asianaffairs-Jan 2008

Interview
‘The world recognises that secularism and equality are in India’s bloodstream’

Britain’s newest Asian MP says he was not surprised to win last summer’s by-election from Ealing Southall and predicts a doubling of his majority at the next General Election. In an interview with Shyam Bhatia of Asian Affairs, Virendra Sharma, Labour MP for Ealing Southall also talks about his Indian roots and how they can be used to strengthen bilateral links between India and the UK.

AA: Did you predict your own election success earlier this year?

VS: I wasn’t surprised to be elected, but I was surprised to be selected as a candidate because this was a Labour seat for many years. For that reason everyone thought l would win it, but to get selected was an issue.
Some people were telling the party bureaucracy and the elected committees like the National Executive what criteria the party should have that would favour them, particularly one person was campaigning on different issues. That’s why people were concerned about whether it would be a fair selection or not. But the party decided to have an open selection and in that open selection the Labour Party members selected me as their candidate. I won by more than 300 votes. My majority at the actual election was just over 5000.

AA: Do you class your win as a big Majority success?

VS: In the British parliamentary system for many years, the government never won by-elections and to retain the seat for the ruling party by 5000 represents a big majority. My predecessor had 10,000, but my turnout was low, the election campaign was only two weeks and, as I said, some people had defected. None of this made any impact. On the percentage I did not lose any votes, but from a majority point of view people say I lowered the majority.

AA: When the General Election comes around would you reasonably expect to increase your existing majority?

VS: I think in the last 50 years my predecessors had over 10,000 majority and I am hopeful that I will increase that majority.

AA: You have been quite active in local politics prior to entering parliament, have you not?

VS: I have been a councillor in Ealing for 25 years and during that period I was Mayor of Ealing in 1994-95, I had various positions in local government. I have a track record of 30 years of very active involvement in politics, which includes 25 years as a councillor.

AA: But professionally are you a social worker?

VS: I am not a qualified social worker but I have worked for 10 years in the social work field where my interest was in people with learning disabilities. Before that I always worked in the partly political and semi-political fields. I worked for the Labour Party nationally, then l worked for the voluntary organisations, which are the campaigning organisations, as a director of disability organisations and other fields.

AA: How old were you when you came to the UK?

VS: I was just over 20. I came straight to London from Jalandhar. Later I won a trade union scholarship to the LSE. I started as a bus conductor, that’s where the jobs were. Then I moved to the London underground where I was involved in the trade union movement. Then the TUC very kindly offered me this sponsorship. It was 1974 and I was the first Indian to get this scholarship. I spent five years at LSE, finishing up with a Masters in Politics and Government in 1979. After that I started working in the political field, mainly on campaigning issues, moving from one place to another. Then my profile got a bit higher. I did not go into TUC paid jobs, my interest was the community plus the political side. In those days it was not in anybody’s mind that we would become members of parliament. There were no (ethnic) Indian members of parliament and no one was even considered — the party system was such.

AA: So how did you start?

VS: I started campaigning on issues with the Indian Workers Association, Ealing Community Relations Council on issues like busing where the local authority had a policy to take children of primary school age to outside Southall, so that they could learn English and interact with English-speaking white children.
Along with others I was arguing against this because it’s not fair that five and six year old children with mothers standing on the corners of streets with buses coming and picking them up, regardless of whether it’s raining or snowing. There was no protection. If we want to do that it should be interchanged, so that people from other areas also come to Southall and the Southall kids go somewhere else.
Secondly, it’s extra pressure because in the evenings and at weekends these children who are being bused about have no social interaction as other children are in other parts. We challenged that decision and then that decision under the Race Relations Act was deemed discriminatory and we won. At that time the leaders of our community recognised my efforts and started putting me forward as someone who understands the issue, knows how to campaign. That’s how the support built up around me.
The Labour Party also thought that they needed people to come forward and I became a councilor in 1982.

AA: It’s quite a badge of honour to move up from a bus conductor to winning election as an MP. It’s quite a compliment to your abilities.

VS: I think the credit goes to the British democratic system here. Once you are involved and dedicated and committed and you are honestly working, then people recognise it. That’s where the fairness comes of the electorate. In my maiden speech I did say that in 1892 we had Dadabhai Naoroji as the first Indian member of parliament — and a few others after that — and I am now 115 years after that. He was given the opportunity at that time, he too was campaigning for fairness and justice to people. I am still arguing the same but in a different environment.
So the credit also goes to the political system, as well as the electorate of this country that they are not looking at you as black, Asian or immigrant. They see you as part and parcel of society, but it’s also our responsibility that we participate and continue participating.

AA: You have a family tradition of politics through your father in India, you grew up in a political atmosphere.

VS: Yes, I think l have that advantage. When I was a young person, I saw very leading members of the then political system in Punjab like Pratap Singh Kairon, the then chief minister of Punjab Giani Zail Singh, comrade Ram Kishen, many other leading members of the political system who used to come to our village. My father at that time was head of the Congress district committee Jalandhar. He was mainly on the organisational side, rather than administration. He then became senior vice president of the Punjab Congress Party, etc. I listened a lot to what was going on, to their debates and discussions, general political manoeuvrings as well. I am proud of how my father even at the age of 92 got respect from all political parties. He’s known as the Bhishem Pitamber of Punjab politics.

AA: Do you have brothers and sisters?

