The West Midlands Mayoral Election is this Thursday, 4 May. In an attempt to mobilise the local Hindu community, the Walsall Hindu Forum organised a hustings for all six mayoral candidates on Sunday, 30 April.
The President of the Forum, Ashvin Patel, as well as a 20 year old medical student, chaired the hustings which was in the style of BBC’s Question Time. Five of the candidates were available for the debate: Andy Street (Cons), Sion Simon (Lab), Pete Durnell (UKIP), James Burn (Green) and Graham Stevenson (Communist). Questions such as: “How will you represent the Hindu community”, “How will you deal with Brexit” and “How will you ensure community cohesion via community centers” were asked of each of the candidates.
The Mayoral position is a new one – the elected Mayor will have a £8bn budget to cover Housing, Transport and Jobs & Skills. The Forum’s hustings was a unique programme designed to encourage the Hindu community in Walsall and beyond to get engaged with this election and beyond.
Ashvin Patel said: “It is astonishing that we are the least engaged community despite being one of the most successful and integrated. I hope that the hustings will go some way in inspiring people to get involved in local politics – such as joining a party and standing for Council elections next year.”
