LONDON: The Labour party has deselected 18 of its Leicester councillors, including all of its Hindu councillors, preventing them from standing for the Labour party in the May local elections.
Seven Indian-origin Labour councillors, six of whom are Hindu and one Christian, were deselected after the Labour national executive committee (NEC) parachuted into Leicester to choose who would stand, alongside the regional party and city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, usurping the usual practice of local Labour branches selecting who should stand in their wards following a hustings.
The move has left many Labour candidates and branches outraged. The deselection of all the Hindu councillors has raised eyebrows in the light of the Hindu-Muslim unrest in August and September last year. All councillors and the city mayor are up for re-election on May 4. Apart from the seven Indian-origin councillors, of the others who were deselected some were white, and a few were of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin.
“They have done this in cities where they felt there were councillors at risk of returning not in line with established views. In Leicester the focus was on deselecting Corbyn and Keith Vaz supporters,” said Hemant Rae Bhatia, a Labour councillor since 2015, who is one of those deselected. “The way Labour took away the democratic right of branches to select their candidates does not match what Keir Starmer said at party conference, namely that branches are fundamental and democratic units of the party,” he said.
Of the deselected candidates, Luis Fonseca, from Diu, is not standing again. Bhatia and Rashmikant Joshi have switched to the Conservatives.
Padmini Chamund, Nita Solanki and Mahendra Valand, who represent the Belgrave ward where the Leicester unrest occurred, and Rita Patel, were deselected and will be standing as independents. Until now Labour has dominated the council but according to Bhatia the Conservatives could sweep the election owing to dissatisfaction with the city mayor.
“Hindus and Muslims don’t have trust in Soulsby now. Anyone who challenges how he dealt with the unrest got deselected,” Bhatia said, adding he was especially perturbed by comments the mayor gave to Channel Four News blaming the riots on “ideologies associated with particular views about racial and religious groups in India”.
He said the mayor was trying to create a council of “yes men”.
All the 18 Labour candidates who were deselected had voted for a motion at a special council meeting on March 9 to actually remove the directly elected mayoral model. The motion was defeated 20-32. Four others were deselected as they were considered close to Vaz.
A Labour source told TOI: “It is disappointing that some of those who failed to meet the expected standard have immediately joined other political parties in Leicester. This is pure political opportunism.” Labour confirmed it had placed an NEC Campaign Improvement Board in Leicester to ensure Labour was meeting high standards.
Seven Indian-origin Labour councillors, six of whom are Hindu and one Christian, were deselected after the Labour national executive committee (NEC) parachuted into Leicester to choose who would stand, alongside the regional party and city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, usurping the usual practice of local Labour branches selecting who should stand in their wards following a hustings.
The move has left many Labour candidates and branches outraged. The deselection of all the Hindu councillors has raised eyebrows in the light of the Hindu-Muslim unrest in August and September last year. All councillors and the city mayor are up for re-election on May 4. Apart from the seven Indian-origin councillors, of the others who were deselected some were white, and a few were of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin.
“They have done this in cities where they felt there were councillors at risk of returning not in line with established views. In Leicester the focus was on deselecting Corbyn and Keith Vaz supporters,” said Hemant Rae Bhatia, a Labour councillor since 2015, who is one of those deselected. “The way Labour took away the democratic right of branches to select their candidates does not match what Keir Starmer said at party conference, namely that branches are fundamental and democratic units of the party,” he said.
Of the deselected candidates, Luis Fonseca, from Diu, is not standing again. Bhatia and Rashmikant Joshi have switched to the Conservatives.
Padmini Chamund, Nita Solanki and Mahendra Valand, who represent the Belgrave ward where the Leicester unrest occurred, and Rita Patel, were deselected and will be standing as independents. Until now Labour has dominated the council but according to Bhatia the Conservatives could sweep the election owing to dissatisfaction with the city mayor.
“Hindus and Muslims don’t have trust in Soulsby now. Anyone who challenges how he dealt with the unrest got deselected,” Bhatia said, adding he was especially perturbed by comments the mayor gave to Channel Four News blaming the riots on “ideologies associated with particular views about racial and religious groups in India”.
He said the mayor was trying to create a council of “yes men”.
All the 18 Labour candidates who were deselected had voted for a motion at a special council meeting on March 9 to actually remove the directly elected mayoral model. The motion was defeated 20-32. Four others were deselected as they were considered close to Vaz.
A Labour source told TOI: “It is disappointing that some of those who failed to meet the expected standard have immediately joined other political parties in Leicester. This is pure political opportunism.” Labour confirmed it had placed an NEC Campaign Improvement Board in Leicester to ensure Labour was meeting high standards.