On my return from Israel early this month I found myself surrounded by the storm created after the motion concerning Kashmir was passed at the Labour Party conference. The net result of this has been, deep offence to the Indian diaspora including people and organisations I have worked closely with and respected throughout my public service spanning four decades as a proud Labour activist. I was not at the conference but since my return I have objectively examined the events which have compelled me to put to you my honest and unequivocal position.
I am appalled that the accepted protocol of not interfering in the internal affairs of a third country was dumped by the Labour Party at the Conference and an ill-conceived, partisan motion was allowed to go through. This demonstrates my Party’s astounding insensitivity and failure to scrutinise the motion before accepting it for debate. The debate was unbalanced and went unchecked - for example one of the speakers supporting the motion made deplorable comments about Indian army raping women, men and children; comparing Modi with Hitler and allegations of 10,000 women gang-raped. Wonder what efforts were made to check the authenticity of such statements!The ‘unanimous’ support for such a motion is baffling.
Given the partisan and ill-conceived position taken by the Labour Party no wonder Indian communities and community organisations are fuming across the nation. Diplomatic relations with India are in tatters and divisions and conflict has been created within diverse communities.
We in the Labour Party have envious history of supporting India’s cause of Independence and the warm relations and recognition we have of India’s heritage and culture which is second to none. We are also proud that we have a very large number of elected British Indian members on Councils, Parliament and London Assembly who have given years of service to promote Labour’s principles of unity, social justice and forged strong bonds with our British Indian and other diverse communities and organisations who have enriched the country. However, all our hard work of community cohesion and credibility is being challenged due to the partisan and what is seen as anti-India stance taken by the Labour Party through the disastrous motion on Kashmir. It is true but very sad that we the Labour politicians were banned by some Indian organisations from attending Navratri celebrations which to me is very painful and does a huge deal of damage to the standing of the Party. But I fully understand the hurt and the pain the Indian community feels.
It goes without saying that all – absolutely all – allegations of breach of human rights must be examined by international community and restore the climate of harmony, peace and humanity. To stop further damage it is imperative that without losing any more time my Party comes clean and states its position without any ambiguity.
To this end I welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s recent letter offering to meet members across Indian community and hear their views. This will be a good start but it’s imperative that the Party also engages positively with the Indian Diplomatic Service and Indian Government; meets British Indian elected representatives to address the way forward to restore relations with the Indian community and see how best the Party can genuinely engage with the British Indian and other BAME communities to avoid similar disasters in the future.
Finally, we must work together even harder now to ensure that this issue does not divide our communities and further ensure that we continue our journey to building even stronger multi-faith communities respecting each other and fighting all forms of injustices including anti-semitism and islamophobia.
