Ahead of the mayoral and ward elections in Leicester city in the United Kingdom, the Labour Party has de-selected 7 sitting Indian-origin councillors from contesting the polls on the party ticket.
As per a report by The Times of India, 6 of the de-selected councillors are from the Hindu community. The development comes a month before the scheduled local elections on May 4 this year.
They include Hemant Rae Bhatia (Beaumont Leys), Rashmikant Joshi (North Evington), Rita Patel (Rushey Mead), Nita Solanki (Belgrave), Padmini Chamund (Belgrave), and Mahendra Valand (Belgrave).
Labour party deselects all 7 Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) councillors in Leicester ahead of May Council elections.
— INSIGHT UK (@INSIGHTUK2) April 6, 2023
No Hindu Councilor is left in Leicester from the Labour party. This has raised eyebrows in the light of recent violence on Hindus by radical Islamists in… pic.twitter.com/XqPCt5MZSo
Reportedly, the Labour national executive committee (NEC) had decided to field candidates instead of allowing local Labour branches to oversee the process.
While speaking about the matter, councillor Hemant Rae Bhatia told The Times of India, “The way Labour took away the democratic right of branches to select their candidates does not match what Keir Starmer said at party conference, namely that branches are fundamental and democratic units of the party.”
He also lashed out at Leicester’s controversial Mayor Peter Soulsby, who met Islamist Majid Freeman during the anti-Hindu violence in the city. “Hindus and Muslims don’t have trust in Soulsby now. Anyone who challenges how he dealt with the unrest got deselected,” he emphasised.
Bhatia and councillor Rashmikant Joshi have now defected to the Conservative Party. The four other Indian-origin Hindu councillors have decided to contest independently from their respective wards.
Tension in Leicester due to Muslim enclaves and their majoritarianism: Report
The de-selection of the 7 Indian-origin (6 Hindus, 1 Christian) councillors in Leicester is significant in light of the recent revelations of the fact-finding report, presented by the Centre for Democracy, Pluralism and Human Rights (CDPHR) before the UK’s House of Commons.
The report, prepared by activist Rashmi Samant and political analyst Chris Blackburn, highlighted how the Leicester attack on the Hindu community was a direct assault on “democratic institutions and rule of law.”
It noted that the attack on Hindus was a direct fallout of territorial tensions and localised majoritarianism (of the Islamists in East Leicester). The report also found that a concerted attempt was made to defame the Hindu community as ‘Hindutva nationalists’ and nationwide mobilisation outside of Leicester.
“Symptoms of territorial ethnic cleansing were found through the analysis of the different slogans and speeches made by the majority community of East Leicester and the temporary displacement of Hindu community as a result of the unrest,” CDPHR said in its report.
