Hello and welcome to Ealing Conservative Councillor Phil Taylor, who has blogged thus about the Tory candidate for the Ealing Southall Parliamentary by-election:
He is clearly a controversial and high risk choice
Why is Tony Lit considered by his own side to be “controversial and high risk”? Well here’s a taster:
- Tony Lit’s selection led to an outbreak of criticism on ConservativeHome; in particular Francis Maude seems to have rather misled another would-be Conservative candidate who was told that he had decided their candidate in the by-election should be from Ealing Southall and therefore that this person couldn’t apply. Only one problem. Mr Lit isn’t either. He lives in Chiswick.
- Another Conservative member commented in the thread, “I know people on the candidates list who live in Ealing borough who weren’t even given the chance to put their names forward” whilst a third person said, “we will come a poor third in both of the by elections“.
- The claim that Tony Lit’s job stopped him from previously joining the Conservative Party doesn’t seem to hold up to close examination.
- Tony Lit is the Managing Director of Sunrise Radio, who were fined £10,000 for breaking election rules when his father stood as a Parliamentary candidate in 2001.
Interesting times…
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16 Comments
This helpfully underlines how blogs may in the future be used against us. Some of the debates on here, esp about the London Assembly selection, may come back to bite us, I am sure.
All good stuff, however, and I look forward to delivering leaflets all about this when I make it over to Ealing.
If that is the attitude then it is very dissapointing. It just shows that the Liberal Democrats are rather worried about Tony Lit and the Conservative Campaign which has so far been honest and efficent.
I have met the candidate and my impressions are one of high regards I believe that if he wins the by-election he would be an outstanding Conservative MP for Ealing Souhall.
Also it will show that the Liberal Democrats have been rattled and are already indicating that negative tactics are going to be used heavily during the by-election campaign.
That is all I have to say for this particular subject.
All rather desperate stuff. If we want to defeat the Tories we’ll need to do better than quote some random comment from a Conservative blogger who happens to comment on the candidate.
The quote above is rather selective as the blogger goes on to say what a great bloke the Tory candidate is and frankly we’ll need more ammunition than this rather tenuous nonsense.
On this occasion we’d be mad to attack Lit for not being local. He lives on the edge of the constituency and is known by everyone as being Southall man through his years as MD of Sunrise radio.
Reading this post I’m rather concerned that our campaign is about to backfire on us by going down a track which sounds desperate.
Singh. Broadway, Southall
(normally LibDem, but concerned).
Mr Singh:- if you click on the image in the story you can read the full quote. It isn’t from some random blogger, it is from a local Conservative councillor. It doesn’t go on to say the person is a great bloke. It simply says the councillors is looking forward to meeting him.
I wonder why you got both these pieces of information wrong?
Are you really a local resident or just a not very effective impostor from another party?
Didn’t a Young Tory on a blog report the death of MP Piara Khabra,with the term “Christmas come early”. Later changed to add condolences to Mr Khabra’s family.
Lib Dem member @4 – I think GF Singh is refering to a different quote from Phil Taylor which appeared on a Conservative website.
As that quote wasn’t linked to from my story and isn’t the one in the screenshot, it makes you wonder if GF Singh is really a Conservative Party member.
After all, it would be rather odd for a real member of the public just reading this site to confuse a quote given here with a different quote from a Conservative site…
Again, as a local to all this I think we’d be nuts to attack Lit … it will backfire. We need to choose an equally good candidate and push a positive message. This slate of negative Tory attacks will not work.
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday 5 July 2007
LABOUR PARTY MEMBERS – SIKHS, WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IMPRESSED BY LABOUR SELECTION PROCESS FOR EALING SOUTHALL BY ELECTION
Around two weeks ago following the death of Piara Khabra, the MP for Ealing Southall, the race began for who would be the Labour Party candidate in the by election on 19 July. Last night it was confirmed the Labour candidate would be Cllr Virendra Sharma after the Labour Selection Panel, including Keith Vaz MP and Tom Watson MP decided on a remarkably short list, of two men on Tuesday afternoon. It is reported that fellow Labour MPs like Fiona Mactaggart were furious with the outcome and made their views known with the new Party Chair, Harriet Harman.
The Labour Party had already announced in March that it would adopt an all women’s short list with the front runner being Sonika Nirwal. However, as this was a by election and a candidate for Ealing Southall had yet to be announced to replace Piara Khabra, when he stepped down, his untimely death provided the Labour Party with an opportunity to open up the selection process.
