The voters of southall essentially rejected sectarian politics. Dr Rai stood on a “turban platform” and he was basically humiliated. The Labour party was wise not to yeild to your demands of a “All Turban Shortlist” as it was bourne out that there really isnt any support for it.

The call for a visible Sikh in the HoC on the basis that you would like one is as absurd and unrealistic as expecting a visible Sikh on the English Cricket Team for no other reason than they are turbanned (as opposed to being prodigiously talented)

Could you please clarify which “killers” you’re referring to ? Thanks.

Whilst all of this is quite amusing and fair comment to boot, it does not address the threat the killers pose. What’s to be done about them?

If we are not careful, we could soon be barred from all the newsagents and doctors’ surgeries in the UK.

Let’s not forget about the pharmacists. Everyone always forgets about the pharmacists.

They’re a deeply misunderstood race.

On behalf of my people, I condemn extremism.

I am considerably reassured that there are still moderate whites like you out there who are prepared to boldly speak out against the enemy in our midst.

I salute your indefatigability.

IN THE END NO REAL SURPRISES IN EALING SOUTHALL

In the last few weeks there have been many twists and turns in the Ealing Southall by election. The Sikh Federation (UK) objective was to try and ensure that there was every opportunity to get the first visible and appropriately qualified Sikh elected to the Commons and to get candidates to deal with issues relevant to British Sikhs e.g. Sikh identity, human rights abuses, 1984 etc.

It was clear from the outset that the only realistic prospects to get the first visible Sikh in Parliament and to recognise Sikhs are an important part of modern British society was if the candidate selected by the Labour Party met this requirement. This was a safe seat that Labour was likely to retain. There also appeared to be a demand within the local Labour Party membership that the time had come for this historic step.

The first hurdle was to ensure the Labour Party opted for an open selection process. The combination of a by election and pressure exerted from several quarters ensured the selection was opened up. Six of the seven on the Labour Party long list were Sikhs, which included three turbaned Sikhs.

So far things were on track; although it was difficult to understand why the Labour Party Selection Panel, comprising Keith Vaz, Mike Griffiths and Norma Stephenson, chose to ignore excellent outside candidates and Labour loyalists, such as Dr Harkirtan Singh, while other less able outsiders were included. It remains a mystery why some formidable candidates that could have united the party were excluded from the long list. Although this would probably have resulted in a stronger shortlist and possibly a different Labour candidate.

The big question was who would make it to the short list. Most assumed this would be down to the performance of individual candidates on the long list as they would each be put to the test and a short list of at least 4 candidates would emerge based on past practice in arriving at shortlists.

However, the Labour Party Selection Panel astounded local Labour Party members, councillors, Labour MPs and Ministers in only selecting two for the shortlist. By pitching the unknown Jo Sidhu against the veteran Virendra Sharma the selection panel were not only deciding who would be the Labour Party candidate, but were also in effect deciding who would be the next MP for Ealing Southall.

Most have concluded the short listing process was a scandal and should never be repeated. When the two names were announced it was a sad day for democracy in the Labour Party and for the people of Ealing Southall.

Meanwhile the Conservatives were coming up with their own strange selection process in deciding who would represent them. There were several local visible Sikhs with a history in the Conservative Party who appear to have been ignored. In selecting the new recruit and political lightweight, Tony Lit, the Conservatives were taking a huge risk in going for someone with no real political allegiances or pedigree. Embarrassingly most have become aware of this since seeing the infamous photograph released at the weekend. This has proved a costly mistake for not only the Conservative Party, but for those who defected from Labour who have been left in the political wilderness.

At the start of the campaign the defection of Labour councillors to the Conservatives put the Liberal Democrats on the back foot and the revelations about Tony Lit’s donation to Labour came too late for sufficient votes to switch to the Liberal Democrats to reduce or overturn the Labour majority. It would have been much more interesting between Labour and the Liberal Democrats if the run up to the by election had been more than the 3 weeks. The outcome may well have been different with Labour and the Conservatives still recovering from shooting themselves in the foot with their selections and showing contempt for the electorate of Ealing Southall.

