Saturday, February 07, 2009

Reasons To Be Cheerful - Part Two ... Non-racial Politics

....I stumbled on this old article from the Times of India from 2005.

The author is genuinely shocked that British Asians don't feel obliged to vote on racial lines:

Punters agree on the state of Asian political impotence. Many believe Asian political disinterest is starkly revealed by the shocking fact that Asians will not automatically support Asian candidates in at least four key constituencies.

Instead, the Asian vote in Gujarati Muslim-dominant Blackburn, Sikh-dominant Wolverhampton South and Edinburgh West and Muslim-Hindu-dominant Leicester South is expected to go to white candidates.

Explains Jagtar Singh: "I know we have Sandy Parmar, a Sikh woman married to a Hindu, standing in Wolverhampton South. But she is not a practising Sikh. The Sikh community would be loathe to lose its sympathetic MP, the Labour incumbent Rob Marris. He has done a lot on Sikh issues. Sikhs don't care if their Wolverhampton South MP is Sikh or not. They do care that he is interested in Sikh issues."


Long may we avoid electing politicians because of their racial background...

4 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

Stuck in my head: "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, and I blame YOU!

Onlinefocus Team said...

Why????

Roger Owen Green said...

Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 2 was a Blockheads song; an easy leap.

Onlinefocus Team said...

Aha, of course..... the phrase had sunk into my head so deep I'd forgotten where it came from.

Do you know the Ian Dury song "Billericay Dickie"? Billericay is two stops away from me on the train to London

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