It’s rare for British election literature to feature foreign leaders, and rarer still for them to be depicted so negatively. It did strike a chord in Batley. Visiting the constituency during the campaign, I was startled when my taxi driver, a Gujarati, casually described Mr Modi as ‘a mass killer’ – a reference to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The campaign hand-out was also an attempt to defuse the argument that Labour has failed to stand up for the rights of Kashmiris, an issue which – along with the Palestinians’ plight – has a lot of resonance among British Muslims.
The leaflet was a local initiative and attracted condemnation from many in the party. Labour Friends of India condemned the move and urged that the literature be withdrawn. Some warned that such a divisive campaign message, and the demeaning of India’s leader, could lose Hindu votes. One Labour MP, Navendu Mishra, tweeted caustically that ‘racism is alive & well within Labour … Labour will not win by playing divide and…