Emigration is a worldwide trend. According to the latest reports published by the United Nations, around 244 million people, i.e., 3.3% of the total population of world has emigrated to some other countries. The strength of Diaspora has been increasing more rapidly than the population itself. If migrants were a nation then they would have collectively formed fifth largest state in the world.
Indian Diaspora is the largest Diaspora in the world. Total number of Indians living abroad would be nearly equal to twice the population of Greece or the population of Greece and Hungary taken together. It is the beauty of India that ambassadors of its culture, traditions and heritages are present in every nook and corner of the world in forms of its Diasporas. Though the strength of Indian Diaspora varies between over two million in the UK and the US to less than few hundred in countries like South Sudan but the cumulative strength of 20 million overwhelming Indian Diasporas spread all across the globe gives unique identity and glorious entity to India and its cultures. Along with keeping profound linkages with India intact over the years they are shaping their own and their host country’s fortunes in more than one ways. In one of the many reports published by the Operation Black Vote (OBV) groups, it has been found that the Indian-origin people are more enthusiastic towards sustaining democratic ethos in any of the countries that they live in. They are more participative and deliberative in propagating the multicultural values of immigrating countries. This paper restricts itself to the role played by them in shaping the political contours of the United Kingdom.
Dynamics of Political Participation Before Independence:
The first generation of migrants which moved to Britain consisted of the poor of the poorest lascars, ayahs and Indian servants. Indian seamen and sailors were called as lascars. They were trained sailors who could brave the adversaries of endless seas and sail the ships out of all difficult ordeals. When East India Company firmed its root in India and the trade relations between India and England achieved considerable advancement, it started hiring Indian seamen on their ships in large numbers. Since Indian lascars were many times cheaper than European seamen, so, hiring them onboard British ships was a common practice. Lascars were though assured of their return passages to India but on most of the occasions they were deserted once they reached British coasts.
There were many reasons behind abandoning these lascars even after assuring them of return passages. One of the prominent reasons was that there were not as many ships coming back to India as there were to England. Since the balance of trade was heavily inclined in the favour of British, so, naturally, Indian exports to the UK were far greater than British exports to India. Hence, goods laden ships that travelled from India to England seldom came back empty accommodating India bound lascars. Secondly, neither the EIC nor the owners of ships nor the directors took responsibilities of return passages. They would always keep on shifting responsibilities from their own shoulders to the others, thus leaving lascars as the ultimate sufferers of the filthy blame game. However, for the present generation Indo-British citizen, it might be blessing in disguise, as, these hapless lascars were the first group of immigrants to gradually settle in the United Kingdom.
One very significant development after the First World War was the arrival of Indian students in England in good numbers. It was significant because, most of the students who travelled to Britain were from wealthy families and their arrival helped change the perception of local British about the Indians. Before their arrival they saw Indians mostly in forms of lascars and ayahs who were destitute, naked, skinny and such other forms that were demeaning of the human existence. Indian students on the other hand were from well off families. Most of them were very intelligent and studied mostly in reputed Oxford and Cambridge universities. These students were very supportive to the lascars and ayahs and they helped setup several ayahs home and stranger’s house at various places in England.
Indian students were often subjected to lousy racial abuses. Even when they topped lists in the examinations, they were not offered the kind of stature and respect that they rightfully deserved, added to all the discriminations were the racial hate propagandas run against them. They were often alleged to be mentally perverted and sexually starved who would frequently visit brothels. They were also alleged to be mindless extravagant who threw monies to enjoy the dazzling life of London. However, the findings of the committee appointed by Lord Curzon rubbished all these allegations put on Indian students studying in England. The findings reported them to be studious, goal oriented and modest. Indian students in England were deeply affected by the developments taking place all across the globe and they connected themselves profoundly with the Indian Freedom struggle.
India House established by Shyamaji KrishnaVarma served as a natural habitat for revolutionary youths and students coming to England for higher education and other purposes. In subsequent years it developed as a meeting place of all radical youths deeply engaged with the Indian Freedom movement. India House became so popular that British officials treated it as a breeding place for indoctrinating youths with the seditious viruses. Shyamaji KrishnaVarma himself offered scholarships for bright students who could not afford fare to England and the fees of the Universities in England. Coming on one such scholarship was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who later became principal ideologue of India house. Youths and students associated with India house observed global events very carefully and highlighted the tyrannical character of British rule in India. They used to write articles in newspapers, give lectures and read papers that countered British claims of racial superiority and noble aims behind ruling India in despotic manner. Anand Mohan Bose, a student of Cambridge was such an eloquent speaker that even the British praised his wisdom and eloquence. He founded London based India House in 1872 that aimed at inculcating nationalist fervors among Indian students living in London. Madanlal Dhingra, a staunch follower of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and short term resident of India House murdered Lord Curzon Wyllie in 1909 in London.
