Ealing Southall's Labour MP Virendra Sharma, has been asked to take back his words during his recent campaign for the fourth re-election in the June 8 snap poll, when he was caught on camera saying “Pakistan is not harbouring terrorist groups or sponsoring them.”
Another senior Labour party member and political communication strategist Manoj Ladwa, in a letter to the MP asked: "Given your seniority as a long-standing British Indian- origin member of Parliament and that you hold various posts ostensibly promoting UK-India relations, your comments are totally at odds with everything we have tirelessly worked on over many years. Why? … I would strongly urge you to make an urgent public and written statement clarifying your position and that of the Labour party before this issue spirals any further."
As PTI reported, Virendra Sharma retaliated to the statement caught on a smartphone by saying: "During elections strong feelings are common, but this is no time for people to raise issues for their own selfish reasons... It is important that we consider our community and put its needs above our own. I am proud to represent a diverse community made up of all religions and nationalities and I think it is important that politicians represent everyone, not just a narrow section."
He said he was proud to be representing Southall, an area he has been living in for the past 49 years and will “focus on our community and how much we can achieve. This election must be about bringing people together, improving people's lives and turning our backs on the politics of division.”
The 69-year-old MP has been actively campaigning on various issues and has pledged to take on the unacceptable lack of progress in tackling young people’s mental health and called for unity in his personal campaign blog.
