Dear Readers,
At the very onset, I wish to clarify certain mis-conceptions with regards to our campaign around Labour’s resolution of 25th September. This campaign is NOT against the Labour Party, neither for the Conservatives. The entire barrel is not rotten. It is your job and mine to wean out the rotten apples before they spread their sickness.
I want to make two things very clear. One, that the present campaign is run by the British-Indian organisations comprising of all faiths and traditions, and none. Two, our purpose is simple. Don't bring issues of rifts between nations of the South Asian subcontinent in the UK. It is neither necessary nor desirable. Having established these facts, I would like to elaborate and explain about fringe groups.
Fringe groups with justifiable or perceived grievances whether religious, economic, nationalistic or any other type, whether labelled good, bad, or ugly, all end up as a destructive cyclone. In this country, Britain today, we have major problems on how to steer our relationship from the European Union. Equally, in the Conservative Party, some Euro-skeptics have now become a bug bear for the government. The Labour Party too has its own problems, not only confined to the Left-Right ideologies. But somehow inadvertently, the unsolved question left in the Indian subcontinent during partition have now raised several eyebrows.
Let us explore them one by one
In the aftermath of the World War II, what started as a Steel and Coal Authority with cooperation of six countries- France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, rapidly evolved into a economic powerhouse, developing further into an Economic Community and later, into what is now known as the mighty European Union when the United Kingdom and other countries joined. Today, the EU has 28 different countries who have progressed far beyond expectation.
People have now completely forgotten that between 1870, the Crimean War till World War II of 1939/45, millions were killed, many many millions were injured, and the entirety of cities in some countries were destroyed in wars on the European mainland.
Now, along with this EU progress came thoughts, attempts of some bigwigs in the European Commission to turn EU into a sort of United States of Europe. Forgetting that among their countries there are historical and other reasons where a USE is a far-fetched notion. With this perceived forced unification ideology Euro-skeptics group evolved in the UK- predominantly within the British Conservative Party.
They were not totally wrong, but one can say their approach towards life was completely blindsided. Former prime minister David Cameron agreed for a referendum. He lost, and resigned. Then came Theresa May. She struggled very hard. Maybe too hard. Exasperated. She gave up and came Boris Johnson.
Strangely, the present British government is clearly a minority government. They have a deficit of 40 votes in the Commons . Also, Bo Jo was not elected by MPs, but by 80,000 Conservative Party members. But all the same, one has to concede, he is a democratically elected Prime Minister.
Her Majesty the Queen opened a new session of Parliament on Monday. Her speech is actually a draft prepared by the Bo Jo government and the Sovereign, as per tradition has to deliver it. Our longstanding Monarch has served us well .
The Bo Jo government is staking everything to fulfill its commitment of leaving EU by October 31, what some political commentators in British media have claimed “by hook or by crook”.
Now, let's look at Labour Party
The Labour Party was born with honourable ideals and it has served by and large well in the last 120 odd years. It's worth recollecting that Sir Winston Churchill under whose able leadership Britain with support of allied countries won the war in 1945, but the Conservative Party was rejected by a huge margin by the Labour Party lead by Clement Attle. It's a fact that many reforms of Great Britain, outstanding in the world today emanates from various initiatives of the Attle government. But, what goes up, comes down.
In the 1980s, the Labour Party became embroiled in Left-Right struggles, some call the 'Loony Left', but Neil Kimock and lately Tony Blair converted it into a party capable of governing and for almost 14 years, the Labour Party ruled the country.
Then the Tories came back, initially with Lib Dem in coalition. Ever since then, on one hand Conservative prime ministers have suffered a lot from Euro-skeptics and on the other, the Labour Party has grown to be much more embroiled within its multiple factions.
Lately, especially in the last few years, the Labour Party which has an influx of several MPs with Indian or Pakistani backgrounds have faced new problems. The ethos of the Indian-origin MPs is multi-culturalism, tolerance, and inclusiveness. Look at Indian-origin MPs of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They are of various faiths and traditions. Numerically, there are more Pakistani MPs in the House of Commons from the Labour Party, and all of them belong to one faith tradition.
So the Labour Party has unfortunately, now, a divide within itself based on economic policies, trade unions, UK-EU divisions and now, after the infamous resolution of September 25, Indian-Pakistan dimensions. The British Parliament and especially Labour Party has somehow got tangled in the India-Pakistan politics and other problems 4500 miles away.
The Indian community has risen as never before against the unfairness of a divisive and dangerous resolution. Several voices reflect different opinions. I sincerely believe that Britain needs a strong Opposition and the Labour Party is the first option considering current circumstances. It cannot be denied, that in the past, the Labour Party has given good governments in the service of the UK.
The wheel of life changes continuously. With more far-sighted and mature leadership the Labour Party could be a prospective governing party in the Opposition. It may not happen overnight, but it is surely possible.
The need of the hour for Labour leadership and all Labour members is to rise to the occasion and think, speak, and act with profound responsibility.
All labour representatives/ leaders who disagree with and denounce the provocative Labour Conference resolution and are committed to its revocation at the earliest should be treated with due respect and courtesies.
India today, is at a level where it identifies with multi-culturalism, multi-faith, multi-linguistics. Similarly, the UK has different people of different paths, all co-existing together with peace and harmony. Let us not plant seeds of distrust and disharmony. This is a very delicate situation, and we all carry the responsibility to ensure we all endeavour our best to be accountable citizens.
