This election is making me feel very alienated as an Indian woman

[Carowe]

I’m half Indian. There is something incredibly unsavoury going on imo. I’m not a fan of the Tories or Sunak but Farage’s comments in tandem with the insane media storm over Rishi leaving the D-day event early seems racist. The argument that Rishi is not patriotic feels like a dog whistle ie he is not British enough/ a white prime minister would have stayed. All this despite 90,000 Indian soldiers dying in WW2 (I won’t even get into the millions of deaths from famine caused by Brits ransacking India for war supplies).

How many indiscretions did we let Boris get away with?

Very uncomfortable for me.

I think your are confusing two different things...

-Reform saying implying that Sunak because of his heritage cannot be patriotic is totally racist and unacceptable.

-Sunak being criticised in general for leaving the ceremonies early to do a TV interview is however completely justified. This was not appropriate behaviour for a PM. The behaviour is being criticised here and this has nothing to do with his ethnic background.

I suspect he probably would've if it had been, say, Ed Miliband. But then that would be racist too.

Why do you call the media storm 'insane'? It was a completely stupid and ignorant thing to do whatever ethnicity he is - that didn't come into it for the media, more that the Tories have messed up yet again.

It's dog whistle central in this country at the moment.

Just know that these incredibly loud voices ARE the minority.

Farage got away with telling us lies to get his way in the referendum and is trying the same tactics now.

Luckily, most people can see straight through him.

just because nige is a racist twat doesn't mean what rishi did was right
it had nothing to do with his Indian origins. rishi is as British as they come. it had to do with sheer arrogance and a total lack of understanding of the public sentiment. not to mention both he and his staff are totally incompetent. this is something so basic to not fuck up.

I say all this as someone of southasian heritage.

ps totally sympathise with your overall point though OP, I feel increasingly unwelcome in this country. the narrative around people of colour/of foreign origin is abhorrent

The Indian community didn't care when Farage was being racist against Romanians and other Eastern Europeans to get Brits to vote for Brexit. Reform/Farage IS racist. Always has been. There's nothing new about it. Your community is just the easy target for them at the moment.

Rishi's decision, especially off the back of him wanting to introduce national service, was unbelievably stupid and disrespectful. The backlash is well deserved and no, I don't think Boris would have received more understanding from the public.

Look at the deeds of the person, not their race - if you are trying to be re-elected as prime minister of a country you don't walk out of a very important memorial early! I couldn't care less if he was pink, red or orange with green spots and came from Mars, he's an utter prick.

What ALL of the Indian community??
V offensive.

The argument that X other politician wouldn't have been so harshly criticised are moot anyway, because nobody else would've done it.

I agree with Starting. Farage is a racist twat and what he said was obviously a very thinly veiled racist dig. However Rishi made a huge politcal faux par by leaving early.

I wasn't aware anything racist had been said, but I've been ignoring most of the election coverage and anything Nigel Farage has said because it's all too depressing.

As for Rishi Sunak, I think it was stupid of him to leave an event like that early. I'd say the same thing about any politician - whoever told him leaving early was an OK idea clearly hates him or is an idiot. The public outcry was predictable.

I don't comment on how ridiculous everything Nigel Farage says, or I'd never have time to talk about anything else. Just assume anything he says, most decent people disagree with.

Bit of a sweeping generalisation there.

If it's any consolation, I very much like Rishi on a personal level. He seems like a clever, hard-working and nice man and of course he took on the poisoned chalice after Johnson and Truss. I'm white, btw.

I agree. It was an unfortunate photo at the end without him but aren't we all guilty of slipping away from formal events early if we have a lot on our plate? He turned up and made a speech and did the bit he was formally requested to do and had a capable former prime minister step in when he left.

I disagree. Honestly, I am not personally offended by the PM having sloped off early from the D-Day commemorations. On one level, I couldn't really care less whether he was there or not. But Sunak is not just like the rest of us who might happen to have a lot on our plates - he is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and he should be aware that in matters of politics and diplomacy, optics and perception are everything.

I think this was a massive misstep that casts serious doubt on his personal and political judgment. It was a major unforced error. Of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with his patriotism or his ethnicity or any of the other stupid shit that Farage and his racist cronies will try to make it about, but it does have everything to do with the way in which he, like a succession of Tory PMs before him, will persistently put the narrow interests of his own party over and above what is required of him by the country in his role as Prime Minister.

Of course, his advisers catastrophically failed him as well. They let him down by not warning him that he needed to stay. But ultimately the man has a mind of his own and he needs to take responsibility for this mistake. We need leaders with good judgement, and he has shown that his is lacking.

I doubt many of us are guilty of causing great offence to D Day veterans, no.

Yeah I’m sure some Indian people didn’t care but that’s not all, and you can’t generalise either way. If you were going to play that game you could just as equally say there are Eastern Europeans who don’t care about anti-Black and anti-Asian sentiment.

and some will even happily join in. I was watching a BBC documentary shortly after Brexit and a stunned polish woman said she was told by her British friends that as a Polish person she wasn’t the sort of immigrant they and other people were unhappy about. so she was shocked at Brexit.

I have no doubt her friends clarified what “type” of immigrant was a problem and she apparently didn’t have an issue with that.

And some (not all!) Ukrainians refugees have complained about some areas in Britain being too “brown” or “ black.

But what does that prove? That everyone from Eastern Europe deserves to be targeted by Farage or the whole community doesn’t care about racism etc? Certainly not!

And for balance I must hasten to add I know many Eastern Europeans who love other cultures they encounter here , and are very anti-racist.

Oh please - it's not about unfortunate photos and slipping away from a school awards ceremony! It's the most significant international memorial event this year, and it's to honour the fallen allies as well as commemorate their victory. The Tories have had no problem mobilising the history of Churchill and WW2 when it suits them and this would have shown Sunak on the world stage amongst world leaders - the advantage of being an incumbent. Instead he seems petty, disrespectful and politically ignorant.

He also appears insincere and a hypocrite if he is heralding the worthiness of National Service for people that are not him one week and then seemingly having no patriotic stamina for the D day events.

IvyIvyIvy · Today 14:00
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I agree. It was an unfortunate photo at the end without him but aren't we all guilty of slipping away from formal events early if we have a lot on our plate”

What a load of bollocks. President Zelensky managed it. Guessing he has quite a lot on his plate. As does Biden, Macron…..

What do testicles have to do with this? Mind your mouth

How dare you tell me to mind my mouth? @IvyIvyIvy. just who the hell do you think you are?

Excusing a terrible Tory PM (PMs) who have caused untold misery to millions, perfectly acceptable?
Calling you out on your pathetic bollocks, rude?

Pathetic.

Explain, please, why Rishi Sunak had more pressing matters to deal with than Zelensky, Biden and Macron?

You can’t. He didn’t. He is simply arrogant and disrespectful.

Please don't use language like that towards me. I wrote a thoughtful and considered post - in a calm and sympathetic manner -and you've just been aggressive and used vulgar language.

You are clearly angry at mr sunak and his colleagues but that is no reason to attack me.

All I said was we've all left formal events early when we've had a lot on our plates and he arranged a very well qualified representative.

That's no reason to start referring to my comments as parts of male genitals. Just say 'i disagree'. You surely don't respond to people in real life like that, who you've literally just come across in the street. Check yourself online like you would in real life.

Have a nice evening.

I don't think Rishi left the DDay events early because he's of Indian extraction and doesn't "understand" British traditions and values, I think he's just one of those rich Tory posh boys who grew up with a silver spoon in his arse and hasn't got a modicum of common sense.