What about the three independent turbaned Sikhs on the ballot paper? Kuldeep Singh Grewal and Dr Gulbash Singh withdrew after a few days and urged their supporters to vote Labour and Conservative respectively. Despite their withdrawal and a total absence of any campaigning – posters, leaflets, adverts, speeches, media interviews, web sites etc. they still received 87 and 92 votes respectively.

The third turbaned Sikh, Dr Jasdev Singh Rai, claimed from the outset he was in it to win, given around 25% of the constituents were Sikhs and his wider appeal to other communities. He unrealistically maintained this line along with those supporting him, right up until the result was announced in the early hours of this morning. Questions need to be asked why Dr Rai therefore only received 275 votes despite his extensive campaign under the slogan ‘No Party, Just People’.

The Ealing Southall by election has been one of the most controversial ever – divisive selections, defections, dirty politics, police investigation etc. No wonder the turnout was low and ordinary people want less and less to do with party politics. Hopefully, many have had their fingers burnt and learnt a few lessons.

Gurjeet Singh
National Press Secretary
Sikh Federation (UK)

ha ha!

Jai we could make a lot of money selling those t-shirts to moderate whites, as there’s a lot of them about.

You’re right buddy, but I still think they need to be more vocal in dissociating themselves from the racists in their midst. Where are the protest marches, the appearances on Newsnight, the forceful declarations of “Not in my name” ? Eh ? Eh ?

I mean, apparently there are over 60 million white people in the UK. We’re absolutely surrounded by them. Even if only 10% tacitly support the BNP — and unless they explicitly come out and state the opposite, we have to assume that their silence means they “understand” if not overtly condone the fanaticism — that means a staggering 6 million white Brits approve of the actions of Bin Davidson, er I mean Jim Davidson and the “martyr” Bernard Manning (now allegedly cavorting for all eternity with 72 Essex girls). It’s an absolutly horrifying thought. Who knows what cesspools of extremism are festering away behind closed doors in curtain-twitching suburban white ghettoes like Kensington, Harrow and Chigwell ?

I think our T-shirt proposal could definitely help reduce communal tensions; more examples are (slightly surreal) “Don’t flee like Noah, I’ve been to Goa”, and “No need to frown, I’m down with the brown”.

We should probably have versions specifically geared for the ladies too — after all, there are female supporters of the BNP as well, and who knows what kind of explosive devices they could conceal beneath their mini-skirts and low-slung skinny-fit jeans. I’d originally thought of “Don’t hide in the loo, I fancy Apu”, but decided against it as it sounds a bit dodgy when you say it out loud, innit.

************************

Another way forward for moderate white folk to reassure the rest of us peace-loving Asians who just want to get on with our lives without having to deal with psychotically hateful extremists would be, for example, for them to conspicuously carry copies of “The Lonely Planet Guide to India” on the tube whilst sipping from large bottles of Cobra beer.

“UK you will pay, Jim Davidson on his way.”

“Don’t worry, I love curry”

Us moderate whites are going to have to watch our step. If we are not careful, we could soon be barred from all the newsagents and doctors’ surgeries in the UK. On behalf of my people, I condemn extremism.

Zindabad! Home Counties!

Something on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYiUtO_jSjM

Jasdev Rai, 275 votes! brilliant.

Time you fully exposed this Dr Rai.

Last month we saw Ramesh K of the Hindu Forum exposed by the Evening Standard.

On his web site Rai claims:

- Founder & Director of Sikh Human Rights Group (set up by ISYF)

- General Secretary of the British Sikh Consultative Forum (see details below from a Google search, although BSCF details now removed from his web site – quite a collection of ex-ISYF and ex-Babbar Khalsa people)

- Member of the Faith Communities Consultative Council (DCLG) – He should get sacked from this if the Labour Govt has any sense

International Affairs advisor Jathedar Sri Akal Takht Sahib – What a joke!

http://www.southallpride.com/pages/whoisrai.html

AND he still only got 275 votes !

BSCF

[phone numbers edited out]

David Boothroyd was being obtuse and hyper-defensively silly because I’d asked, half jokingly, where are the moderate whites in light of the BNP getting 10% of the votes in Sedgfield. In reality we know that the BNP are blood enemies of Sikhs and they got chased out of Southall 20 years ago with fire and kirpans. That’s all anyone needs to know about that subject. End of story.