those who thrive on conflict never welcome the ray of peace. Pogroms, Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi, are not a phenomenon of today's vibrant democracies."
The Labour Mayor of London's scripted condemnation of the violence against British Indians celebrating Indian Independence Day outside the Indian High Commission is similarly viewed by my elderly parent's in-law who were attacked with slippers and swear words there on that day by a violent mob.
My father-in-law is over 70 and was born in Pakistan, as much celebrating that Kashmir is part of India constitutionally unambiguously that day as he was Indian Independence. The slipper throwers were an alliance of Kashmiris wanting a caliphate and others wanting a Khaliphate.
The first rule of politics – learn to count. The message for Labour is, they've seriously miscounted the British Indian vote in any forthcoming election.
