Never have I seen such unification of the British Indian community in the UK. Over 100 British Indian organisations signed up to the letter condemning the UK Labour Party’s motion on Kashmir – calling it ‘ill informed and partisan’. In fact the signatures are still coming in as I write. These organisations speak to, if not for, the whole of the British Indian community.
Of course the Labour Party’s virulent reaction on Kashmir is as a channel for other malevolent forces in Britain. The Telegraph and Channel 4 reported as far back as 2010 following a six month undercover investigation that 'Islamic radicals ‘infiltrate’ the Labour Party’.
So do not be complacent. The terrorist-sympathising forces who attacked the Indian High Commission in London on August 15th were supported by knife-wielding pro-‘Khalistan’ forces too. Not since my days working in the US Congress against the forces of ‘Khalistan’ have I seen such artificial ‘riling’ up of the few to claim to violently speak for the many with nonsense such a fake ‘referendums’.
Let me tell you as British Indians, what I think it is about. It’s about values. Our British Indian values of multi-culturalism, of a multi-ethnic society, multi-religious, secular with all living in harmony together. Not a homogenous theocracy.
Let’s remember what we stand for. Yes, I know for some this was about religion and dharma – dutifully fighting for right. For others it was party political. For others still it was about the deceitful, hypocritical, malicious slander of their ancestral country, India, and so about patriotism.
But it was about values. The values I’ve listed. British, Indian, liberal, democratic values of equality, of gender, of religion, of ethnicity – without special status for any.
Of course, it is not easy to achieve unity alongside diversity. There will always be the 1% who will not hold the line, who will undermine a collective action by pre-emption, who will take any slur for a selfie, who will deny support to a cause for they are not the figure heads. These I call the Jinnah contingent – always seeking their own independence, even when offered to lead and take control of the bigger cause.
This is not about ego or names in papers. The people behind it have enough fame and fortune to last a dozen lifetimes. And that is why it succeeded – egos did not come into it. As the saying goes, ‘only the person not rowing, has time to rock the boat’.
This is a game-changer. You can expect more unified events, campaigns, protests, boycotts and sanctions against all those and the organisations standing against British Indian values and there supporters, who would rather have a theocratic homogenous undemocratic dictatorship and see terrorism as a legitimate way to express political will. Yes, we expect full-throated support for our values, not the two-faced equivocating, belated, political support elected representatives have been used to getting away with until now. And where were we until now? This is an emergency. A rebellion of the silent majority. We are here now. Thank you all who held the fort before us, and stand with us now. We will not always agree on all things going forward, but the team is bigger and more powerful than ever.
As the Labour Party anthem sung after the emergency motion states “Traitors sneer, and cowards flinch”. Yes indeed, they shall think themselves cursed they were not here, and hold themselves cheap when anyone asks where their support was.
We stand for British values. As the new Twitter page put it ‘Respect British Indians’ - @britishindians.
