In UK, rallying call to Indian voters

If it’s election season in India, can the desis be far behind those back home in getting into poll gear? So, true to form, the Indian diaspora in UK took out two rallies on Sunday to express support for their favoured candidates in the parliamentary elections in the world’s largest democracy. One of the rallies was organised by Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) and the other by Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP).

NRIs feel they have a strong influence back home and want to send out the message that they are as involved as can be in the polls. Overseas Citizen of India card holders cannot vote in the Lok Sabha elections and Indian passport holders have to return to India to do so. But vote or no vote, the rallies were high on enthusiasm.

The IOC travelled in a 100-car convoy starting early morning from Hounslow round key landmarks in London and on to Birmingham, Coventry and Slough, ending up in Osterley in the evening.


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

Sudhakar Goud, spokesperson for IOC UK, said, “Our main focus is to get Congress back into power,” said Goud.UK plays a vital role in motivating the Indian diaspora to spread awareness about voting for Congress back in India. 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.”

About 400 people took part and AICC secretary in-charge of IOC, Himanshu Vyas was chief guest.

Racing driver Advait Deodhar flagged off the BJP’s rally in London –275 cars took part in that rally.

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

“We have 10,000 Modi campaigners in the United Kingdom, 2,000 of whom have already gone to India to work for the election. 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,” he added.