Tory candidate woos voters with video in 4 Indian languages
The video “Neela hai asmaan” set the stage during the May 2015 election, seeking Indian votes for Conservatives, and the party candidate for the London mayor polls is wooing voters in four Indian languages in another video described as “cheesy” and “creepy”.
Tory hopeful Zac Goldsmith, 41, is pitted against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, 45, in an increasingly bitter contest marked by remarks considered vitriolic by London’s black and ethnic minorities, whose vote is crucial in several boroughs.
The video “Zac Goldsmith Jeete Ga!” features a song in five languages – Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali and Mandarin – and was released on YouTube days after Goldsmith and party leader David Cameron sent personalised letters to voters with Indian surnames, promising to protect family jewellery and highlighting their links with India.
Goldsmith’s four-minute video has not exactly gone viral, but it has been described as “cheesy”, “creepy”, “clunky” and a “monumental moment for multilingual garbage”.
It extols Gold smith and his qualities as a leader, and shows him in a gurdwara and with his former brother-in-law, cricketer-politician Imran Khan. The music is a mishmash of Punjabi and Bengla music, with the lyrics continually switching between the languages.
Goldsmith has accused Pakistan-origin Sadiq Khan of sharing the stage and views with extremists during his time as a human rights lawyer.
Khan has strained to counter this allegation through leaflets and interviews, insisting he will counter extremism if he wins the May 5 polls.
The Khan camp, which holds a comfortable edge in opinion polls, has avoided responding with a similar video or by posting customised leaflets to voters. Compared to Goldsmith, seen as a “posh tosh”, Khan has highlighted his background as the son of a bus driver.