Islamabad: Prof Swaran Singh from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, has said that the democratic and demographic dividend of South Asia was under threat from the coronavirus and supported.
Islamabad:Prof Swaran Singh from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, has said that the democratic and demographic dividend of South Asia was under threat from the coronavirus and supported.
âIt is difficult to identify any basis upon which this has been a serious attempt to address credible and serious matters or deliver on Boris Johnsonâs leadership election pledge.
âIf anything it acts as an illustration of an attitude inclined to view Islamophobia as an irritant best pushed to one side, when not being utilised in promoting culture wars rather than as a serious systemic issue which needs to be rooted out.â
Another senior Muslim Tory said: âThis report is a sad reflection of how little the party cares about inclusivity.â
In a pointed message to Johnson, the review said the leadership of the party âought to set a good example for appropriate behaviours and languageâ.
Last modified on Tue 25 May 2021 23.37 EDT
It took an unusually forthright intervention by Sajid Javid in a BBC Conservative leadership debate in June 2019 to force an inquiry into anti-Muslim prejudice within the party’s ranks.
The then home secretary turned to his four rivals and put them on the spot: “Shall we agree, guys? Shall we have an external investigation into Islamophobia?”
The last to agree was the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May as party leader and prime minister – Boris Johnson – who nodded and mouthed “yes”.
Nearly two years later, Prof Swaran Singh, a former equality and human rights commissioner, analysed 1,418 complaints relating to 727 separate incidents as recorded in the Tories’ complaints database between 2015 and 2020.