THE Asian vote bank in Britain is an oldconstituency that the Conservative Party is just beginning to discover. TheTories are going for the Asian vote for the summer election like never before.And Labour is waking up to make some moves in a constituency it has taken forgranted all these years.
The Asian vote could be criticalif the race is close. Opinion polls give Labour a strong advantage in votepercentage. But the first-past-the-post election system of Britain, the kindthat India follows, means that percentage of votes is not necessarily areflection in the number of seats. So both parties are looking more closely atsubcontinental voters.
In 40 of the 650 parliamentary seats in Britain,the number of Asians is larger than the majority held by the sitting MP. By onearithmetical count they could change the MP if others vote similarly and theyvote differently. That is unlikely but that vote can make a winning differencein several constituencies.
Over the last two elections theIndian vote has begun to swing away from Labour, shadowing a swing in lifestyle.Large numbers of Indians, who arrived in Britain in the '50s and '60s asfactory workers, have now become home owners, entrepreneurs and, significantly,more prosperous. The Conservatives have begun to tell them that their belief infamily values, law and order, and enterprise makes them the 'natural party'for Asians.
The Tories are now busily goingfor their vote. John Major's visit to the subcontinent in January wasportrayed by the British media as the beginning of an election campaign forSouth Asian votes. He returned to address a meeting of South Asians in London.On March 11 he launched celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of theindependence of India and Pakistan with dinner for South Asian guests at thefamous banquet hall in Whitehall. Two days earlier he visited the Swaminarayantemple in Neasden—also part of the woo-Indian campaign. Indians have seen agood deal of Major this year.
On the Labour side, Blair visitedthe Central Mosque in London recently, though the reception was at times hotrather than warm. Angry Muslim youths hurled questions, some of which Blairdeclined to answer. But he is planning more visits to mosques in the run-up tothe elections to wean away the Muslim vote.
Divisions are far from clear, butthe voting pattern in the last election showed the Indian vote swinging more tothe Tories than the Pakistani or Bangladeshi vote. That follows in part therelatively greater prosperity of Indians among south Asians in Britain. TheIndian population of Britain is about a million, with half a million Pakistanisand smaller numbers of Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.
The House of Commons has threeAsian MPs. Labour MPs Piara Singh Khabra from Southall and Keith Vaz fromLeicester East are both expected to retain their seats. The third, ConservativeMP Nirj Deva, could see his thinly held seat slide away. Some other Asiancandidates are seeking election, among them Geeta Sidhu (Conservative) fromBlackburn and the more promising Marsha Singh (Labour) from Bradford West.
Marsha Singh is facing Torycandidate Mohammed Riaz in Bradford West with its large Pakistani population. APakistani-backed candidate who makes it to the House of Commons is expected toget noisy on Kashmir unless reined in by the Labour leadership. But Asiancandidates see themselves speaking more for Asians in Britain and local issuesthan for the countries they have left behind.
