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We need to talk about Zac Goldsmith's 'racist' campaign which included 'Modi Wave'

What has been discussed as the 'dirtiest fight' in British politicial history saw Zac Goldsmith lose out to Sadiq Khan in the race to become London mayor.

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(Left) Zac Goldsmith (Right) Prime Ministers Modi and
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Narendra Modi is one of those politicians who absolutely loves campaigning, where he gets to exercise his commendable oratory but even he’d be surprised to know he was an involuntarily part of the Tory campaign during the London mayoral race. The Conservative candidate, who is from the same party as Prime Minister David Cameron, tried to appropriate the ‘Modi wave’ to woo South Asians.

Perhaps, Zac Goldsmith felt that reminding South Asians about PM Cameron’s proximity to Modi would help his cause but instead London chose his rival and Labour candidate Sadiq Khan in a campaign many called ugly, divisive and dog-whistle racist as they targeted Khan for his ethnicity. 

The rather desperate attempt to ride on the Modi wave to woo South Asians didn’t work and he lost out to Sadiq Khan whose win was hailed across the world as a win for multiculturalism. His campaign’s attempt was tad amateurish as they seemed to bunch up all South Asians into one ethnic group who ostensibly loved Modi, had lots of family jewellery and would get excited simply because he knew the name of their holidays and spent some time in ‘Rajasthan, Dehradun and Delhi’.

A leaflet that was distributed among scores of South Asians in London bragged:

  • Welcomed PM Modi to London last year alongside David Cameron.
  • As Mayor will focus police on protecting your families’ homes from burglary. Have strong record of engagement with Indian community celebrating Diwali, Navratri and Janmashtami.
  • Secured more money for police and security and will keep your family and home safe.
  • Has a track record of supporting family-owned business.
  • Will work to strengthen London’s friendship with India and having spent time in Rajasthan, Dehradun and Delhi is proud of the Conservative's party's commitment to the British Indian community.

His campaign leaflet also attacked Khan saying that along with Corbyn he also wanted to ban PM Modi from visiting UK and didn’t attend the UK Welcomes Modi event at Wembley (Corbyn later changed his stance and even met PM Modi).

One of the leaflets handed out by Zac Goldsmith's team (Twitter)

It seems that his team sent out the leaflets to scores of Sikhs as they felt unable to distinguish between Hindus and Sikhs.  A site called Daily Sikh Updates noted: “In what can only be described as an ill-informed and arrogant mailshot, Goldsmith’s team targeted the postal addresses of tens of thousands of Londoners of “Indian” origin. Zac Goldsmith’s mailshot was personally addressed to each householder and also reached the homes of the 120,000 Sikhs living in London. For some bizarre reason, Goldsmith assumed all the 120,000 Sikhs were middle-class Hindus, running family businesses, concerned about burglaries and possessions whilst welcoming to Modi’s UK visit last year . . .”

It went on: “To assume the London Sikhs are so easily satisfied to be targeted with the same narratives intended for middle-class Hindu voters still shows a poor understanding of the London ethnic landscape, particularly as Sikhs have contributed to London for over 100 years.”

PM Modi with former London mayor Boris Johnson and British PM David Camerona  (Getty Images)

Racist campaign called out

Many politicians and commoners felt that the campaign was too divisive, including  Labour MP Tulip Siddiq and Labour political adviser Uma Kumaran.  

Siddiq said: “The Tories are running a desperate and negative campaign for Mayor of London. It’s no surprise that they have resorted to sending out these scaremongering and totally dishonest leaflets. Zac Goldsmith just doesn’t understand the great diversity of our City – he is not fit to be Mayor. His campaign is patronising London’s communities by trying to scare them with the threat of a non-existent jewellery tax, rather than focusing on the big issues like housing, transport and policing.”

Kumaran, who is Tamil, tweeted: “@ZacGoldsmith why is a reason for Tamils to vote for u based on jewellery’ Patronising nonsense. Talk to Londoners abt housing/jobs/economy. Tory campaign for Mayor pathetic. Trying to divide communities, inflammatory language and scare mongering. Londoners are better than that. Don't know which is worse, assuming tht b/c I'm Asian, primary concerns are jewellery/biz or tht this is now mainstream form of campaigning.”

While it’s impossible to ascertain how many South Asians voted for Khan, there were other misfires from the Conservative campaign as well. PM Cameron wrote a letter to potential voters. In it he wrote: “The British Indian community makes an extraordinary contribution to London and to Britain. Closer ties between the UK and India have been a priority for me as prime minister. I was pleased to join Zac Goldsmith in welcoming Prime Minister Modi to the UK last year at Wembley Stadium.”

The campaign also looked to attract Tamils with Goldsmith writing in a letter: “...recognise that far too often Tamil households are targeted for burglary due to families owning gold and valuable family heirlooms.”

It also added: “As a government minister, Sadiq Khan did not use his position to speak about Sri Lanka or the concerns of the Tamil community in parliament. His party are beginning to adopt policies that will mean higher taxes on your family and your family’s heirlooms and belongings. We cannot let him experiment with these radical policies.” The letter also called Sadiq Khan ‘dangerous', and Cameron added if Khan won, “Londoners will become lab rats in a giant political experiment”.

Anita Vashisht told the Guardian: “He talked of ‘your community’. No, David, you and I are members of the same community. It felt like my prime minister was writing to tell me he doesn’t consider he and I are part of the same community. Which is not very nice, is it?”

 

Goldsmith’s campaign was attacked also trying to link Sadiq Khan to extremists, and was even pilloried by some Tories as well including socialist Peter Osborne and former Tory candidate Shazia Awan.

Even his own sister Jemima, who was once married to Pakistani politician and ex-cricketer Imran Khan criticised his campaign saying it didn’t reflect ‘who I know him to be’. She wrote on Twitter: “Sad that Zac's campaign did not reflect who I know him to be- an eco-friendly, independent- minded politician with integrity. Congratulations to @sadiqkhan-1st Muslim Mayor of London- a city for all cultures, backgrounds & religions. A great example to young Muslims.”

Cultural appropriation gone wrong 

While in India we often rage about cultural appropriation like the time Coldplay released their new video or when Slumdog Millionaire came out, Goldsmith tried the reverse to woo British South Asians by claiming he loved all things Bollywood.  Invited for the Asian Awards, a celebration Zac Goldsmith claimed that he was a big Bollywood fan but when pressed for a name he was unable to identify a single Bollywood film or actor.

 He was universally ridiculed for his posturing, and Paul Sagoo, the founder of the Asian Awards said: "“It is this lack of sincerity, preparedness and on the spot “blagging” that I found very disrespectful not just to me but to the entire South Asian diaspora. This told me everything I needed to know about how he would approach the role of London Mayor and it totally polarised my thinking. I am genuinely unhappy about how this panned out as I did enjoy meeting Zac. I have worked very hard on these awards over the last 7 years and to have someone make a mockery of my audience is frankly insulting to me and to them. The role of Mayor is very important and it is based on emotion that most people will vote.”  

Zac Goldsmith fails to recognise a single Bollywood actor or film. 

Even Labour’s Ken Livingstone, the first mayor of London, who is known for his outspoken comments and is now in trouble for his views about Hitler and Zionism, called it the ‘dirtiest campaign he had witnessed’ and thought perhaps Zac didn’t believe it himself, given the cosmopolitan nature of his own family. 

In the end, Zac Goldsmith lost, and new London mayor compared the Tory campaign to the Trump’s in US Presidential Elections. 

He wrote in the Observer: "… David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith chose to set out to divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes in some areas and suppress voters in other parts of the city. "They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other -- something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat.”

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