The Labour Selection Panel reduced the estimated number of applicants for this safe Labour seat from perhaps as many as 100 to eight candidates on Monday evening. Publicly there were two fairly powerful lobbies – one to ensure a woman was selected and the other to get a Sikh into the Commons, preferably a turban wearing Sikh.
It is understood two of the eight on the long list were women – Sonika Nirwal and Jasbir Anand. Seven of the eight were Sikh, with three turban wearing Sikhs, including Cllr Gurcharan Singh who was widely acknowledged as the person with most support within the local Labour Party membership that would ultimately determine who represented them. Most, but not all, on the long list were local candidates. As there were candidates on the long list that were not local some are asking why excellent candidates, like Dr Harkirtan Singh, who has been short listed before in Denton and Reddish, were excluded on this occasion.
After interviews on Tuesday the Labour Selection Panel surprisingly only named two on the short list to take part in hustings that evening and who would be put to the local Labour Party membership. The hustings on Tuesday night were only for local Labour Party members and reports suggest they proved quite tense as there were many who were upset at the short list. The absence of a woman or turban wearing Sikh in the short list were two of the main concerns.
It has been reported that the Selection Panel wanted somebody similar to the Conservative candidate Tony Lit – “an Asian man with a ‘clean cut’ image”. However, it is been unofficially suggested that part of the thinking was that Sonika Nirwal and Gurcharan Singh had some sort of skeletons in the cupboard that the opposition parties might exploit in the by election. Similar allegations could be made against the candidate selected, but only time will tell what tactics and information the opposition parties use. It is interesting that Labour has chosen to keep media coverage of its chosen candidate very quiet.
As Labour has failed to allow a woman or turbaned Sikh to be in the short list there is a risk that an independent Labour candidate will now stand. Labour has brought this on itself. It has also not been lost on the Sikh community in Ealing Southall and throughout the UK that young Sikh professionals have been overlooked for the one ageing non-Sikh on the long list.
Gurjeet Singh
National Press Secretary
Sikh Federation (UK)
Tony Lit has a lot of influence amongst the people of Southall. Was told this weekend that traditional Labour voters will be switching to Conservative just because of Lit. This seems to be the case particularly amongst the 30 to 40 year olds.
Before anyone feels inclined to take seriously the words of Tory troll, “Ray”, they should consider the minimal impact Tony Lit’s much better known father had on Piara Khabra’s vote in 2001.
Angus Huck Says:
July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Before anyone feels inclined to take seriously the words of Tory troll, “Ray”, they should consider the minimal impact Tony Lit’s much better known father had on Piara Khabra’s vote in 2001.
Yes, they should. Gaining 6,000 votes and pushing us into fourth place.
“Real Liberal” – in case you’ve not noticed, you’re not the first person to post on this site using that name.
The previous person who used this name said they were a member of the Conservative Party, so – assuming you’re someone different as you talk about the Lib Dems using “us” – you might want to use a different name in future to avoid confusion?
Mr Gurjeet Singh, what an odd reason to field an independent Labour candidate: the absence of a “woman or turbaned Sikh” candidate! So who are you going to field? A turbaned woman? Let’s not turn politics into a game of tokensims
Mukherjee, what have you got against a turbaned woman?
The following has been posted in response to a negative write up by Chris Paul of Gurcharan Singh, his involvement in the turban campaign in France and allegations he was pro-Khalistan. It appears the details relating to 1984 are to be posted on prominent Conservative and Liberal Democrat blogs so they can challenge Virendra Sharma.
I’m not into party politics, but I am a Labour Party member as well as someone who works for the good of the British Sikh community. I find the contents of the article you have written is everything that puts ordinary people off party politics. I am a Labour Party member, but also a person who passionately believes in campaigning for Sikh rights.
Upset you may be with the Labour Party defections, but if you and others thought so little of prominent local Labour Party members in Southall you should have done something about it when they were in the Party. Also I find some of your comments offensive.
Why should Sikhs children not be able to practice their faith in French schools? Why should Sikh teachers, lecturers, police officers in London not be able to freely travel and work in France without having to compromise their faith? What is wrong with Gurcharan Singh showing his support for religious freedoms in France for Sikhs that live there and others that may choose to go and work there from the UK (even Ealing Southall). You are in serious danger of resorting to racist behaviour as you are upset. You should be upset with the likes of Keith Vaz who has put Labour in this position.
You also link Gurcharan Singh with the pro-Khalistan movement and make allegations about him rejoicing after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Anyone in the Sikh community in Southall or elsewhere in the UK will tell you that Gurcharan Singh’s role in promoting the Khalistan movement in the last 23 years is minimal to say the least?
