Co-Chairs of Labour Friends of India (LFIN), Deputy Mayor of London for Business Rajesh Agrawal and Daren Jones, Chair of the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, addressed Indian Journalists’ Association (IJA) at an exclusive virtual meeting on Monday 17 August. This was LFIN’s first interaction with IJA members.
When Indians arrived in the UK post-independence of India, Labour used to be the most common party choice for them. 50 percent of Indians living in the UK, even voted for Labour till 2017. But in the last few years, especially during Jeremy Corbyn’s time, the party is believed to have moved away from the Indian diaspora’s sentiments and displayed pro-Pakistan alignments.
In the last Labour party conference, Kashmir policies hurt the diaspora even further. The Indian High Commission’s dinner had to be cancelled as a result. However recently Sir Keir Starmer, the new Labour leader, has said that Kashmir is India’s internal matter, and it seems the party has started taking baby steps towards rectifying certain mistakes.
On 15 August this year, the LFIN Independence Day celebration as well as the launch of the Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Programme was attended by the new High Commissioner of India, HE Ms Gaitri Kumar.
Speaking at the virtual meet, Indore-born, Deputy Mayor Rajesh Agrawal told the journalists, that Labour’s new leader is very keen to visit India. “We want to take a delegation of Labour MPs to India next year along with Keir.”
When asked if Sir Starmer would meet the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while his predecessor was not a fan, Rajesh emphasised, “Why would he not meet Mr Modi? He is the Prime Minister of India. It is very important to engage with the global leaders of the world, whether that is US President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron or Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Governments change but the relationship between countries goes on.”
He agreed while the party has lost some votes, they plan to work harder to reinstate diaspora’s faith in them. Rajesh explained, “There is no doubt we have lost some Indian votes in the last few years and that’s why the Labour Party needs to work harder in that direction.
“Keir Starmer has made his position absolutely clear that we must not allow the issues of the subcontinent to divide our communities here and any constitutional issues in India are a matter for the Indian Parliament. Kashmir is a bilateral issue for India and Pakistan to resolve peacefully.”
Darren Jones, LFIN Co-Chair and MP for Bristol North West added, “Conference policies are not party policies. The Labour Party policy is that the issue of Kashmir is an internal matter for India. It’s not for the Labour Party to be dictating what should or shouldn’t be happening in other people’s countries around the world.
“You will see a different style of leadership under Keir Starmer in the future. Lisa Nandy as new Shadow Foreign Secretary has also made clear that any difficulties of the past are no longer positions of the party…”
