Britain's House of Lords will be debating on one of the most prominent new trends in British politics - the growing number of the Indian vote and its importance, as witnessed in the recently concluded British Parliamentary elections.
Eminent political theorist of Indian origin Lord Bhiku Parekh will chair the first debate on May 27, and accompanied by Asian Voice Publisher/Editor CB Patel, and veteran journalist and former President of the Indian Journalists' Association, Ashis Ray. Since the historic results of the general elections on May 8, experts believe that one of the major reasons for Conservatives' dream run was the crucial India vote.
The panelists will include senior policy makers of the British government, newly election Indian origin MPs, academics and political commentators.
Lord Parekh in an interview to Kounteya Sinha from Times of India said, "We want to use the elections as a mirror of deeper political trends among the British Indian community. We want to address questions like how many Indians voted, who they voted for, why they voted in such large numbers and what pushed them to decide on their candidates. In UK, around 66% of those registered voted".
He added "We want to understand the political engagement of the Indian community here in British politics. We saw significant new trends this elections - more Indians voted for the Conservative Party than ever before, David Cameron went all out to woo the Hindu community who are fast moving away from the Labour Party".
CB told TOI: "We saw a renewed interest in politics among the British Indian community in the recent election. Even the Conservative Party took notice and actively wooed the voters of Indian origin. We will discuss the role the ethnic Indian community in Britain will now play post the election results".