Though with the arrival of students in large numbers, political activities of Indians in the United Kingdom caught serious momentum but the actual bed of political activities in Britain was prepared by DadaBhai Naoroji, an Indian Parsi by origin, who contested 1892 parliamentary elections from Central Finsbury seat and became the first Asian to lodge his presence as elected member to the prestigious House of Commons. Strong hate propagandas were run against him by the Conservatives. They tried to project him as an alien to the British land who couldn’t think good for the British subjects. They even targeted his Parsi race and alleged him to be unfaithful to the Indians also. However, Dadabhai won Central Finsbury seat despite all these hate propagandas and during his tenure in the House of Commons he left no opportunity to highlight the Un-British character of British rule in India. He vociferously raised Indian concerns in the House of Commons. DadaBhai Naoroji was very popular among the Indians back in India and he was received very enthusiastically when he reached India after lodging his victory in the parliamentary elections.
Mancherji Bhownaggree, another Indian Parsi, was the second person to make his way to the British Parliament. However, his election to the British parliament was not hailed very enthusiastically by the Indians back home. Bhownaggree seriously believed that British rule was best suited for contemporary Indian society which was not at all ready for any social or political reforms. Because of his undying admiration for the Tories, Bhownaggree was never received enthusiastically in India.
Shapurji Saklatvala, third Indian, to make inroads into British Parliament was from a very wealthy family. He was the son of J.N. Tata’s sister but he chose to serve the path of humanity and spreading the ideals of socialism across the world became his sole motto. He felt the pains and destitution of poor tribes and laborers in Bihar-Orissa region during his exploration of coal mines and vowed to fight for them throughout his life. He was sent to England to receive higher education but his dedication towards the uplift of poor and lascars led to his adoption as a labour candidate. He was twice elected to the British parliament on the labour ticket. He was the last Indian to be elected to the British parliament before Indian Independence.
Apart from contesting parliamentary elections, Indians were also active in other political activities in the United Kingdom. Though Lal Mohan Ghose was the first Indian to contest parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom but he lost his seat, however, even after his defeat he continued to carry out the political and social campaigns against prevalent anomalies of the British society. Women leaders like Madame Bhikaji Cama never contested parliamentary elections but she was very active among the socialist circles in both France and the United Kingdom. Her participation in the International Socialist Congress held at Stuttgart in 1907 was historical. She forcefully demanded the withdrawal of British rule from India and maintained that India could not be subjected to any despotic tyrannical rule. After her powerful address to the delegates, she unfolded before the audience of tightly packed auditorium the Tricolour Indian National flag. Similarly, Sophia Duleep Singh, one of the woman leaders in England strongly pursued women issues in England. It could be however treated as an irony that when Indian women in India were bounded by all social stigmas and orthodox patriarchal values, women of Indian origin in the United Kingdom were fighting for universal suffrage rights. An Indian all women contingent participated in the Women’s coronation procession held in 1911 demanding suffragette in Britain. There were several others who donated generously for the strangers’ Asiatic houses and lascar shelters, though they were not very actively involved in mainstream politics but they always stood for the cause of Indian Freedom struggle and provided back end support to the freedom fighters.
Nature and Extent of Participation of Indian Diaspora in the Politics of the UK
Former parliamentarians and political activists helped build the tempo of Indian Freedom Struggle in the UK and endowed a sound political base to later day Indian politicians. The legacies of former parliamentarians have been equally propounded and carried forward by the later day parliamentarians. According to several reports on electoral participation, people of Asian origin have been found to be the most active respondents to the political issues. Even the voluntary organizations like Operation Black Vote (OBV) recognizes the fact that people of Indian origin are very enthusiastic towards preserving the democratic ethos and multicultural values of the United Kingdom. They are the most sincere voters among all Black and minority ethnic immigrants. They take their voting responsibilities very religiously and queue up at the polling booths since the start of the day. As a result of this enthusiastic participation, their grievances are also taken very seriously than any other black and minority ethnic voters.