You however make no mention of the official Labour Party candidate having strong family ties and being the agent and member of a foreign political party – the Indian Congress. How can the Labour Party allow someone to stand as a Member of the UK Parliament who has open allegiances to Congress and will always be at the beck and call of the Indian High Commission in London rather than the constituents of Ealing Southall? This also explains the pivotal role of Keith Vaz, an Indian Government stooge, in ensuring a one horse race in the Labour Party short list.
Given Labour friends of Virendra Sharma have bought up the Khalistan issue and the events of 1984 I thought it only right to share the following information more widely so the opposition parties can challenge the ‘invisible and silent’ Labour candidate that owes his allegiances to the Indian Government and the Congress. Although recent revelations have also shown that as a prominent Hindu he also has close ties with right wing Hindu groups, such as the VHP and RSS.
Congress was not only responsible for the massacre of thousands of innocent Sikhs at the Golden Temple Complex that ultimately led to two of her Sikh bodyguards taking revenge for the desecration, but also for the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place in over 130 different cities in India that took the lives of over 20,000 innocent Sikhs following a four day orgy of violence.
India’s whole scale military crackdown in Panjab in June 1984, resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Sikh civilians during the Indian Army attack on the Golden Temple complex and the subsequent draconian sweep through Panjab.
Preceding the attack on the Golden Temple there was a non violent agitation for political, religious and economic rights for Sikhs and all Punjabis. This was due to the non fulfilment of promises made to the Sikhs by Nehru and Gandhi on independence from Britain in 1947.
This was the biggest non violent agitation for rights since Indian Independence movement and thousands of Sikhs were thrown in jails for simply protesting for their rights. Many Sikhs were also killed in extra judicial murders carried out by the police.
Under this persecution Sikhs used their historic centre for political and religious rights the Golden Temple and Akal Takht to pursue their agitation. This was nothing new as the Sikh Guru’s had done this in the past when standing up against oppressors, and told Sikhs to do the same if they faced persecution in the future.
Then from June 1984 India launched a brutal attack on 125 Sikh Gurdwaras including the Golden Temple and Akal Takht. Thousands of innocent civilians died during the initial attack with thousands of others being simply disappeared in an army operation across the entire of Punjab. The worst aspect of the massacre was the killing of women and children by the army.
http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/bluestar/ (weblink giving full background to the attack)
Media Quotes on 1984
On 4 June, a day of pilgrimage for Sikhs when thousands had gathered at the Golden Temple, army tanks moved into the Temple Complex, smashing into the sanctum and shooting everyone in sight…. Those left alive were then prevented from leaving the building, many wounded were left to bleed to death and when they begged for water, Army Jawans told them to drink the mixture of blood and urine on the floor. Some 3000 dead, including many who were only unconscious, were piled high in trucks and removed. Four months later no list of casualties or missing persons had yet been issued. Then can the army occupation of Panjab with frequent humiliations, arrests and killings of Sikhs by soldiers. It caused a feeling voiced by many ordinary people who had never before been separatists that …Sikhs could not be safe there.”
Amrit Wilson: New Statesman – 16 November 1984
PUNJAB UNDER SIEGE
‘For five days the Punjab has been cut off from the rest of the world. There is a 24-hour curlew. All telephone and telex lines are cut. No foreigners are permitted entry and on Tuesday, all Indian journalists were expelled. There are no newspapers, no trains, no buses -not even a bullock cart can move.
Christian Science Monitor – 8 June 1984
‘HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL’
“As long as the army keeps news reporters and other outsiders from traveling in Punjab except on tightly controlled military tours, there is no way of knowing what excesses might be committed”
New York Times – 8 June 1984
COLD BLOODED MURDERS
“The Amritsar deputy police superintendent who helped remove bodies from the temple grounds said at least 13 of the victims were shot with their hands bound. It was a virtual massacre,” said the Jullundar doctor. “A large number of women, children and pilgrims were gunned down.”
Associated Press – 14 June 1984
INHUMANITY
“…medical workers in Amritsar said soldiers had threatened to shoot them if they gave food or water to Sikh pilgrims wounded in the attack and lying in the hospital.”
Christian Science Monitor – 18 June 1984
SILENCING THE PEOPLE
“Mopping up after the death of Jarnail Singh Bhindanwale…the government has now arrested more than 3000 of his….followers. The government has also turned up its propaganda machine
Newsweek – 25 June 1984
DISINFORMATION
“As for anti-Sikh feeling, the word ‘Sikh’ and ‘terrorist’ became almost synonymous in the government controlled media and in the speeches of politicians. The storming of the Golden Temple at Amritsar was reported by most national papers and radio and television in a shamelessly biased fashion.”
