In his poems and articles, Badri Raina often reflects upon the social and political conditions in his native land, India. He knows how Hinduva’s fascist nationalists have hijacked the secular direction of the Indian polity which accorded full recognition to ethnoreligious diversity of the state after the end of the British colonial rule in 1947.
Many left-wing people also became convinced that India’s constitution will protect the minorities of India under an independent judiciary. But such hopes were shattered when the Hindutva emerged as a dominating force that had broad support in the Hindu population.
Badri Raina’s new poem is a reflection of his long-held views and struggles. However, the ideas he advances in this poem are also applicable to many countries where morbid rightists use the cover of religion and populist demagoguery to further their sectarian objectives.
Keir Starmer is playing political games to gain electoral support from the large British Indian community to further his political career. To this end, he has chosen to side with the ultra-rightist Hindutva regime of PM Modi.
On 5 August 2019, Modi set aside the constitutional guarantees of the semi-autonomous status to the State of Jammu & Kashmir which the Indian rulers had given to this state after the Partition of India in 1947. When Modi’s PJP won a large electoral majority in the Indian national elections in May last year, he set in motion a total blockade of Jammu & Kashmir to impose direct Indian rule there. That was in flagrant violations of the eh UN resolutions and also the guarantees that Indian rulers had given to Kashmiris in 1947.
However, the people of Kashmir never compromised their demands and their national right to self-determination. Their movement for freedom from the Indian rule became an open revolt in 1989. Since then, Inda has done all to crush by its military power the freedom movement of the people of Kashmir, who are mostly Muslims. Indian army has killed over one hundred thousand Kashmiris.
At a time, when the colonised people of Kashmir need the support and solidarity of all freedom-loving people, trade unions and labour organizations, the direction taken by Keir Starmer is the opposite of what a Labour leader should have done. The steps taken by the British Muslims are fair and must be a reminder to this Labour leader that his policy to appease the Hindu voters is downright opportunistic and degrading. He is pushing the Labour Party in a direction that will make it look like an extended arm of Isareli Zionists and Hindutva fascists.
Ordinary working-class people have been the backbone of the Labour Party. We who have stood by the Labour Party, as I have done for over half-a-century, are deeply anguished to see Keir Starmer turning a blind eye to what the ordinary members of the Labour Party have stood for. It is high time that such people raise their voice collectively and also stand with people who oppose Starmer’s political overtures to the brutal oppressors of Kashmir and also Palestine.
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Over 100 mosques threaten to boycott Labour over Kashmir
Over 100 British mosques and Islamic centres have signed a letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer saying they would support a call for Muslims to abstain from voting for Labour unless it supports Kashmir’s right to self-determination.
The letter came after Starmer described the Kashmir dispute as a “bilateral issue” between India and Pakistan after a meeting with an Indian lobby group at the end of last month.
Starmer’s comments caused outrage among Muslims and eventually led to several Labour Muslim MPs reiterating their support for Kashmiri rights.
The Labour leader has since said that the party’s position on Kashmir has not changed and that it recognises previous UN resolutions on the rights of the Kashmiri people.
Here is the letter from the mosques in full:
We, the undersigned members of the Muslim community living in the UK (many of whom have families in South Asia), are writing to express our utter shock at the contents of your letter in which you clearly express unflinching support for the Indian Government’s position on Kashmir.
This, at a time when the very same Indian Government is engaging in anti-Muslim rhetoric and failing to protect the Indian Muslim community from populist violence, and enacting laws that will potentially render 40 million Muslim citizens in India stateless, which as you well know contravenes international law.
Muslim coronavirus patients are being turned away from hospitals. Kashmir itself has been in lockdown for more than eight months now. India, under the premiership of Narendra Modi, is stepping away from being one of the world’s largest democracies and hurtling instead towards becoming a fascist-led authoritarian state where minorities, Muslims and others, no longer feel safe or protected. It is the members of this very same hate-fuelled ideology who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
We wish to remind you that Kashmir is not a bilateral issue, evidenced by the 11 UN Security Council Resolutions which declare Kashmir a disputed territory and that the people of Kashmir have the right to self-determination, something which was enshrined in India’s constitution under Article 370. The meeting at the Security Council last year on 16th August 2019 is further evidence that this is not just a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
It is one of the world’s oldest unresolved territorial conflicts that has the potential to lead India and Pakistan into a devastating nuclear war which would have global repercussions. You have not only completely disregarded the international element of the conflict but have also pointedly ignored the Labour Party’s own resolution, voted in at the 2019 conference, which states:
“[We] accept that Kashmir is a disputed territory and the people of Kashmir should be given the right to self-determination in accordance with UN resolutions. The Labour Party to stand with the Kashmiri people fighting against occupation, this is vital as we stand for social justice and ethical foreign policy.”
