Astute readers of Kapil’s Khichadi will know that for the past several years I have been looking into the Labour Party strategy of winning the next election. The more I looked the more concerned I became, or at least these are my observations for what they are worth.
So let’s set the scene. For reasons beyond our understanding it was the Labour Party that introduced the diplomatic ban on CM Narendra Modi. A few of us asked serious questions at the time of both the Labour Government here, as well as the Congress Government in India. It was the first time a democratically elected politician was disrespected in this way in the absence of any verifiable evidence. So far there has not been even one court case that has shown that Shri Narendrabhai had any direct involvement with what happened in Gujarat in 2002 and yet the ban came into force.
In the past few years I have been very vocal in asking Ed Miliband to give written clarity on Labour’s stance on Shri Narendrabhai Modi. He has still to answer my questions. However just before the Indian elections some Labour MPs held anti-Modi events at the House of Commons. And Ed Miliband did nothing about it. We even had one of Labour Party’s big donors, Anish Kapoor, come on Newsnight and brand Shri Narendrabhai Modi a mass murderer, and still no comment from Ed Miliband.
And then the nightmare situation for Labour, Shri Narendrabhai Modi became the PM of India with a massive majority. And even then Ed Miliband was very slow to send his congratulations.
So why is Labour behaving in this way? Look at the table below:
It shows the top twenty seats where there is a sizeable Muslim population. In fact it also includes estimation on how many Mosques there are within the catchment area of each seat.
So you can see that some 49 Labour seats are dependent on the Muslim vote. In fact quite a number of them are dependent on the Pakistani Kashmiri vote. Yes it begins to make sense now. No wonder Labour and some of their MPs, as well as their junior Minister, were so keen to be on the side of the Pakistani Kashmiri separatist during the recent debate in Parliament.
In a recent answer Roger Godsiff MP for Hall Green said, ‘I have consistently supported the right of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine their own future and to decide how they shall be governed, and who should govern them’. We then had Shadow Minister Shabana Mahmood saying she will highlight Kashmir issue within Party and outside in masses to defend the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people. “We will jointly struggle for giving Kashmiris a chance to exercise their internationally recognized right of self-determination with the party”. She said women leaders of SDM (Self-Determination Movement) are playing vital role to highlight Kashmir issue and get across the board support for Kashmir cause. “We hope in upcoming general election there would be a good number of Friends of Kashmir Parliamentarians in British Parliament who can effectively support Kashmir cause”, she opined.
So there you have it directly from the horse’s mouth that should Labour win the next General Election then one of their top priorities will be to see the Pakistani Kashmiri separatist get their way. Is this what you the Indian community want?
Why am I bringing these issues to your attention? Very simply you are the voting public. You have placed your trust in various politicians as well as community leaders for many years. Based on this trust the Indian community has tended to vote for the Labour Party mostly. However the question you must all ask now is, ‘has the Labour Party changed so much, that it no longer speaks for our community?’
For me it is clear, the Party under the leadership of Ed Miliband seems to have decided to go left of centre in a big way, and to also become very closely engaged with the Pakistani community. This is of course their prerogative and they must do what they feel is right for them in order to get back in power. After all, that is what politics is all about. However as a community we must have our own objectives. I cannot believe that a Party that is so close to the Pakistani community can ever now find favour for the Indian community. The examples I have cited above shows a pro-Pakistani stance. If this is what Ed’s Party are willing to do before an election, I wonder what else they will want to do if they were ever to get back in power.
So I say to you all, look into the finer detail of how politicians say one thing and do another. Question those in our own community who may be misleading all of us because they have their own political masters to whom they have allegiance. If we as a community don’t wake up and see the wood for the trees – then the writing on the wall is clear, and it will come back and bite us all. You heard it here first folks.
