LONDON: The Conservatives may have lost nearly 500 seats and 11 councils in local elections, but a big surprise of the night – the Conservative gaining Harrow Council from Labor – is being brought to power. British Indian vote,
Harrow’s gains by the Tories bucked the trend of the rest of London, where the capital turned predominantly red and Labor seized three major councils, including Wandsworth, from the Tories. The largest ethnic group in Harrow is British Indians, mainly Gujaratis.
Amit Jogia (35), co-chair of the Conservative Friends of India, was born in the UK to parents of Gujarati Tanzanian descent and was re-elected to Harrow Council. He also serves as a political advisor to the Conservative Party.
“Friday was quite a touching moment as the whole country was going aside, and Harrow has the biggest British Indian Community in the country and it voted Conservative. And it was the only council in the country to go from red to blue. We lost three councils in London, but the big story is that we won Harrow because of the British Indian community. That is the only way people can explain it, and this message goes door-to-door giving the message that this is our natural home, this is the party that stands for us,” he told TOI.
“Another thing that we think changed was the UK PM’s visit to India. That was just a few weeks ago and there was a lot of debate on whether he should go or not and we actually pushed him to go He was the first Conservative PM to visit Gujarat, and he encouraged Gujarati Community Here … it shows that the linkage can have an effect. ,
“We had a very strong campaign that only conservatives could deliver something that resonated British Indian,” He added,
dozens Indian origin councilor Elected to the Conservative and Labor Party across the country. Many were not even elected.
Jogia’s explanation for the increase of interest among the Indian diaspora to participate in British politics was the “diversity of representation in government – Rishi Sunak, Priti Patel, Alok Sharma, Suella Braverman, almost a quarter of the cabinet is British Indian, therefore It’s one of a kind. It inspires people to come forward.”
He said, “Labor is traditionally a working-class socialist party, but as the British Indian community is moving up the social ladder, the values they now represent are no longer in line with the British Indian community.”
However, Dr Neeraj Patil, president of Hindu for Labor, disagrees. He pointed out that Labor won the largest share of the vote in these elections, reflecting “the revival of the Labor Party under the new leadership of Sir Keir Starmer”. “Many British Hindus in major frontier councils such as Westminster and Wandsworth vote for Labor because they believe Labor is best suited to deal with the crisis at the cost of living,” he said.
Brent North is another council that bucked the London trend and added two Conservative councillors to its list, making the Labour-held council five Conservative councillors with 49 Labor councillors.
Kanta Mistry, a retired grandmother born in Mombasa, Kenya, of Gujarati origin, was elected as a Tory councilor there. “We found that the labor counselors were not responding to local issues…we fought 100 per cent on local issues. Indian vote is going towards Conservative but we have to fight for it. The number of people who voted for Labor is still substantial. What we’re doing at Brent is to say to the Asian community: ‘Look at your values of caring for your family, you’re entrepreneurial, you’re focused on your children’s higher education, you’re not state-dependent, your Values are conservative values’.”
Alan Joseph, born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, was elected as the first Conservative councilor for Hanworth ward in the Labour-dominant Hounslow Borough Council. Joseph, who worked in IT software, moved to the UK on an ICT visa 14 years ago to work in banking. “It has been a labor council for many years and they are failing to work so I didn’t want to join a team where too complacent and don’t want to do anything. I like conservative values,” he said.
Harrow’s gains by the Tories bucked the trend of the rest of London, where the capital turned predominantly red and Labor seized three major councils, including Wandsworth, from the Tories. The largest ethnic group in Harrow is British Indians, mainly Gujaratis.
Amit Jogia (35), co-chair of the Conservative Friends of India, was born in the UK to parents of Gujarati Tanzanian descent and was re-elected to Harrow Council. He also serves as a political advisor to the Conservative Party.
“Friday was quite a touching moment as the whole country was going aside, and Harrow has the biggest British Indian Community in the country and it voted Conservative. And it was the only council in the country to go from red to blue. We lost three councils in London, but the big story is that we won Harrow because of the British Indian community. That is the only way people can explain it, and this message goes door-to-door giving the message that this is our natural home, this is the party that stands for us,” he told TOI.
“Another thing that we think changed was the UK PM’s visit to India. That was just a few weeks ago and there was a lot of debate on whether he should go or not and we actually pushed him to go He was the first Conservative PM to visit Gujarat, and he encouraged Gujarati Community Here … it shows that the linkage can have an effect. ,
“We had a very strong campaign that only conservatives could deliver something that resonated British Indian,” He added,
dozens Indian origin councilor Elected to the Conservative and Labor Party across the country. Many were not even elected.
Jogia’s explanation for the increase of interest among the Indian diaspora to participate in British politics was the “diversity of representation in government – Rishi Sunak, Priti Patel, Alok Sharma, Suella Braverman, almost a quarter of the cabinet is British Indian, therefore It’s one of a kind. It inspires people to come forward.”
He said, “Labor is traditionally a working-class socialist party, but as the British Indian community is moving up the social ladder, the values they now represent are no longer in line with the British Indian community.”
However, Dr Neeraj Patil, president of Hindu for Labor, disagrees. He pointed out that Labor won the largest share of the vote in these elections, reflecting “the revival of the Labor Party under the new leadership of Sir Keir Starmer”. “Many British Hindus in major frontier councils such as Westminster and Wandsworth vote for Labor because they believe Labor is best suited to deal with the crisis at the cost of living,” he said.
Brent North is another council that bucked the London trend and added two Conservative councillors to its list, making the Labour-held council five Conservative councillors with 49 Labor councillors.
Kanta Mistry, a retired grandmother born in Mombasa, Kenya, of Gujarati origin, was elected as a Tory councilor there. “We found that the labor counselors were not responding to local issues…we fought 100 per cent on local issues. Indian vote is going towards Conservative but we have to fight for it. The number of people who voted for Labor is still substantial. What we’re doing at Brent is to say to the Asian community: ‘Look at your values of caring for your family, you’re entrepreneurial, you’re focused on your children’s higher education, you’re not state-dependent, your Values are conservative values’.”
Alan Joseph, born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, was elected as the first Conservative councilor for Hanworth ward in the Labour-dominant Hounslow Borough Council. Joseph, who worked in IT software, moved to the UK on an ICT visa 14 years ago to work in banking. “It has been a labor council for many years and they are failing to work so I didn’t want to join a team where too complacent and don’t want to do anything. I like conservative values,” he said.