It would seem to us that holding foreign governments to account over their discriminatory policies and human rights abuses does not seem to be a foreign policy goal under your leadership. As a former barrister, you will clearly be aware of the seriousness of India’s violation of UN resolutions. In addition, you, as the new leader of the Labour Party ought to shoulder greater responsibility on this issue given that the partition which led to this conflict was overseen by a Labour government at the time.
Indian occupation forces in Kashmir
It seems to us that there is an ingrained view that the British Muslim vote has and always will be a secure one for the Labour Party, to be taken for granted with little consideration of the issues and concerns which matter to us as British Muslim communities. In view of the concerns raised above, we strongly urge you to reconsider the party’s position.
We hereby state in no uncertain terms that should you fail to modify your position on the issue of Kashmir and by extension, the plight and oppression of the large Indian Muslim minority within India, then we will consider the Labour Party to have simply taken advantage of the Muslim community.
We will, therefore, have no option but to support a call for the Muslim community to abstain from voting for Labour at all upcoming elections. We hope that this will not be necessary and that the Labour Party will continue to stand against human rights abuses wherever they may be. We urge you not to underestimate the strength of our feeling on this issue.
Yours sincerely,
Federation of Redbridge Muslim Organisations (FORMO) – 17 organisations Hazrat Sultan Bahu Trust – 22 centres Indian Muslim Federation UK Muslim Association of Kent – 20 organisations South East London & Kent Council of Mosques (SELKOM) – 7 organisations Waltham Forest Council of Mosques (WFCOM) – 9 organisations Al-Hira Masjid Newham Academy of Inspiration Al Ansar Masjid Al-Emaan Centre (Keston Mosque) Al Madina Mosque Barking Al Noor Foundation Anjuman-e-Islamia Newham Apex Trust Association of Muslim Lawyers Attiq Malik on behalf of Liberty Law Barking Muslim Social and Cultural Society Brent Central Mosque BWA Muslim Cultural Centre (New Cross Mosque) Chingford Islamic Society Gardens of Peace Muslim Cemetery Faizan-e-Islam Finsbury Park Mosque Ghosia Masjid WFIA (Lea Bridge Road Mosque) Great Barr Muslim Foundation Birmingham Harrow Central Mosque Hounslow Jamia Masjid IG-Soc (“Connecting Muslims in Redbridge”) Ilford Islamic Centre (Albert Road) Ilford Muslim Society (Balfour Road) International Business and Professional Corporation, Redbridge Jamia Masjid and Islamic Centre (JMIC) Stoke Poges Lane Masjid Kent Muslim Welfare Association (Gillingham Mosque) Lewisham Islamic Centre Leyton Jamia Masjid MCT Leytonstone Masjid Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Shia-Europe Masjid Abu Bakr Masjid Al Humera Newham Masjid-e-Owais-e-Qarni (Belgrave Road) Masjid-e-Quba Newham Masjid-e-Tauheed Manor Park Masjid-e-Umer Masjid Falah Masjid Tawhid Muslimah Sports Association Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC) Neasden Mosque & Islamic Centre Newbury Park Mosque Newham Community Project Newham North Islamic Association Noor-ul-Islam North West Kent Muslim Association (Crayford Mosque) Pakistan Welfare Association (PWA) Slough Qur’ani Murkuz Trust (South Woodford Mosque) Redbridge Islamic Centre (Redbridge and Gants Hill) Redbridge Talks Seven Kings Muslim Educational Trust Shirley Muslim Association Sri Lankan Diaspora UK Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK, London The Mosque & Islamic Centre of Brent Ujala Foundation Slough UKIM Masjid Ibrahim and Islamic Centre Newham
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