The reasons behind enthusiastic participation of the Indian Diasporas in the politics of the United Kingdom are reportedly manifold. Indian Diasporas are relatively well off than any other Diaspora in the United Kingdom. Over the years they have become as proficient in English as any native white British, so, they have assimilated and integrated with the British societies more than any other minority groups. Secondly, Indian Diasporas are more particular about racial discriminations than the immigration issues, however, other South Asian Diasporas including the Pakistani Diasporas are more worried about pushing their orthodox Muslim identities. Since, they face more stringent immigration restrictions, so, they feel less integrated with the British values. Similar is the case with African and Caribbean Diasporas. They are weak in English and are least ready to adopt English customs. So, they do not feel motivated to participate in the entire electoral process, hence observe polling days mostly as a holidays.
Last two three parliamentary elections were greatly shaped by the migrant voters. A convention has developed in the UK that the party obtaining the votes of migrant voters would form government in the United Kingdom. As a result of this growing trend, all major parties in the UK went all out to appease migrant voters, especially the Indian voters whose numbers are highest in the United Kingdom. The total number of Indian voters was estimated at whooping 615,000 before the 2015 parliamentary elections. According to Ipsos Mori, more than 95% Indians cast their votes in the parliamentary elections. 77% of the total Indian voters voted for the Labour party in 1997 election and the rest to Liberal democrats and the Conservatives taken together. In 2010 parliamentary elections the Conservatives got only 16% of the ethnic minority votes. However, in 2015 parliamentary elections over 45% of the Indian voters voted for the Conservative party. There have been gradual plunge in the support base of Indian voters for the labour party.
There have been three fourth plunge (14%) in the percentage of Indian voters identifying themselves with the labour party in 2014 as compared to 1997 elections when 77% Indian voters identified themselves with the Labours. Similar is the case with other minority voters like those of Pakistani, Caribbean and African, their supports for the Labours have also fallen.
Over the years, the support of Indians has gradually shifted from the Labours to the Conservatives. The reason behind this shift are varied, including increased literacy level among the second and third generation Indian voters, increased affluence among them, shift from manufacturing to the service sectors, dropping of racial and anti immigration instances by the Conservative party and unfulfilled poll promises made by the Labour leaders.
As manufacturing shrunk under Thatcher’s government, the ambitious children of early Indian immigrants started diverting towards table jobs. They joined private and public offices, acquired clerical positions and opened small businesses of their own. They reaped fortunes out of these avenues and the subsequent generations started working as prestigious professionals such as engineers, doctors, accountants, chefs and so on. Opening new businesses required quick clearances, pro business regulations and laws, which was not possible under the labour government. New generation children thus equipped with modern education, British political values started voting differently from their parent’s voting patterns.
Effects of participation upon internal constitution of British Political Parties:
The overwhelming participation of the Indian Diasporas in the whole electoral process of the United Kingdom has undoubtedly affected the constitutions and manifestos of the political parties. Recognizing the indispensable presence of Indian Diasporas in the United Kingdom and the important role played by them in making the government, all the political parties have started giving due address to their grievances. Even the far right parties like British National Party (BNP) amended its party constitution to accommodate the first Sikh member to its party’s formal membership before the 2015 general elections. Most of these parties have gone soft on anti-immigration instances. The most know anti-immigration party like the United Kingdom Independence party (UKIP) also fielded 21 candidates of the British-Asian origin. The Conservatives who were once the most racist parties are now counted as the party with centrist approach, as they have gone all the way to appease Indian voters and candidates. Priti Patel, a conservative MP of the Indian origin has been given a ministerial berth after her success in the 2015 parliamentary elections, she is likely to be elevated to the post of a senior minister in the new government of Theresa May. The adoption processes of the candidates for a constituency have also been largely changed for a more equitable and skill based criteria instead of earlier racist and native approaches.
The government of the United Kingdom has shown growing sympathies for the grievances and concerns of Indian Diasporas. The attitude of the government has been that of engagement and accommodation. The last and the present Tories government seems to have recognized the valuable presence of Indian Diasporas in the political and social fabric of the United Kingdom and to accord justifiable stature to it, the government organized official functions at the government level. Former PM David Cameron, invited Indian PM Narendra Modi on the official visit to the United Kingdom and escorted him to the formal address to the large gathering of Indian Diasporas at the Wembley Stadium. Queen Elizabeth II also went ahead of her formal protocols to greet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Queen’s palace. The Conservative government accorded ministerial berth to Priti Patel, who won election on one of the winnable seats of the Conservatives. According to the reports, she is about to be elevated to senior responsibilities in the ministry in the new government of the Conservatives led by a woman PM Theresa May. In the previous Labour government also Keith Vaz served as a senior minister and was the chairman of various important committees.
