On my way to Morden on the London Underground, recently, I ran into Sadiq Khan. I had only five minutes before we reached Tooting Broadway station. The time was against me including the fact that he doesn’t care about the poets or poetry like most politicians. His canvass is obviously bigger in capturing voting blocks. To be fair, I do not think Zac Goldsmith either cares about the cultural and poetical issues tied together.
So as a journalist, I provoked him into quick response straightaway by asking him if he was Sajid Javid: A reason for anyone well-known person to react if annoyingly called a different name!
After the pleasantries of introduction, I jumped into my primary question with which I have annoyed previous mayoral candidates: If London has such a diverse community and so many expats making thousands of journeys every day, at a simple level why are the tubes not featuring poetry from this ticket paying diaspora on the London Underground? The reply from the politician was, ‘Yes, indeed! Need to think on this.’ Well, that is where it gets left abandoned. Will there be a suggestion or any action from Zac Goldsmith on this? I doubt it.
Labour Party is now ridiculously radical and Sadiq Khan has a duty to clarify, boldly and publicly, where he stands with Jeremy Corbyn and remain honest to it as his personal integrity in future. To crucify Zac Goldsmith on using the word ‘radical’ stretching its associating with just Muslims is a ridiculous suggestion. His own sister, Jemima, after all, was a Khan once, and her children still are. So anyone wanting to vote along a racial line will be wrong.
We all know the language changes or evolves harbouring some new contextual references or associations to the words. But to suggest that the term ‘radical’ is de facto a term associated with Muslims is a preposterous suggestion. For Jon Snow, as an example of most of the liberal press in Britain trying to be politically correct, to imply Zac Goldsmith cannot use the term radical, is totally unacceptable. For Sadiq Khan to endorse such politicisation of words would be not to be impartial and inclusive of all communities. Corbyn represents a radical face of the Labour Party. Sadiq Khan is part of that clan. So where does he stand?
With the train approaching fast to Tooting Broadway, that was exactly my next direct question. Khan is a seasoned politician, relaxed, and comfortable in his skin. He was obviously talking to a Patel who by tradition are not very radical (that term again). Hence, the reply may have been tailored for me. Still to his credit, very painfully he explained to me (albeit, not an answer for Jeremy Corbyn’s ears), he was more in the centre but slight to the right, though not quite to the centre right. Was this an honest answer? What does it mean in terms of policies? What would it mean if he fails to agree with Jeremy Corbyn? What will he be in disagreement with him? Will he challenge the Tube strikes or cower to the unions using commuters as hostages?
He says he is for Gatwick and not Heathrow for the new runway. It is not just about saying yes or no to please some factions to win the vote. How he will incentivise businesses and people losing out to compensate is the key? Here is one example; can he offer to make the Gatwick Express free for the elderly allowing them to extend their senior citizen pass? What attractive alternative will he offer to the travelling business community coming over for a quick business, a meeting? Until the Gatwick connection can be put on par with a journey to Heathrow - the time, speed, costs, and ease all thrown in - it will not make it an attractive cost effective alternative. Costs in terms of time and money may not be important to the mayoral candidates, but for businesses and people wanting a cost effective, convenient fast getaway they are.
Currently, Khan is advocating extra costs or administrative burden on businesses with various social excursions while in reality businesses are looking for less burden altogether. It is debatable how business friendly in the reality his policies will be. It is early still, but Zac Goldsmith needs to come up with some strong policies too. For this election to be electrified, he needs to connect himself more to various blocks like Khan is. The candidates also are failing to address the threat of terrorism.
You will have to judge yourself as it approaches May 2016. Labour is the protest vote at the moment, and Zac Goldsmith has a mountain to climb. Let us hope not the racial one!
Asian Voice would like to know your opinion on the upcoming London Mayoral election. Please email your reply to the Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice, CB Patel: [email protected]
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As a co-editor of Skylark, Yogesh Patel has published international contemporary poetry since the seventies. Currently, he runs Skylark Publications UK, and a non-profit Word Masala project to promote writers and poets of South Asian diaspora. Recently he launched a South-Asian ‘Poet of the month’ e-zine series. Yogesh is also a founder of the literary charity,Gujarati Literary Academy, and has served as its president. He was a Fellow of the International Poetry Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London and has four LP records, two films, radio programmes, children’s books, fiction and non-fiction books, including poetry collections to his credit.
Apart from being a recipient of the IWWP award, the International Scottish Diploma for the excellence in poetry, and a Hon. Diploma from the Italian University of Arts, he has won the Co-Op Award for the poetry on the environment.
By profession, Yogesh is a qualified optometrist and an accountant.
A short list of his work and achievements is listed at www.patelyogesh.co.uk
