An Uttar Pradesh-born Labour MP has tabled a motion in the House of Commons calling on the UK government to take steps to urgently address a “worrying rise” in anti-Indian racism in Britain, claiming the term “Indian variant” to identify a mutation of the Covid-19 virus is causing it to proliferate.
By Wednesday afternoon the early day motion (EDM) tabled by Stockport MP Navendu Mishra, who was first elected in December 2019, had attracted 12 MP signatures from different political parties.
The motion states: “This House welcomes the contributions of Indians to British society; condemns the racism they face on a daily basis; calls on key institutions to urgently address this type of prejudice; recognises the 1.3 million Indians who fought for Britain during WWI and have contributed greatly to all levels of society over the past century; pays tribute to the thousands of British Indians who work in the NHS and have served the nation tirelessly throughout the covid-19 outbreak; acknowledges research by The 1928 Institute which revealed that 80% of British Indians have faced prejudice because of their Indian identity, with Hinduphobia the most prevalent; abhors the use of dog whistle language including the widespread use of phrases, such as Indian variant, which proliferates anti-Indian racism on social media and in wider society.”
In the motion, the research by The 1928 Institute referred to is a report published by the institute in May, based on surveys and focus groups of British Indians, in which respondents said they had experienced prejudice in the UK as a result of their Indian identity within the past 24 months, of which, the largest type of prejudice is Hinduphobia. The report described Hinduphobia as depicting the indigenous cultures and spiritual practices of the Indian subcontinent, along with the people who identify with it, as “inherently inferior”, which, it said, emerged from “colonial depictions of indigenous Indic knowledge and culture”.