The Conservative government appointed a committee after the 2015 parliamentary elections, in the Chairmanship of Lord Bhikhu Parekh, who is an eminent Indian origin political theorist. The aim of the committee is to study the growing clout of Indians in the parliamentary elections and observe trends and concerns among the Indian voters. The findings of the committee will be discussed and debated in the House of Lords. Thus, the strategies of the government in accommodating Indian Diasporas in its programmes and functioning are those of intense deliberation and engagement.
2015 General Elections and the Indo-British Candidates
In a marked departure from their previous selection procedure, the conservatives accommodated highest number of ethnic minority candidates in their overall list and their percentage was as high as 11% of the total candidature, in contrast to it, it was for the first time that the Labours had lesser number of ethnic minority candidates as compared to the Tories and their percentage stood at just 9% as compared to 11% of the Tories. Even the liberal democrats fielded more ethnic minority candidates from their party, the overall percentage of ethnic minority candidates in their party was 10%, just one percentage point less than the Conservatives. Even the UKIP and the Greens party fielded BMEs from their parties, their percentage stood at 6% and 4% respectively.
However, the major difference between the adoption of ethnic minority candidates by the major parties like Conservatives and Labour on one side and the so called racist, anti immigration parties like the UKIP and the Greens was that, the former parties endowed safe or winnable seats to their minority candidates but the latter parties did not concede even a single winnable seat to their ethnic minority candidates. Natalie Bennett, the Green leader even accepted it publicly that their percentage of candidates from Black and ethnic minority sections was not very appealing rather disappointing but they were keen to improve on these fronts in the subsequent elections.
Among 11% of the ethnic minority candidates being adopted by the Conservative party, there were 36 from the British- Asian origin. As mentioned earlier, a total of 158 British-Asians presented their candidature from different parties and few contested independently even. Among 158, male candidates were numbered at 111 and female were 47 in number. There were 34 candidates of the British- Asian origin from the Labour party. Liberal Democrats followed them closely and fielded as many as 32 candidates of British-Asian origin, similarly UKIP had 21 and the Greens had 8 candidates from the same origin. Even less discussed parties like the Communities United Party gave tickets to 4 persons from British-Asian origin and Scotland National Party (SNP) also fielded one candidate from the Asian-British origin. Other than these parties there were 17 more candidates who contested on tickets of assorted other parties. 5 British-Asians even dared stand independent against the veterans in the British parliamentary election. The conservative party forged a history by fielding a Sikh candidate, Amandeep Singh Bhogal from Upper Bann constituency of Northern Ireland.
However, the candidature of 158 British- Asians for the 2015 parliamentary elections was a record setter in itself. In the previous general election held on 6th May 2010 there were only 89 Asian candidates even when record high number of candidates stood for the election overall. Among 89 candidates, 30 stood from the Conservatives alone. Similarly, in the 2005 elections, total number of Asian candidates contesting election from different parties was 68, among which 15 made their ways to the British parliament. Until 2005, election of 15 ethnic minority candidates to the British parliament was a record but it was soon demolished in 2010 when 27 MPs from the Black and ethnic minority group were elected to the parliament. In 2010, the percentage of Black and ethnic minority MPs to the total MPs in the House of Commons stood at 4.2%. All the Black and ethnic minority MPs finally elected to the parliament were associated either with the Conservatives or the Labours. There were 16 MPs from the Labour camp and 11 from the Conservatives. However, it was for the first time that BME MPs identifying themselves with the Conservatives touched double digit figures, in the last election their number was just two in the parliament. Priti Patel, was the first female Indo-British MP to lodge win from Withnam seat on the Tories ticket. There were total 19 MPs of Asian origin from among the 27 MPs of Black and ethnic minority group elected to the parliament.
2015 general elections in the United Kingdom were of significance for the Indian Diasporas in the UK because a record number of 10 MPs from Indo-British origin were elected to the British Parliament. It was the highest number ever since the migration of Indians from India to Britain started taking place. As mentioned above, in the last general elections there were 8 MPs from Indian origin to the British Parliament, thus the number rose by 2 in the next election. One very interesting thing noticed from last three elections is that, number of candidates from Indo-British origin has kept on surging with each subsequent election. One possible reason could be more number of Indian-origin candidates in the election. In the 2015 election, there were total 59 candidates having Indian ancestries. The Tories alone fielded 17 candidates from the Indo-British origin. Labours fielded 14 such candidates from various constituencies who had Indo-British origin. Showing a minor increase in the total number of candidates being fielded as compared to the last election, the Liberal Democrats also adopted the candidature of 14 such candidates. Surprisingly, the Green party fielded more candidates of Indo-British origin than the United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP), the numbers stood at 4 and 3 respectively.