VS: Yes, I come from a very large family. I have four brothers and four sisters. They are here and in Canada. The whole family is out of India at the moment. My older brother, who has passed away, was over here when I came to London; my mother passed away 27-28 years ago. My other brothers and sisters are settled either here or in Canada.

AA: What prompted this mass family migration?

VS: It was just that in those days my brothers came over in the 1950s and as a crazy young person everyone wanted to chase opportunities overseas. Certainly, I see that as a young person or a student, you see a lot of people going back and how their economic position changes. The way they arrive back, the way they used to spend the money. You see the difference it makes. That craze among the youngsters is still there. Of course, in those days you came by legal means to Britain, now people come in their own ways and they suffer.

AA: What interaction do you have here with other MPs of South Asian origin?

VS: I have worked with every member of parliament, particularly those of Asian or black background. My participation in the Labour movement is for over 30 years and I have very close links with them. Then in the ’70s and ’80s there was the issue of representation, in which I played a reasonable role. We had the Black Section movement, the Black Trade Union movement made up of Asian and Afro Caribbean members. I can mention a few names like the late Bernie Grant. He was an MP and a campaigner, Keith Vaz, Paul Boateng, Diana Abbott, Ashok Kumar, my predecessor Piara Khabra. We had a different approach, but the target was black representation and black people’s involvement.

AA: Is Labour still regarded by the public as the party most sympathetic to the ethnic minorities?

VS: The ethnic minorities are more sympathetic to the Labour Party, so the party now recognises the importance of the ethnic votes as well. It’s the ethnic minorities, and the black and Asian communities in particular that are more loyal to the Labour Party because of historical reasons, the policies of Labour and the trust people have.

AA: What is the ethnic mix of your own Ealing Southall constituency?

VS: It’s about 50% from ethnic minorities, majority Indian, then Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Afghans, Somalis. Now East Europeans as well are settling here. The majority are Sikhs, then Hindus, Muslims and others. The historical fact is that we are living in the local areas as a close knit community, living in harmony. Whenever people tried to divide us they were not successful.

AA: Does racial discrimination still exist in the UK, or is it something from the past?

VS: I don’t think discrimination will ever go. It will stay, but how do you define discrimination? In the old days when I arrived in this country and looked for jobs, the security guard at the gates would say sorry, no vacancies; then there were changes in the late ’70s where the security guard would ask you to go inside and ask the receptionist and it would be the receptionist who would say sorry. Later came the stage where you now fill in an application, you are asked for an interview and later on you get a letter of rejection.
MPs and other activists have a duty to identify the blockages which are stopping people getting fair access to positions. Discrimination will stay because it’s a power game also. For example, I can say I am very keen for young people and women to be given the opportunities, but if I have to sacrifice my position to accommodate someone else, I will be thinking twice.

AA: When do you anticipate the next general election?

VS: 2009. I think first of all that I never anticipated a snap election. I always felt it would not be a wise decision. But it was the media and spin doctors testing the market and they were thinking how to provoke and tempt the PM. The PM has made a political judgement not to take advantage of public opinion in his favour. He took a wise position.

AA: What committees do you sit on at present?

VS: I have been offered a place on the Select Committee for Justice. As a new entrant you have less choice because numbers have been allocated. But I have already been on a parliamentary trip to Cyprus. There are some similarities in that country with what India has been going through and they asked me to go on this trip because of my links to India and possibly my understanding of the problem.

AA: What do you hope to achieve from any future trips to India?

VS: I hope to see the developments that have taken place, the policies India has, economic situation, future plans for India and how best we can strengthen the relationship between Britain and India — business, cultural, social links, all aspects. I feel there are areas where Britain can learn more on the investments and other sides and we can see if there are blockages. Learning from the Indian point of view, where they think the blockages are and how they can be improved. That’s the way we see it. Information and widening our own knowledge about the present social and economic situation.

AA: How does the average Briton look at India now?

VS: I think there is more respect for India because they think we have very close links, the democratic systems are the same, general historical links and we think when I talk to people — and they say their grandfather served in the British Indian army — those links are there. I think the image has changed in that people don’t see India as a country that is a threat. They see India as a partner for the future. There are also very close political associations.
When people read that in the next 25 years India will be an economic power, the British government and the British people feel it and we as Indians living in Britain are part of British society and we see how to build up those relationships. Indian companies investing here, British companies going there and British companies here will have an inbuilt work force for them here.
My interest is that the coming generations don’t lose their cultural heritage and language skills that can be deployed later.

AA: which Indian leaders does the British public recognise?

VS: I think the old leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Shastri, people do talk about them, especially when they are from the older generation. It’s just like Nelson Mandela is respected. The younger, educated youth look at the present leadership under Manmohan Singh, they see the secularism in the country. We are basically secular. If you look at any political party which becomes non-secular, people never accepted them. The world recognises that secularism and equality is in the blood of India. Manmohan Singh is a widely recognised name. Look what he delivered; people see that, economic development, modernisation. He speaks in a language that ordinary people understand.
At the same time people understand this is a country where the elected president can be a Muslim or a woman, they can accept a political leader from other backgrounds like Sonia Gandhi. People do see that as India’s strength. They see that as India’s strength, they don’t see that as a weakness. They can see that a prime minister who is not a political manoeuvrer is certainly an honest, sincere and dedicated person who genuinely wants ordinary persons benefiting from the economic growth of India.

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