After Sadiq Khan’s overwhelming victory in the race to become Mayor of London, it appears that a portion of the Conservative Party are still intent on continuing the racist, dog-whistle politics put forward by Zac Goldsmith and Tory spin chief Lynton Crosby during the campaign.
Conservative Party member and chairman of the Tamil Conservatives, Aru Sivananthan, has faced a barrage of criticism for a racist outburst in a tweet which was swiftly deleted after it picked up widespread attention and condemnation on social media.
In the tweet, Sivananthan makes a ludicrous assertion about Sadiq Khan’s so-called “jihadi associates now being placed in close proximity to influence the Metropolitan Police”.
Ignorant at best and inciting racial hatred at worst, Sivananthan’s tweet was quick to receive criticism from commentators on both the left and the right.
Owen Jones was one high profile commentator to join the debate, retweeting this reply to Mr Savananthan’s tweet.
There were immediate calls for the suspension of Aru Sivananthan from the party, as well as a fresh inquiry into the seemingly ubiquitous racial hatred displayed throughout Zac Goldsmith’s horrendous mayoral campaign. Rather than building bridges, Goldsmith and the Conservative Party have knocked them down in place of fear and hatred.
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George Osborne recently made the ludicrous claim that Goldsmith’s spiteful and divisive campaign was just “political rough and tumble”, insinuating that the Conservative Party hierarchy are not going to take Islamophobia in their party seriously at all.
This is not the first instance of Islamophobia directed at Sadiq Khan since his landslide victory. Social media has been a hotbed for xenophobic sentiment and as the results were announced, Britain First candidate Paul Golding turned his back on Khan as he was announced the winner. Of course, the right-wing would have you believe that discrimination is just a problem on the left. The last few days have demonstrated that is far from the truth.
EvolvePolitics asked Aru Sivananthan for a statement on his deleted tweet. He declined to comment.
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