... and Hindus claim Labour’s now ‘veering toward fascism’
LEADING Hindus last night accused Jeremy Corbyn of veering towards an ‘almost fascist ideology’ as they backed the Chief Rabbi’s attack on Labour.
The Hindu Council accused the Labour leadership of supporting Muslim extremists who ‘openly loathe’ Jews and Hindus.
Anil Bhanot, the council’s director for interfaith relations, said in an open letter that Mr Corbyn had ‘engaged with the worst terror outfits in the world’.
He accused the Labour leadership of speaking out on Islamophobia while ‘anti-Semitic and anti-Hindu positions remain unchallenged’.
Mr Bhanot wrote to Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis in support of his bombshell article in The Times accusing the Labour leader of letting the ‘poison’ of anti-Semitism take root.
He went on to accuse Labour of becoming anti-Hindu thanks to its pro-Muslim policy in Kashmir, a region which is claimed by both India and Pakistan. A motion passed at the party’s conference in September stated that there is a humanitarian crisis in the territory, and that the people of Kashmir – which has a Muslim majority – should be given the right of self-determination.
Mr Bhanot wrote: ‘We at the Hindu Council concur that Labour has increasingly become anti- Semitic and anti-Hindu. Jeremy Corbyn has remained silent when there has been a strident anti-India protest which culminated in anti-Hindu statements.
‘Mr Corbyn has been reported to openly engage with the worst terror outfits in the world and we understand he has a long history of vilification of Israel. We find it nauseating that no Labour MP has condemned the anti- Jewish and now what we witness as anti-Hindu manoeuvrings at play in the party.’
He added: ‘On the Kashmir issue, the special status afforded to the majority Muslim population was in breach of the equality strands we are used to in this country and yet a majority of the Labour MPs wrote to condemn the equalisation measures now put in place by the Indian government.’ The letter continued: ‘Jeremy Corbyn always speaks against Islamophobia, whereas any antiSemitic and anti-Hindu positions remain unchallenged.
‘It is a sad state of affairs that a major political party in our country which used to be a progressive socialist voice has veered towards what is almost a fascist ideology.
‘Labour said nothing when child abuse was taking place in councils controlled by it in fear of a Muslim backlash. We are greatly concerned that law-abiding Muslims who shared our peaceful values have been ignored in favour of extremists who openly loathe both our communities.’
Labour is understood to be losing support among British Indian voters as a result of its stance on Kashmir. Earlier this month Indian nationalists in Britain pledged to canvass on behalf of Conservative candidates in the General Election.
A group called the Overseas Friends of the BJP, the party of the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, claims 900,000 Hindu and Sikh voters of British-Indian origin could play a decisive role in as many as 40 UK constituencies.
The Tories are also believed to be doing well among Indian communities because two of their highest profile figures – Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – are of Indian heritage.
Hindu voters could also abandon the party in Leicester East, where disgraced MP Keith Vaz has been replaced by Claudia Webbe, a Corbyn ally who is not of Indian heritage.
Labour were yet to respond to a request for comment last night.
‘Worst terror outfits in the world’