Possibility of Next UK Prime Minister from Indian Subcontinent Background
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Is the majority community ready to accept an Asian PM?
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Questions of national standing, maturity and independence of character to be able to stand for the rights of minority communities
Theoretically, today, we live in multi-cultural Britain united by British values based on democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. Legally, discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability is against the law. Yet, those of us who have lived in the UK for decades, know that the British establishment and the powers that be, do manage and steer democratic processes behinds the scenes to ensure the predominance of the traditional institutions and relics of colonial past linked to the monarchy with Christianity as the state religion. The media and the public servants continue to show colonial attitudes towards minorities communities. It will take a long time for the British establishment to shed its colonial past.
Over the decades, minority communities like the British Sikhs have faced and continue to face, institutional racism. They are continually made aware of this by the British establishment including the media, public servants and even the judiciary. The success of the Mandla case needed a nationwide Sikh effort right up to the House of Lords and the Sikhs are still not recognised as an ethnic community in the census count. A judge from minority background ruled against that. Due to the powerful background influences, it seems that the law can be interpreted as more equal for some than others! That is the background as we look at the possibility of the next prime UK Minister from Indian or Pakistani background.
Many Tory MPs would like to be seen to be whiter than white and stick to British values mentioned above and vote for candidates on the basis of merit only and select an Asian PM. Yet, as mentioned above, in the background are very influential establishment groups who would at least try covertly to protect what they see as Britishness associated with the majority community. Doubts remain if the British majority community is ready to have an Asian background PM.
We can also look at another aspect from the minorities viewpoint if an Asian background PM is selected. Sometimes, unintended puns can be misread as having racial connotation. For example, that politics is a murky grey area and not a black and white game. Or, would an Asian PM prove to be whiter than white when dealing with minorities? How would a PM from a minority community background, deal with minority issues?
Can the behaviour of, for example, the Indian background Home Secretary give us a clue? For example, during the times of Guru Nanak Sahib, the Hindu Khatris, who were ministers in the Mughal courts became acceptable by adopting the Islamic/Mughal life style, clothes, food and language etc (e.g. ਨੀਲ ਵਸਤ੍ਰ ਪਹਿਰਿ ਹੋਵਹਿ ਪਰਵਾਣੁ॥&hellip) They excelled at carrying out the Mughal state policy and objectives even better than the Mughals themselves! We find such toady behaviour amongst some from minority communities who have risen to senior positions by ignoring, or even working against, the interests of own communities. These are the sort of doubts which are also raised by the possibility of an Asian background next Prime Minister of Britain.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd.