A recent news report from London spoke of the forfeiture of the honours bestowed by the British on two leading members of the Indian origin community in the United Kingdom. Tory peer Rami Ranger and Hindu Council UK managing trustee Anil Bhanot were stripped of the honorary medals, one a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and the latter an Officer of the British Empire (OBE), following an inquiry. The decision at the behest of the Keir Starmer Government speaks less about the character of the two Indian origin British citizens who have done well for themselves in their adopted country. And more about the incumbent Labour Government’s increasing proclivity to humour religious extremists be they Islamists or Sikh separatists demanding vivisection of India. As the two leading lights of the British Indian community pointed out, forfeiture of the so-called honours, which in the first place they did not seek, is a direct assault on free speech. For, tweeting about one’s deep dismay at the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh, or berating a few Sikhs in London for making a nuisance of themselves demanding Khalistan is a fully kosher act. In fact, two should have been commended for their courage to speak out against persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, or for bringing a bad name to the entire peaceful and patriotic Sikh community by a handful of Pakistan-funded Sikh activists in the UK, US, Canada, etc. crying for Khalistan. Giving in to the increasingly shrill Islamist voices which now ring louder and louder in British streets and council halls, Keir Starmer has only exposed the growing vulnerability of his party to the Muslim vote-bank. For now, politicians like Starmer may try to appease the Islamists, but sooner than later he would come to regret his decision. Unless western leaders begin to call out the growing threat their Muslim populations have come to pose in an increasingly large number of cities, they are bound to come to grief. That there now are in every big European city a Muslim ghetto where the natives and the police both are afraid to go signals the stranglehold the immigrant Muslims have come to establish in the host countries. By snatching the much devalued baubles the long-declined British Empire — really? — of Ranger and Bhanot it has done no harm to the reputations of the two of itrs own prominent citizens. Indeed, it may have only enhanced their reputation for speaking up for the victims of religious violence and against the Khalistani fringe in the UK. Meanwhile, the least that the Indian Government can do is to award the two with the Padma awards. That will be a fitting riposte to the Starmer Government for falling prey to the growing Islamist influence in the British corridors of power.
