Dear Readers,
Shenanigans of the Labour party of Jeremy Corbyn have proven to be so painful, unjust, and harmful to the Indo-British relations, that time has come for me to walk down memory lane and elaborate on how the Labour Party was conceived 120 years ago. The Labour Party was founded in 1900 by, amongst others, Mr. Shyamji Krishna Verma, a Kutchi Gujarati barrister and investment advisor. He was a socialist settled in London, primarily to campaign for Indian independence. He started Indian Socialist weekly, and also founded the India House in Highgate, which has over many years helped several Indian students and politicians in many ways.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Vir Savarkar, and many others either visited India House or stayed there. Varma's campaign for India was strongly supported by Annie Besant, Fenner Broakway and many other Labour Party stalwarts. In 1912, Annie Besant established India League for Home Rule in India. By early 20s, VK Krishna Menon, a close confidant of Besant became the main force for India League. In 1929, the Indian National Congress passed the Purna Swaraj resolution, calling for complete independence. In India, Mahatma Gandhi led the INC, and the responsibility was assigned to India League to campaign from London.
During this long period, several Labour Party leaders were involved extensively and worked closely with India and Indian leaders. In 1947, the Labour Party, under the leadership of prime minister Clement Attlee made Indian independence a reality. Lord Broakway, Lord Silverman, and eventually Michael Foot, all became actively involved with India League.
In 1967, India League lead by Menon, mooted the idea for a Mahatma Gandhi statue in the heart of London. The Camden Borough Council generously gave the central space in Tavistock Square and a Mahatma Gandhi pratima was installed. Prime Minister Harold Wilson of the Labour Party inaugurated the statue in the presence of the Indian High Commissioner. Today, every year, the birth anniversary and martyr day of Mahatma Gandhi are celebrated by the Indian High Commission, Camden Council and India League at Tavistock Square.
Let me give a brief information of my involvement with the Labour Party. In 1966, while studying at Lincoln's Inn and University of London, I joined the Labour Party. By 1968, I was treasurer of the Brent North branch of the party. When I decided to go into publishing, I resigned in 1975 and since then I belong to no party and support or oppose the government and other parties on issues. However, I must admit, my sympathies lay, by and large, with the Labour party, sometimes very strongly, sometimes out of nostalgia.
From 1960s, East African Asians who were British passport holders, started arriving in the UK. Enoch Powell's infamous speech titled 'Rivers of Blood' rose to prominence and brought to light vicious public opinion.
In those bad old days, 100s if not 1000s of Indians, had to fly to East Africa in an arrangement what was called Shuttlecock. A campaign was launched against injustice to remove the arrangement and many Labour and Liberal politicians supported the campaign.
In 1972, a totally different problem occurred. The expulsion of Asians from Uganda under the Idi Amin regime had begun. Edward Heath, who was a Conservative prime minister, despite opposition from within his own party, honoured British passport holders and brought in 28,000 Ugandan Asians.
Over the years, there have been, except some aberrations, friends from Labour Movement who worked to remove discrimination and encourage equal opportunities. Such a bond that was built and strengthened over time is now ruptured by last week's resolution. We've covered the topic extensively in this week's newspapers. I'll be frank, a grave injustice has been done to some two million members of the British Indian community. There will be ramifications if it's not revoked at the earliest.
I believe the British-Indian community leaders and members, politicians, MPs, Lords affiliated with the Labour Party should not remain silent. Silence will not solve this problem. Jeremy Corbyn and his team should be advised before they make lasting damage to the party.
In our reports, I am happy to quote some Indian MPs like Virendra Sharma as well as Barry Gardiner and the deputy Mayor of London Rajesh Agrawal, though they are involved with the Labour Party. They've showed their concerns and stood up for principles of fairness, justice, and rule of law.
The Gandhian struggle for independence was based on peaceful and non-violent protests including non - cooperation and boycots where required. Time has come for British Indians to voice out their disgust, pain, and let Jeremy Corbyn know that injustice has been done not only to India, but to the Labour Party as well. The sooner the resolution is revoked, the better for Indo-Britain relations.
