Four East Indian politicians I wouldn’t vote for

May 02, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – My choice for the American presidential candidate last November was Bernie Sanders. If Sanders had won, I think he should have picked Elizabeth Warren as his running mate. There are four East Indian conservative politicians in powerful positions around the world that I would not hesitate for a fraction of a moment to vote against in favour of opposing White candidates if I had a choice.
They are the current UK Home Affairs Minister (Home Secretary), Preti Patel; Current UK Finance Minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Rishi Sunak; former Chancellor, Sajid Javid under Prime Minister Boris Johnson; and Nikki Halley, former UN Ambassador under President Trump.
Why would East Indians and non-Whites in the UK vote for Patel, Sunak and Javid in the Conservative Party in the UK against progressive White liberals in the Labour Party? Why should East Indians and non-Whites vote for Halley in the US? There could only be one answer – because you choose the criterion of ethnicity over ideology.
This has to be an irrational almost psychotic choice because humans vote for politicians who they want to do general good for their lives and those of their loved ones. They want to have opportunities for higher income; expansion of services provided by the state; secure working environment; good schools and universities for their children; equality in society; equality rights regardless of class, race, etc., etc., etc.
The four East Indians named above are far more conservative, less democratic and more pro-business, less working class oriented than White politicians in the Labour Party in the UK and the White politicians in the Democratic Party in the US. When I was growing up it was unthinkable for immigrants, whether Indians, Africans or mixed-race folks to join the Conservative Party in the UK and the Republican Party in the US. The issue of race was the quintessential reason. The Labour Party and the Democratic Party are more inclusive of people of colour than the Conservative Party and the Republican Party. And it has been like that historically.
It defies commonsense that immigrants in the US would sing for the Republicans whose racist record is a global fact, not only against Blacks but Hispanics. A majority of Republican senators are people who scare you when you listen to them and you reflect on how the Nazis saw racial differences.
If you vote for Patel, Sunak and Javid because they are Indian and you are Indian, then, you are a highly irrational human. What about the White politician running against Patel that has a far greater concern about the welfare of the poor than his Indian rival? Surely, humans have to be more sensible than this.
We come now to Andrew Yang who is running for Mayor of New York and is in the lead in the polls. Yang’s candidacy should be yanked from him because he is the Asian version of the four Indians cited above. Well his platform may be yanked because 400 Asian Americans have signed a petition two Thursdays ago rejecting his candidacy.
They say he is not a progressive Asian. This is good politics from sensible citizens. Humans should vote for issues not the colour of skin. We should see people for what they are; what they are made up of, what values they possess. I have spent my entire life; I repeat my entire life, in this country asking, urging, cajoling, begging people to vote for issues not the ethnicity of politicians.
In that process I was labelled a self-hater by many prominent Indians who felt I didn’t like my own race and that I should not have departed from the flock. I have been described as an Indian racist by those who wanted me to side with an African based party that set out to rig the March 2020 election.
I was active with the multi-racial WPA as a young man in the seventies. I voted for the WPA in all the elections it contested. I campaigned and voted for another multi-racial party, the AFC, in all the elections it fought in. Last year, I voted for the Amerindian party.
I was confused why African youths last year voted for the PNC when in power for five years, 2015-2020, it promised to join the world in accepting the use of marijuana in small quantities but barefacedly reneged on it. It drove hundreds of vendors from Stabroek Square to hold an Independence anniversary celebration. I could go on but from 2015, African Guyanese were betrayed by their party. But unwisely in 2020 they voted for the race of their politicians. Let’s hope they learn in 2025.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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