‘Why woo Hindus, Sikhs, but ignore Muslims in UK?’

LONDON: A leading Muslim organisation has objected to PM David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband visiting temples and gurdwaras during the election campaign but ignoring the Muslim community — the largest religious group in Britain after Christianity.

The visits of Cameron and Miliband to temples and gurdwaras were widely reported in the media, including in the British Asian media. Both participated in religious ceremonies such as ‘aarti’ and covered heads while visiting gurdwaras.

Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, objected to their wooing the Hindu and Sikh communities in a letter to The Times. He wrote, “Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband have gone out of their way to woo Sikh and Hindu voters, but the message that Muslim voters are getting is that there are ‘good minorities’ and ‘bad minorities’, and that the Muslim vote does not matter”.

“This could not be more wrong. Muslim voters will have a significant sway in at least 22 seats in this election,” he added, noting other aspects related to the Muslim community in Britain.

Others also noted that a video with a theme song in Hindi released by the Tories titled “Neela hai aasman” showed images of the leaders visiting only temples and gurdwaras, with no symbolic representation or reference to the Indian Muslim community. HTC

THE MESSAGE THAT THE MUSLIM VOTERS ARE GETTING IS THAT THERE ARE ‘GOOD MINORITIES’ AND ‘BAD MINORITIES’, AND THAT THE MUSLIM VOTE DOES NOT MATTER. MIQDAAD VERSI, assistant-general, Muslim Council of Britain