It is not that this is the first time the British Indians would be campaigning and participating in the elections. At least a dozen of British Indians are also the members of the Parliament. In earlier elections Indians residing in UK voted for candidates of their own choice, it does not matter to which party they belonged, to Conservative or Labour. The choice varied according to the demographic character of the constituency and also depended on the personal preference and choice.

But this year’s election, to be held on December 12 is witnessing bizarre scenario. Members of UK support group for BJP has been moving around and cautioning the common Indians not to vote for Labour candidates. They even warned the British Indians not to disobey their words.

British Hindus are being targeted by WhatsApp groups urging them to vote against Labour in the general election, accusing the party of being “anti-India” and “anti-Hindu”.

The messages have also included videos by rightist and anti-Muslim activists. They are vehemently trying to terrorise the British Indians by attempting to exploit tensions between British Pakistanis and Indians, as well as different religious groups.

One message said: “The Labour party is now the mouth-piece of the Pakistani government. It is anti-India, anti-Hindu and anti-Narendra Modi. So if there are any Indians who are still voting for Labour, or are still members of the Labour party – then respectfully I say, they are traitors to their ancestral land, to their family and friends in India and to their cultural heritage.”

The primary reasons for hostility towards Labour Party have been; first, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been a hard-core Leftist and ideologically opposed to rightist BJP, and second, the Labour only a couple of months back had criticised Modi and his government for adopting repressive measures in Kashmir. The BJP was angry over Labour’s stance on the disputed territory of Kashmir.

For supporters of BJP, the Tory is the party of Hindus and Labour belongs to the Muslims. They have been campaigning for the Tories in 48 marginal seats. WhatsApp messages were circulating among British Hindus urging them to vote against Labour, as it was “anti-India”. This obviously aimed at raising fears that tensions are being stoked ahead of the election. They are not willing to listen to any voice of sanity; cautioning against attempts to divide voters in the general election along ethnic or religious lines.

Though the population supporting the rational argument and condemning the ultra-rightist Hindu line is quite huge, they have refrained from entering into protest against the machinations of the pro BJP supporters. Even the towns of Harrow and Leicester which have highest density of Indian population are not willing to subscribe the arguments of saffronites

The hatred between the supporters has reached to such a stage that the Diwali event which was hosted by a Tory candidate had allegedly banned the entry of the Labour supporters and their party leaders. Incidentally the event “was all about vote Conservative, and nothing to do with the festival of Diwali”.

By and large the common British Indian share the view and also emphasise that people should not be encouraged to vote on ethnic or religious lines. Anti Labour groups have also launched campaign on websites and describe the Labour as “a bunch of left-wing nutters indulging in their prejudices”.

Videos sent to Hindu voters via WhatsApp include one in which the rightwing broadcaster Katie Hopkins complains “Islam is taking over my country”, as she criticises a demonstration about Kashmir by British Muslims taking part on Diwali. Others messages include videos by Anne Marie Waters, who leads the far-right For Britain party.

The Charity Commission had in the past intervened in the issue of political activity by Hindu temples. Just before the 2015 and 2017 general elections, the National Council of Hindu Temples (NCHT) had sent out emails urging Hindus to vote Conservative. The Charity Commission intervened on both occasions and forced the NCHT to withdraw its advice. It is expected that the Charity Commission would once again intervene this time to put a stop to the vilification campaign.

Nevertheless most of the British Indians do not subscribe to insinuation campaign launched by NCHT. Last month the NCHT had sent a letter to Jeremy Corbyn accusing the Labour Party of “internal apartheid” and “anti-Indian racism”. It came out with a ridiculous allegation that Labour had kept its “Indian members” in the dark about a motion over Kashmir that had been passed at the party conference. It also came out with the preposterous claim that Labour was “perilously close to becoming direct supporters of Islamist terror organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIS”. (IPA Service)