Like so many Gujarati and Indian organisations, I wrote to Gareth as well (on numerous occasions). I have been waiting since 17th March for Gareth to respond to this Gujarati who asked him some very basic questions. To date, he has remained hidden in his den of shame. When he finally wrote back, it was a template response regurgitating his condescending fake narrative. There was not even an ounce of effort to respond to the questions being posed. Of course, he was in no position to respond given he had made things up on the pretence of creating the APPG for Gujaratis. It must have been a blow to him then to find out that more than 95% of Gujaratis had rejected it out of hand. What this patronising politician has done is surround himself with puppets from the Gujarati community. I hear he has recruited Gujarati chamchas who will attend the launch of his APPG. No doubt the pied piper will engineer his PR campaign to paint it as a major success. But then, if Gareth was interested in truth, he would not have become the harbinger of falsity and force through his unwanted APPG and go against the wishes of the very community he purports to represent.
There are more serious issues at hand also. Did you know Gareth Thomas is the Labour party’s Shadow Minister for International Trade? He sits on Keir Starmer’s cabinet which means, in theory at least, that what Gareth does is approved by Keir and the Labour Party. The breaking India tool kit used by Gareth seems to be Labour party policy and it is being applied systematically to various issues to undermine India and Indians. This is grave news for international matters because should Labour ever get into power, its de facto policy on India is to break it up. It all makes sense when we consider the anti-Modi rhetoric, the anti-India narrative, the support for the terrorist state of Pakistan with reference to Kashmir, the support for Khalistani hooligans, undermining India on Article 370, the farmers protest, the Hinduphobic bigotry and much more besides. This Labour party appears to be working in cahoots with the Indian National Congress (INC) and both appear to be using the same tool kit to undermine India at every turn. No wonder Rahul Gandhi found friends in the Labour Party on his recent visit.
Let me remind Keir and Gareth what leaders of thousands of Gujaratis (Indians) have to say about this divisive APPG:
The President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, Mrs Truptiben Patel said, ‘It is incredible that we have a British politician who is ignoring the vast majority of the Gujarati and Indian community in the UK and still going ahead with the APPG Gujarati. It is disappointing to see that some of our politicians can so openly roughshod over the wishes of the community. We do hope common sense will prevail though’.
Vinodbhai Popat of the Hindu Community Organisations Group (HCOG) based in Leicester and representing some 40000 members made an interesting observation stating, ‘Gareth Thomas has shown his dishonesty with his dishonourable behaviour. How can any Indian in Harrow West ever trust a politician like him when he so wilfully ignores the voice of the community?’.
Complimenting him Mukesh Naker of British Hindu Voice added, ‘The manner in which Gareth has set up this unwanted APPG suggests that he is motivated by his own personal ambitions, rather than the welfare of the Gujarati community. His patronising attitude shows all Indians that politicians like him care not for the community, but only for their own political objectives’.
Kamlesh Mistry, President of the Shree Prajapati Association (UK) said, ‘As an organisation with Gujarati members we have not received any form of communication regarding the formation of this group, its purpose and understand that it has not gone through proper consultation with us and other Hindu and Gujarati organisations in the UK’.
Prof Sunil Poshakwale (MBA, PhD, Professor of Intl Finance, Cranfield School of Management) tweeted, ‘Agree @GarethThomasMP is not doing any favours by supporting this APPG. British Hindu community stands united and does not need a separate @APPGBGujaratis’.
Pravin Patel Ex Sec Gen of the NCGO also tweeted, ‘Gujaratis be warned, do not trust Labour Party or it’s MPs, they will ruin you and the country. Labour is packed with anti-Indian and anti-Hindu mindsets. Their aim is to divide us. Boycott, do not trust their honey layered words and promises’.
This week I also received a letter from the National Council of Hindu Temples (NCHT) in which their President, Arun Thakur makes it very clear that the APPG is not wanted. He states, ‘The NCHT expresses its grave concern about the idea of creating a Gujarati All-party Parliament Group (APPG) in the UK Parliament. Regarding the whole issue, you have been already approached by many Indian organisations, you should have immediately stopped and withdrawn yourself. This venture is not in the favour of India, the UK, the community, and the Labour party as well as yourself’.
Hot on their heels was Nainesh Patel (General Secretary of Chha Gam Nagrik Mandal UK) who wrote, ‘Currently we see no value in formation of such a group, as all the needs of the Gujaratis are resolved using existing APPGs for INDIANS, Hindus, and other religious groups. We believe that we are a united force with the current set up’.
However, we also have those in our community who have compromised themselves and their organisations with their silence. One is left to wonder as to what hold Gareth has over them that they are willing to betray their very own? To be treacherous and to become a traitor to your community, your culture and your faith must be the lowest form of existence. I have also received information that a few trustees of some of our well-known organisations, with a close relationship with Gareth and Labour, might have also compromised their position and that of their Gurus and their community. I am sure at some point they will also be exposed.
I am also getting news that some of the MPs who had signed up to be part of the APPG are now having serious doubts. Not Gareth though. He wrote a long article giving a variety of excuses for having such an APPG. However, a simple cursory look at his statement showed that everything he said was already being addressed by other groups and organisations. In effect, the community were right when they told him that his APPG was not needed, nor was it wanted.
Interestingly, this very same Gareth is still learning how to spell Gujarati. He writes it as ‘Guajarati’. To be honest, you can’t make this up. A white British politician, who can’t spell, is telling us Gujaratis what is good for us by ignoring us. The British Raj is dead, but it seems it still lives in some people even today.
The Indian community at the next General Election will remind him of his treachery. And I say to those individuals who have gone into bed with Gareth. You are traitors to your community as well. It is that simple.
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, ‘Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest’.