Amrit Wilson: New Statesman – 16 November 1984
During the Golden Temple attack, young boys ages 8 to 13 were taken outside and asked if they supported Khalistan, the independent Sikh country. When they answered with the Sikh religious incantation “Bole So Nihal,” they were shot to death. The Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy scriptures, written in the time of the Sikh Gurus, were shot full of bullet holes and burned by the Indian forces.
Other useful points that could be put to the Labour Party candidate, Virendra Sharma, include:
India has not allowed Amnesty International or UN Rapporteur for Torture to be allowed to visit and investigate in Panjab for almost 30 years. What is India hiding?
Three Early Day Motions that were tabled on the 20th anniversary of 1984 are reproduced below and attracted cross-party support from over 150 UK MPs. Would Virendra Sharma sign such EDMs?
EDM 664 – 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STORMING OF THE GOLDEN TEMPLE COMPLEX
That this House notes with sadness the 20th anniversary of the June 1984 assault by the Indian army on the Golden Temple complex, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, where sacred buildings and historic artefacts were destroyed or damaged beyond repair; further notes that the unprecedented action using artillery and tanks took place on one of the most important days in the Sikh calendar, when there were huge numbers of pilgrims in attendance, which resulted in thousands of innocent Sikhs being killed in cold blood, many with their hands and feet bound, including women and children; is appalled that scores of other Sikh Gurdwaras were stormed by the Indian army throughout Panjab and that thousands of Sikhs were arrested, tortured, and killed, including children; recognises that these actions by the Indian authorities continue to have an immeasurable impact on Sikhs throughout the world; and extends its sympathy and support to the law-abiding, hard working, and well respected international Sikh community.
EDM 663 – VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF SIKHS IN INDIA
That this House notes and applauds the efforts of human rights activists in India to highlight atrocities, including false imprisonment, torture, deaths in custody, extra-judicial executions and disappearances, perpetrated against Sikhs in the last 20 years; further notes that it is estimated that over 250,000 Sikhs have been murdered and/or disappeared since June 1984; is deeply concerned that 20 years later the Indian Government continues to deny full access to Panjab to international human rights groups and to the UN Rapporteur on Torture; regrets that thousands of families are still waiting to know the fate of relatives who have disappeared; and calls on the Prime Minister, on behalf of the estimated 700,000 Sikhs in the United Kingdom, to lead the international community in demanding full access to Panjab to international human rights groups and the UN.
EDM 662 – 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF NOVEMBER 1984 ATTACKS ON SIKHS
That this House notes with sadness the 20th anniversary of the November 1984 pogrom against thousands of innocent Sikhs in a matter of days in cities across India; further notes that Sikhs became the target of organised violence with murderous gangs swarming into Sikh houses, hacking the occupants to pieces, chopping off the heads of children, raping women, tying Sikh men to tyres set aflame with kerosene and pulling Sikh passengers from public transport to be lynched or burned alive; recognises that Amnesty International in a memorandum to the Government of India, complained that far from being spontaneous expressions of popular grief and anger as made out by the authorities, the killings were the outcome of a well organised plan marked by acts of both deliberate commission and omission by important politicians of the Congress and by authorities in the administration; believes that investigation and criminal proceedings are long overdue; and calls upon Her Majesty’s Government to take the lead in the international community to establish an independent UN inquiry into the failure of successive governments in India to take sufficient actions against those responsible for the events of November 1984.
1984 to the Present
In November 1984, thousands of Sikh civilians in New Delhi and other major cities, were systematically hunted down and murdered in their homes and on the streets; with the open complicity of the Indian police.
• Over the last 25 years, India has imposed a regime of gruesome repression and murder on the Sikh population in Panjab. Tens of thousands of Sikh civilians have been killed in a combination of staged ‘armed encounters’ and ‘disappearances’.
• Amnesty International(2) and Human Rights Watch (3) have together produced over twenty separate reports, documenting widespread human rights atrocities in Panjab by India’s police and army. Torture, arbitrary incarceration, and custodial deaths, are reported as routine and widespread. India has refused to open up to an international scrutiny of these incidents. It has barred Amnesty International, since 1978; and has refused to permit access to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture and Disappearances.
• Many human rights activists, such as Jaswant Singh Khalra (4), have been killed in police custody or ‘disappeared’ in sinister circumstances.
