In the days running up to the relaunch of the Labour Convention of Indian Organisations, this Labour organisation (which counts the Labour MP for Leicester South among their political patrons)[1] decided to release a “statement regarding the recent violence in Leicester” (September 20):
The statement contained an unusual take on the events that have progressed in Leicester, and after tweeting their statement the Labour Convention of Indian Organisations followed it by retweeting a related article that was published by the right-wing Indian media outlet iGlobal News – an outlet which is run by leading Modi booster, Manoj Ladwa. (For more on Ladwa’s background see “The RSS and the spread of Hindutva hate in Leicester.”)
Rather unsurprising the iGlobal News article in question was titled “Labour Party group debunks Indian political hand in Leicester violence” (September 22) and it promoted the misleading idea that “extremists” – but most certainly not RSS or HSS-linked Hindutva extremists – were the ones responsible for Leicester’s violence.
[1] The Steering Group of the Labour Convention of Indian Organisations is chaired by Navendu Mishra MP, with other five of members being Neena Gill CBE, Gurinder Singh Josan CBE, Krish Raval, Dr Nikita Ved MBE, and Dr Lucy Hawxwell. Listed patrons are: Virendra Sharma MP, Jonathan Reynolds MP, Jon Cruddas MP, Cllr Vimal Choksi MBE, Seema Malhotra MP, Jonathan Ashworth MP, Gareth Thomas MP, Barry Gardiner MP, Cllr Satvir Kaur, Rehana Ameer, Cllr Ravi Venkatesh, and Krupesh Hirani AM.
Thoughts of a Leicester Socialist 