United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, already facing uncertainty over the longevity of his government and the pending Brexit deadline, got a severe lashing from a colleague for failing to curb racism.
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, a member of Parliament from Slough, gave a piece of his mind to Johnson over racist remarks the latter had made in a 2018 newspaper column. Dhesi is the first turbaned Sikh MP elected to the UK House of Commons.
“If I decide to wear a turban, or if someone decides to wear a cross or a hijab, it doesn’t mean that it is an open season for people in this House to make derogatory and divisive remarks,” said Dhesi as he began his speech.
Dhesi was slamming remarks Boris Johnson had made in a 2018 Daily Telegraph column. The British prime minister had said that Muslim women who wear burqas look like “letterboxes and bank robbers”.
The Sikh MP also criticised Boris Johnson for fanning Islamophobia in the country. A recent report found that hate crimes against Muslims saw a 375 per cent rise in 2018. The spike came after Johnson’s Islamophobic comments. The UK monitoring group Tell Mama said anti-Muslim incidents increased by 375% from eight incidents the previous week, to 38 in the following in the week following the hateful article.
Of the 38 anti-Muslim hate incidents, 22 were directed at Muslim women who wore the niqab. As Dhesi continued his condemnation of Johnson’s derogatory remarks, he said that the British PM had not taken any real action to fight Islamophobia within his party despite promising to do so on live television.
He called for Boris Johnson to apologise for his statements.
SOURCE: Indiatoday Featured Image- Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (left) said that the British PM had not taken any real action to fight Islamophobia. Indiatoday Vedio Source: Bloomberg via youtube
