Polls Fever Grips Indians Living In London As Political Parties Take Out Rallies To Woo Voters

Two car rallies, one linked to BJP and the other to Congress, took place across Britain on Sunday to influence voters back home in India, which is going to polls next month to put in place a new government at the Centre. While one rally was organised by Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP)-UK, the other was by Indian Overseas Congress (IOC)-UK.

Fortunately, the convoys of the opposing groups, plastered in banners and flags of their respective parties, did not bump into each other, though there was one near-miss.

Sudhakar Goud, spokesperson for IOC UK, said half an hour before the Congress convoy reached the Gandhi statue in London¡¯s Tavistock Square, an IOC supporter, who had moved ahead, saw 10 cars plastered with BJP flags and banners leaving. The convoys otherwise took different routes.

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Starting early morning from Hounslow, the IOC travelled in a 100-car convoy, touching key landmarks in London and then going on to Birmingham, Coventry and Slough, ending up in Osterley in the evening. About 400 people took part in the IOC rally and AICC secretary in charge of IOC Himanshu Vyas was the chief guest.

On the other hand, BJP had 500 cars on the road in city-wide rallies in Edinburgh, London, Birmingham, Leicester, Milton Keynes and Newcastle, lasting four hours.

Racing driver Advait Deodhar flagged off the BJP London rally. As many as 275 cars with 600 people participated in that rally which took three routes ¨C one around Wembley and Alperton in north-west London, where many Gujaratis and Punjabis live.

The second went round Southall and Hounslow, also densely populated with PIOs, and the third went through landmarks in central London, such as the London Eye and Gandhi statue.

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¡°The aim is to create awareness among people to make sure they call back home and ensure people vote for Modi,¡± OFBJP UK president Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat said.

IOC¡¯s Goud said: ¡°Our main focus is to get Congress back into power. The freedom movement started in the UK and the main Congress leaders were NRIs. Mahatma Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh studied in the UK. So, the UK plays a vital role in motivating the Indian diaspora to spread awareness to vote for Congress back in India.

The Indian diaspora is very influential. We don¡¯t have much time, so we are telling every IOC supporter to be a foot soldier. Many of us will be going to India to help out. Narendra Modi is for people like Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, and he does not care about the poor,¡± said Goud.

OFBJP¡¯s Shekhawat said: ¡°We have 10,000 Modi campaigners in the UK, 2,000 of whom have already gone to India to work for the election. From mid-April, most of us are travelling to India. We had a very good response in Southall. Some people started dancing in the street, shouting ¡®Modi Modi¡¯. I am not worried. Since Pulwama, people have come out strongly in favour of Modi.¡±

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Twenty-five people in 12 cars wearing ¡®Namo Again¡¯ T-shirts turned up at the Edinburgh BJP rally, which started with a Vedic peace mantra at the Edinburgh Hindu Mandir and then wound its way past the Scottish Parliament, Arthur¡¯s Seat and through the Gorgie, a PIO stronghold, ending up at the Gyle Shopping Centre.

¡°We are showing that NRIs support Modi to inspire people in India to vote for him. We were expecting more people but there was snow and ice,¡± said organiser IT consultant Puneet Dwivedi.

OCI card holders cannot vote in the Lok Sabha election and Indian passport-holders have to return to India to do so.