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UK Labour Party drags Indian PM Modi in country’s domestic politics

June 30, 2021
The Commune

The Labour Party in the United Kingdom (UK) which traditionally received the majority of the Indian votes during election has released a poll leaflet that accused UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson of whitewashing Islamophobia and also issued pamphlets with the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shaking hands with UK PM Boris Johnson.

The leaflet was circulated for the Batley and Spen by-poll in West Yorkshire scheduled for Thursday (July 31) that shows Modi in a handshake with Conservative Party Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the G7 Summit in 2019 with the message “Don’t risk a Tory MP who is not on your side”.

It has also been reported that the leaflet was circulated mostly in Muslim-dominated areas. 

In the last few years, the Labour party has become a “divisive” and “anti-India” party with the Indian diaspora moving away from the party. This had led to a massive victory for the conservatives in the 2019 general election.

After the leaflet became public it created a huge uproar in social media. Tory MP Richard Holden posted the image on Twitter and asked a question to Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer if he would have done the same had he been PM and met Modi at any international summit. 

“Dear Keir Starmer, please can you explain this leaflet and clarify whether a Labour PM/politician would refuse to have any relationship with the world’s largest democracy? Is this your message to 1.5 million members of the Indian diaspora in UK,” questioned the Conservative Friends of India (CFIN) diaspora organisation.

But the outrage was not limited to the Conservatives. Within the Tory’s own party, the Labour Friends of India (LFIN) diaspora group also demanded the “immediate withdrawal” of the leaflet.

“The Labour Party is right to call out Boris Johnson’s lack of action following the conclusion that anti-Muslim sentiment remains a problem within the Conservative Party. It is unfortunate that the Labour Party used a picture of the Prime Minister of India, the world’s largest democracy and one of the UK’s closest friends, from the G7 meeting in 2019, on its leaflet,” LFIN said in its statement.

Indian-origin veteran Labour MP Virendra Sharma said this was “cheap”,  “divide and rule” and “dog-whistle” politics not worthy of Labour.

“The Labour Party will win by bringing people together and uniting the community, to do anything else will divide our community and play into Tory hands,” said Sharma, who represents Ealing Southall in London that has a large Indian diaspora presence.

Another Indian-origin Labour MP, Navendu Mishra, took to Twitter to declare that “racism is alive and well within Labour”.

“A hierarchy of racism exists inside the party and some groups are seen as fair game for attacks based on religion/race/heritage,” said Mishra, MP for Stockport in northern England.

“Labour will not win by playing divide and rule politics against our communities. We will win based on a principled stance against racism and discrimination of all kinds inside and outside the party,” he said.

The Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) critised the labour party and called it “votebank politics” of the campaign leaflet.

“OFBJP objects to this kind of anti-India branding just for votebank politics. Such posters and statements are clearly a sign of divisive politics played by Labour,” said OFBJP President Kuldeep Shekhawat.

It must be noted that the Labour Party has now been taken over by extreme leftists and Islamists who have now constantly attacked India, particularly over the Kashmir issue which led to a massive defeat for the party since 1935 leading to the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn. The