Exclusive: Muslims expelled by London Labour Party

Dalawar Chaudary and Cllr Zulfiqar Ali are two established Muslim community leaders in London. Dalawar hails from Southall & Zulfiqar from Newham.

Dalawar has a proud record supporting the community and the Labour Party in London which ultimately resulted in Labour seeing off the Tories in the recent Southall bye election in no small part due to his considerable influence with all communities throughout the constituency. He was involved in a high profile campaign to secure Muslim votes for Virenda Sharma now the Hindu MP for Southall and organised a function in the TKC restaurant which was attended by all Muslim MP's. Imagine my surprise when news reaches London Muslim that Dalawar was deselected by the London Labour Party following unfounded allegations surrounding a family business he is involved with. As a result he has been removed by the London Labour party from the Local Government panel meaning he no longer is able to stand for Labour in the Southall Broadway ward at next years local elections.

Zulfi an elected councillor and member of the party for decades and a magistrate has been a pillar of the community in East London with a reputation for being fair minded, loyal and sincere to Muslim causes domestically and internationally. Zulfi seems to have come up against a powerful white Cabal who seem instrumental in getting him removed from the long list and therefore he will no longer be able to stand in the LB Newham next year.

Deafening silence from the London Labour establishment ie Ken Clarke the regional Director, Sir Robin Wales, and senior MP’s like Stephen Timms. Let’s not mince our words a huge number of white Labour councillors and MP's hold their position on the back of the Muslim vote in London. The White London Labour party hierarchy have traditionally looked upon the Muslim vote as the dog that never barks and thus our vote has perpetuated the largely white established status quo.

However, increasingly the perception amongst Muslims is that Labour in London wants our vote but are not prepared to reciprocate by awarding Muslims with positions of authority within the London Labour party or safe seats. No doubt the spin masters at Victoria Street will trot out the same old tired example of Sadiq Khan and Rushannara Ali the candidate in Bethnal Green. Frankly that’s superficial window dressing when you consider the size of London Muslim population.

Enough is enough. London Muslim can exclusively reveal that Dalawar Chaudary will stand as an Independent at next year’s local elections in Ealing for Southall Broadway ward not as a Muslim but as an Independent representing all faiths. What Southall Politics needs is less of the established corrupt political system and a genuine independent, willing to bring a breath of fresh air into the stale dirty politics of Southall. London Muslim has no doubt Dalwar will win comfortably.

In addition, London Muslim urges Zulfiqar Ali not to allow the old white guard to push long standing Muslim councillors out, but to also join the fight back by standing as an Independent in the LB Newham which I understand he is seriously considering.

My advice to Ken Clarke: As you have failed to get a grip, presided over a hammering in the 2006 elections, and will preside over a drubbing in 2010 please do the decent thing by standing down as regional Director. You have lost the confidence of Muslims.

With the removal of Ken Clarke, what London Labour needs is an early decision on ensuring Ken Livingstone as our candidate for the 2012 Mayoral election which we also lost on Ken Clarke’s watch and a clean sweep of the old guard from the regional office in Victoria Street.