OPERATION HINDU VOTE
(24 September 2003)

Huddled together in a cold hall in Harrow, several hundred Hindus were last night (24 September 2003) celebrating the launch of 'Operation Hindu Vote'. Mirrored on the extremely successful campaign 'Operation Black Vote', the initiative is designed to unify and strengthen the political lobbying power of this hitherto passive religious group.

This is the first step in an organised campaign to mobilise the UK Hindu population to demand better representation in government and effectively lobby for fairness in local government issues. Coordinated by the Hindu Forum UK, the campaign, launched on the eve of 'Black History Month', has already gained support from all major political parties. Several key politicians including Tony McNulty, MP for Harrow East and Labour Transport Minister, Stanmore-resident Keith Vaz MP, Councillor Paul Lorber, Leader of Liberal Democrats in Brent Council and several councillors from key Hindu Boroughs were in attendance.

Ramesh Kallidai, General Secretary - Hindu Centre for Communications (HINCOM) and PRO - Hindu Council of Brent, outlined the plans for 'Operation Hindu Vote'. These include:

1. Identifying and publicising key constituencies where Hindus form a high proportion of the population. Several areas like Harrow which has a 60% Hindu population, Brent, Leicester, Redbridge and Hounslow are already well known as having a high Hindu population.
2. Identifying Hindu friendly politicians and effectively ranking them on a number of criteria based on their speeches, actions and policy-making decisions.
3. Publicising the contribution made by existing Councillors and MP's in furthering the cause of the Hindu population.
4. Providing a range of lobbying tools such as organising press campaigns, allowing access to a volunteers database, connecting various independent Hindu groups and helping would-be politicians gain seats in appropriate wards.

"The Labour Government has given us a great opportunity to increase participation in the political process by allowing postal voting. Traditionally Hindus have refused to go out and vote with typically less than 17% voting in elections," said Ramesh Kallidai. "Many lives were lost to give us the right to vote and we want to ensure the Operation Hindu Vote builds our political strength and encourages more people to actively get involved in politics".

Anjana Patel, a Councillor of Harrow West highlighted the need for more Asian women to become involved "frankly I feel women would be good at being Councillors. We are already used to running our home and juggling many responsibilities. These are the same skills you need to have as a Councillor". She agreed, however that the long working hours at Westminster may be a deterent for many young Asian women who are thinking of becoming MP's.

Kanti Nagda of the Sangat Centre in Harrow outlined the history of Hindus in UK Politics with the election of the first Hindu MP being noted in 1892! The past fifty years however have seen Hindus make great strides in all other fields except politics. He outlined how areas like Harrow have seen their Hindu population increase from only 42 in 1960 to over 55,000 in 2003 without a commensurate increase in political representation in the same period. "I am glad that the Hindu Forum is actively politicising the Hindu Community," he said " it is only by doing so that we will have fair representation".

Kapil Dudakia - President, Milton Keynes Hindu Association gave a rousing speech saying that Hindus should "no longer take No for an answer". He explained how, despite his group's best efforts, they have still not attained permission to build a much-needed Hindu Community Centre in Milton Keynes.

"If you are going to make a great curry, you need good ingredients" he said " and I feel we have those ingredients in our Hindu community. We must allow our young people to come forward and be counted. We have the moral backbone and I urge young Hindus to help govern with morality, integrity and honesty".

Amrish Patel - Director, Hindu Forum UK, gave a thorough presentation on issues about planning permission for buildings and how the process works within local government. Actively involved in helping groups like The Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden and other Hindu community groups, he detailed how existing legislation is hindering the process of fair representation. ."Many organisation are failing access funding because they are falling down on land issues and in preparing technically robust applications," he explained.

His presentation showed that Hindus currently have no Government-funded faith schools in the UK and how land legislation is preventing Green Belt and Metropolitan open land being used for establishing Hindu crematoria, despite the fact that a large number of newly built crematoria are on Green Belt or MOL sites. "Legislation can only go so far, we can challenge unfair practices using the Race Relations Act, but the real power lies in the hands of the politicians so we need to ensure we have fair representation on local council committees and in government. We need a balanced perspective on planning issues".

Tony McNulty MP - Harrow East. Minister for Transport gave the closing speech applauding the initiative but highlighting the need for Hindus to work within the existing political framework by joining the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat parties. He also emphasised the need for candidates to work through the ranks and build relationships within the local party to ensure that they are selected at election time.

Top