Councillor Nisar Malik has been elected as the new Mayor of Hounslow. He has made history by becoming the first Muslim to be chosen as a mayor in the Hounslow borough.
It is a matter of pride for the Muslim community of Hounslow to have someone chosen as a mayor from their faith for the very first time in the borough. However, Cllr Malik has been receiving a lot of backlash regarding an interview he did for the Hounslow Matters Magazine. In his interview, he spoke about bringing many faiths together to uphold harmony into society, but he allegedly excluded mentioning anything about the Hindu faith. In the interview, he reportedly stated, “I want to bring people together and celebrate what we have in common. Muslims, Sikhs, Christian’s and Jews should meet and talk to each other so we can celebrate our humanity together.”
The Hindu community of Hounslow have expressed their shock and feel isolated by Malik's statement. There are almost 12% of Hindu in Hounslow and many believe that the Mayor is neglecting the Hindu community and other minorities. Many went one step ahead and stated that they suspect Cllr Malik has no intension of representing other communities due to his very close association with the Hounslow Muslim forum.
Furthermore, it is also said that many from the Hindu community of Hounslow are preparing a petition to make a formal complaint against the Mayor of Hounslow, as they believe he has deliberately done this to insult the Hindu community of Hounslow. They are demanding for immediate public apology from him before making a formal complaint to National Labour Party.
However, there are also many Hindus who believe that Cllr Malik did not deliberately choose to exclude Hindus in his speech and may have just slipped his mind.
Asian Voice had contacted Cllr Nisar Malik for his opinion but he was unavailable.
