Last year’s ascension of Rishi Sunak as British Prime Minister and the rise of Hamza Yousuf as Scottish First Minister has underscored the dominance of South Asian-originating politicians in Britain. Nonetheless, lawmakers from each major political party in the UK can trace their heritage back to the subcontinent and its colonization by the British Empire.The British Conservative Party, however, has the highest visibility of South Asian-origin politicians. It is hardly unknown that the Tory party, since its inception, has followed the right wing in terms of its economic policy. In recent history, their crackdown on immigration has been staggering. This article will detail how the Tory party came to boast so many subcontinental politicians and their implications for British immigrants and asylum seekers.
Background
The first significant migration from British India to the UK mostly took place between the 1940s and 1950s to fill the gap of labor shortage, which came into effect due to World War II. These groups of people have primarily associated themselves with the Labour Party. Another wave of Indian migration happened around the period of 1960-70s. These groups of migrants have been called “twice migrants” by the British daily “The Guardian” due to their first migration in East Africa during the colonial period and the second immigration took place when they were incentivized or threatened to leave newly independent African colonies of Britain; Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. This second group of immigrants later aligned themselves with the Conservative Party. This immigrant group includes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
These East African Indian communities were first migrated from British India to British colonies of Africa to do administrative and military service to control the native people.
Once they migrated to East Africa, these communities enjoyed prosperous status and accumulated wealth and English education at the peak of the British Empire.
When Britain started to lose its control over its African colonies, and Britain was forced to leave, these newly independent nations came to share hostile relations with Indians as they dominated nearly every sector and owned most of the property of these countries. When Kenya gained its independence in 1963, most of the agricultural business used to be dominated by Indians. With their riches, education, and antipathy for Africans, these comparatively educated and wealthy Indians were projected to be the model minority by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. That is how one group of Indians aligned themselves significantly with the Tory Party. These communities had relatively lacked the experience of hardship that most other immigrants had to bear.
Policies Antithesis to Immigrants
In 2022, Rishi Sunak ascended to the position of Prime Minister in the UK, reigniting a debate about the perspective on how people of colour achieving powerful positions should be assessed or if Sunak is a representative of people of colour, to begin with, or not. As Prime Minister, passing an anti-refugee bill was his top priority. His campaign has popularised the slogan “Stop the Boat” to imply deterrence to conflict-fleeing refugees who could be prospective asylum seekers in Britain. The right group has called Sunak’s policy cruel. The policy and strategic communication manager of the Migrant Right Network has stated in Foreign Policy magazine,
“It is not possible to claim asylum from outside the UK, and there is no visa which allows people to enter the UK to claim asylum,”
His policy would make it impossible to legalize the immigration process of refugees. Sunak’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been equally complicit in these hard-line policies.
Although Sunak-Braveman’s right-wing policies have been drained by many British Asians, that has not stopped Indian media from celebrating his success as the victory of the Indian diaspora community in the U.K. Sunak himself has displayed his British Indian identity in interviews by expressing his faith in Hinduism and celebration of Indian festivals. His personal life and actions portray the complex relationship between representation and justice. Sunak, Braverman, and other conservative officials of ethnic minority backgrounds might represent a diverse identity. However, they are not committed to racial justice movements. They are more of part of the existing status quo.
Conclusion
Representation and social justice for minorities are not always mutually exclusive. Their stories ask us to be cautious and see beyond what one is regarding policy and action.