Human rights should be enjoyed by all people at all times. We believe that awareness of these issues will help the struggle to end grave abuses of the fundamental human rights in Panjab and elsewhere in India. We come from all walks of life, with widely different political and religious views, united by our determination to ensure everyone enjoys basic human rights. We want to give hope to the people of Panjab that justice will be done. At the same time, we strongly and unequivocally condemn the killings of other innocents, including Hindus, that took place during the same period. Acts like these were used to further communalise the situation and impose further draconian measures.
Will Virendra Sharma call upon the British Government and European Union to bear pressure on the Government of India to prosecute those who have committed these crimes against humanity. Will he also call upon the United Nations to establish and supervise in the Panjab a full and independent Commission for Truth & Justice in order to document the atrocities that have been committed over the past 20 years.
Notes
(1) Politics of Genocide (1995) by Inderjit Singh Jaijee of the Movement against State Repression, p 41 quoting three human rights groups and three Advocates Generals who researched the killings for the period 1984-1994.
(2) Break the Cycle of Impunity and Torture in Punjab (2003), Amnesty International.
(3)Dead Silence: The Legacy of Abuses in Punjab (1994), Physicians for Human Rights.
(4) A Mockery of Justice – The case concerning the ‘disappearance’ of human rightrs defender Jaswant Singh Khalra severely undermined, Amnesty International (1998
Continuing Violations
The Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, more than 300,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1948, over 90,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of Tamils, Assamese, Bodos, Manipuris, Dalits, and others. The Indian Supreme Court called the Indian government’s murders of Sikhs “worse than a genocide.”
The police arrested human-rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra after he exposed their policy of mass cremation of Sikhs, in which over 50,000 Sikhs have been arrested, tortured, and murdered, then their bodies were declared unidentified and secretly cremated. He was murdered in police custody. His body was not given to his family. The police never released the body of former Jathedar of the Akal Takht Gurdev Singh Kaunke after SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna murdered him. Ghotna has never been brought to trial for the Jathedar Kaunke murder. No one has been brought to justice for the kidnapping and murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra.
Human Rights Reports on Sikhs and Punjab
Amnesty International
India: Punjab – Twenty years on impunity continues – Amnesty International
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200992004
India: A vital opportunity to end impunity in Punjab – Amnesty International
In 1996 in response to two petitions filed in the Supreme Court containing allegations of human rights violations in Punjab, the Court ordered th National Human Rights Commission to examine the al…
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200241999
India: Will past human rights violations in Punjab remain forgotten? – Amnesty International
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200291999
India: Break the cycle of impunity and torture in Punjab – Amnesty International
Torture and custodial violence continue to be regularly reported in Punjab, despite the end of the militancy period in the state in the mid-1990s. In this report Amnesty International makes the …
India: AI membership expresses solidarity to the families of the disappeared in Punjab – Amnesty International
There is no abstract for this document
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200052003
India: Fear of torture/Fear for safety – Amnesty International
Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of at least 100 individuals including social activists, human rights defenders and lawyers in Punjab. Some are being illegally detained in connect…
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200022004
India : Fear of torture/fear for safety of Rajiv Singh – Amnesty International
Rajiv Singh, a key witness in the trial of police officers accused of abducting a human rights activist has been arrested by Punjab police. Amnesty International fears this is an attempt to prevent …
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200482000
India: A Mockery of Justice: The case concerning the “disappearance” of human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra severely undermined – Amnesty International
This brief report documents the means used by accused police officers, including delay of proceedings and intimidation of witnesses, in their search of impunity for the ‘disappearance’ of Jaswant …
URL: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGASA200071998
Human Rights Watch
Letter from Human Rights Watch to the National Human Rights Commission of India
On the upcoming decision in the Punjab mass secret cremations case
As the National Human Rights Commission prepares to issue a decision in the Punjab mass secret cremations case, we urge the Commission to order a full accounting of the systematic abuses that occurred in Punjab, determine liability after detailed investigations into the violations, and provide for compensation for surviving family members based on a detailed understanding of the scope of violations suffered by each individual.
Other Screams of Terror
By Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch researcher
Published in The Asian Age
People who lived through 1984 in Delhi are unlikely to forget the horrors. After years of inquiries, commissions, accusations and denials, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has, last month, expressed regret for the horrifying anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi, saying that, “I have no hesitation in apologising not only to the Sikh community but the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood and what is enshrined in our Constitution.”
India: Justice Eludes Families of the “Disappeared” in Punjab …
“Ending state impunity for abuses in Punjab must become a priority. … We hope it will do the same in Punjab.” Smita Narula, senior researcher for South …
http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/06/india061003.htm
Jasvir Kaur: I have nothing against women in turbans, whether of the Sikh or the 50s home counties variety ;0)
It was a mere rhetorical point…