Date: 25th July 2013
OPEN LETTER TO Rt Hons Ed Miliband MP
I write to you in the form of an open letter to seek your responses to a number of issues and questions that I feel are of great interest to the Indian community in the UK. I should be grateful if you can address the following:
a. Can you confirm that it was the Labour Government that imposed a visa ban on Chief Minister Narendrabhai Modi of Gujarat, India?
b. Can you confirm the date on which this decision was taken and the people involved in that decision making? In addition can you confirm if the then Labour Government was lobbied by anyone or any entity in the UK or external to affect such a decision? If so, who?
c. Can you confirm the exact reasons for imposing such a ban on an officially and democratically elected politician who has never been found guilty of any wrong doing by any court?
d. Can you confirm if the Labour Government had introduced any type of ban on investments into the State of Gujarat either via the Government departments and/or corporate entities?
e. Can you confirm how many British led projects were established in the State of Gujarat during the tenure of the Labour Government? Please include the total sums involved.
f. Can you confirm if the Labour Party (or any of its MPs) are in any way, directly or indirectly, linked (or formal/informal relationship) with the Indian National Congress Party of India?
g. Can you confirm if the Labour Party (or any of its MPs) are in any way, directly or indirectly, are linked (or formal/informal relationship) with the Bharatiya Janata Party of India?
h. Can you confirm what is the position of the Labour Party with respect to the lifting of the UK visa ban on CM Narendrabhai Modi?
I look forward to your detailed response in a timely fashion. I am sure you will appreciate that it is important that we have total clarity on the questions I have raised since failure to respond adequately will no doubt create doubts in the minds of voters about where you stand, your integrity and your respect for the Indian community.
The above open letter has been sent to The Hons Ed Miliband MP. It is important that we as a community have truthful responses to matters that affect us all. There is huge interest in India with regard to the elections in 2014 and how the two leading contenders, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest. It will prove to be an exciting election with Rahul Gandhi (INC) on one side and Narendrabhai Modi (BJP) on the other.
In my previous Kapil’s Khichadi I had pointed out that the Conservative Party had lifted the visa ban on Narendrabhai Modi (which was imposed by the Labour Government). However, even whilst I write this column news in coming in from India that some 65 Indian MPs may well have written to Barak Obama seeking to maintain a ban on travel to the US for Narendrabhai Modi. Should this be true then for India, and the Indian Lok and Raj Sabha, it will go down in history as one of its darkest days. Indian MPs writing in such a fashion is tantamount to showing treachery to the Indian constitution itself. One wonders how on earth any elected politician can write to a foreign entity to seek a ban on another duly elected Indian politician?
For the Indian community in the UK it is important to know who your friends are and the basis of that friendship. Our community has for far too long given support to one political party without ever questioning what we as a community are getting back in return for that loyalty. The Alliance of Hindu Organisations (AHO) and the National Council of Hindu Temples (http://www.nchtuk.org/) have shown us that the Labour Party undermined the Hindu community in Parliament. I have to commend the National Congress of Gujarati Organisations (NCGO) for having the guts to write to Ed Miliband and telling him what they thought of him. It’s a pity that so many of our so called leaders from other national organisations cannot exhibit the same level of courage to protect their dharma.
Are we as a community sufficiently intelligent to determine our own destiny? Or are we so enslaved by historical bondage that we fail to see the wood for the trees? You decide, it’s your vote, it’s your Dharma and it’s the very future of your next generations that is at stake.
Over the past few months I have witnessed some leading lights from our community who have found it easier to shoot the messenger than to take on board the message. Others who await to be given their honours and peerages for services rendered to their political masters. Are these people fit to represent our Dharma? You decide it’s your karma now.
Kapil's Khichadi 