Several smaller parties which contested election on limited and selected seats also tried their lucks by fielding candidates of Indo-British ancestries. Smaller parties like Young People’s party, Christian movement for Great Britain party, All people’s party, National Liberal party, Socialist Labour party also fielded one candidate each from the Indo-British origin. Other than these politically affiliated candidates there were two such candidates also who tried their fortunes independently in the 2015 elections. Thus, in all there were 59 candidates who braved electorates in various constituencies of the United Kingdom. It was the first election in which the Conservatives fielded more Indo-British candidates in the parliamentary election than the Labours. Though Amandeep Singh Bhogal could not win from a seat in Northern Ireland because of the seat being a stronghold of DUP, but the nomination of a Sikh candidate from Northern Ireland was itself a historic step. He could however secure only 201 votes and stood last in the fray, but it was a historic election.
Never could one think in the history of Conservative politics in the United Kingdom that the Tories would go all the way to appease Indian origin voters in the United Kingdom by releasing their campaign song in Hindi. It was the same conservative party that had opposed the candidature of DadaBhai Naoroji in 1892 for Central Finsbury seat by spreading propaganda that he was a non-British, non-English speaking fellow who could not do good for the English society and the same party released a 3 min video that canvasses for conservative PM candidate David Cameron in Hindi.
The theme of the song was “Neela hai Aasman”. Neela i.e., blue colour, is the official colour of the Conservative party and the colour of the sky is also blue. The campaign song similar to the campaign song released by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) before the parliamentary elections in 2014, shows David Cameron visiting various religious places in India and the UK. The Tories also created history by fielding a Sikh candidate from a Northern Ireland seat. The conservatives capitalized on building valuable social capital.
Prime Minister David Cameron even interacted with Delhi based Hindi news channels. He would be repeatedly seen saying “Fir ek bar Cameron Sarkar” (Once again Cameron government), which was typically based on the very popular Hindi slogan “Abki bar Modi Sarkar” (This time Modi Government). Cameron tried to imitate the poll tactics of Narendra Modi because of the presence of large number of Gujarati origin people in the United Kingdom who loved Narendra Modi more than anything. Conservative leader Priti Patel even filed a complaint against BBC which was reportedly giving one sided prejudiced commentary on the victory of Narendra Modi in 2014 parliamentary elections. Overseas friends of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is a very active organization in the United Kingdom with a large support base. Even the London Mayoral candidate from the conservative also released campaign song in Hindi for reaching out to the Indian origin voters, the song was prepared by the same group of musicians who wrote Neela hai Aasman campaign song for David Cameron. The song requested the voters to have faith in the Cameron government and vote for him again as he will address all the problems of people.
Just after obtaining landslide victory in the 2015 elections, David Cameron appointed Sajid Javid as the business secretary and Priti Patel as the employment minister of the state. Both of them are of Indian origin and are today responsible for core economic matters. However, in the last government of Cameron there was only one ethnic minority cabinet rank appointee named Sayeeda Warsi. She was given the responsibility of reaching out to the ethnic minority people.
Conclusion
As recent elections have shown that with each subsequent election, number of Indian origin candidates contesting parliamentary elections from different political parties in the United Kingdom have increased many times, not only the candidature has increased rather there has been a gradual increase in the final election of such candidates. This had has a very positive influence on the cabinet composition of various government in the United Kingdom. To accommodate and integrate the aspiration of the vibrant and influential political force, major political parties of the United Kingdom whether the Labour or the Conservatives have given ministerial berths to MPs from Black and minority ethnic groups. Since, democracy is a game of numbers and numbers are heavily being influenced by the increasing population of Indo-British voters, so, it is most likely that in coming years, more representation will be accorded to MPs of Indo-British origins in the cabinet of the British government. The same Conservative party, whose PM Lord Salisbury had once termed the election of Dadabhai Naoroji as an unfortunate incident in the British history, today publicly and proudly proclaims to endow first Indo-British Prime Minister to the United Kingdom. This shows that the political dynamics of the United Kingdom has undergone a major change and Indian Diasporas have carved a special place in the influential political galleries of the United Kingdom. So, it is most likely that we can see increased number of Cabinet rank ministers of Indo-British origin in the cabinet of the United Kingdom in days to come.