2019 General Election | Why British Hindus and Indians resolved to vote against Labour

Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of news about British Indians and British Hindus going to vote against Labour during this general election. More than 70% of the BHI community voted for Labour in the 2017 general election and recent surveys suggest more than 80% of this lot will vote against Labour in the 2019 general election. It is important to understand what has led to this drastic change.

We will attempt to rationalise some of what is happening for anyone who has the patience to read and is wondering what is happening and why it matters to everyone in the UK.

Ultimately, we need more dialogue between communities to help resolve international issues. Recent actions by the Labour Party will result in no change but on the contrary, have resulted in division between communities.

Even with everything below, we haven’t managed to cover all the issues created by the Labour Party.

To be clear, this is for the benefit of conscious British Indians and British Hindus. We hope this will help people realise the immediate threat they are facing in the UK due to divisive politics by the Labour Party.

Current situation and some background

Currently, there are restrictions imposed in Kashmir for example, the Internet is switched off to prevent provocation and riots. The same measure even the UK took by curbing communication during the UK riots in 2011 (1).

The reason for the curfew was that the Indian Government revoked special powers from Kashmir allowing the state to have the same laws as the rest of the country, and more rights for women, the LGBT community and minorities in the Jammu and Kashmir state.

Kashmir is an extremely dangerous place. To give you an idea, there are 6 terror organisations banned in the UK that operate in Kashmir. All of them are Islamist and want to claim Kashmir for Pakistan (2) – and there are many more. As confirmed by two former Pakistani Presidents, these organisations have been trained and supported by Pakistan (8/9).

What Labour has done and what has happened

The Labour Party passed a motion on Kashmir that contained precarious wording such as “the state endorsed sexual violence of women by armed forces” (3).

There have been a number of Labour MPs standing in front of Pakistani flags condemning the actions of India when the curfew is only in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Recent protests in London were attended by Tom Watson, Liam Byrne and (apparently) the Pakistani PM’s nephew, where Indian flags were burnt, torn and stamped on as well as frozen water bottles, firecrackers, stones and other things thrown at Indian families, including children, who were celebrating India’s 73rd Independence Day (19).

The Labour Party in Luton have endorsed the terror organisation, JKLF, who kidnapped and murdered an Indian diplomat in 1984 on British soil (13).

There has been a Labour activist in Leicester spotted in a car that said “Stop Hindu Fascism” which implies, amongst other things, that what is happening in Kashmir is Hindu vs. Muslim when in fact it has the support of Indian Muslim organisations, including those critical of Modi (10). A member of the BHI community challenged Andrea Burford on Twitter and she refused to comment or apologise (15/16).

The UK Friends of Labour organisation has also criticised Labour. After this, Labour appears to have created a new organisation (20 vs. 21).

Why is it hypocritical?

There was no motion when over 200 Hindu women were raped in Bangladesh following election victories in 2001. This was state-endorsed (4).

No motion in 1990 when between 300,000 to 600,000 Hindus were driven from Kashmir – including some being killed by cutting them in half with an electric saw (5/17).

There has been no motion regarding the fall in the Hindu population from 25% to less than 2%. A drop of between 87% and 92% in Pakistan (6/7).

There is currently a similar blackout in Balochistan by the Pakistan Government and has been in place for over two years (11).

Pakistan is doing little to curb the export of terrorism from the country. The Government complained when Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan and on a recent visit to the UN the Prime Minister of Pakistan refused to accept terrorism is an issue and implied that retaliations to insulting Islam is justified (e.g. Charlie Hebdo attack was not justified in my opinion) (14).

Why it is divisive

You won’t find many Indians who will say Kashmir belongs to Pakistan considering the state was passed across to India by the Maharaja of the state in accordance to the law. In fact, he was forced to do so because Pakistan had invaded (18). The Maharaja’s family have since lived in India and continue to do so.

You won’t find many Pakistanis who won’t point to the UN Resolution that states Kashmiris have the right to self-determination (e.g. choose to be part of India, Pakistan or an independent nation).

With the two points above – you have to question what the Labour Party hoping to achieve with their recent actions.

Why it matters

In the past, incidents like this have resulted in attacks on the Hindu community. Including individuals and places of worship (12).

Importing international issues like this into UK politics should be dealt with carefully because it causes tensions between different communities and is a danger to everyone in the UK.

We need more progressive dialogue between communities, not action where there will be no change, but only cause fractions in British society.