FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY: A TYRANT'S WHIM BOOSTED OUR CITY'S FORTUNES

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Forty years ago today: a tyrant's whim boosted our city's fortune

Forty years ago today, East African dictator Idi Amin made a decision that would change Leicester forever.

In August 1972, the leader of Uganda decided to expel all the Asians living in his country – most of whom held British passports and boarded planes for England.

Leicester City Council's reaction was to place an advert in the Uganda Argus warning that Leicester was full of immigrants already and that they should not move here. However, between 6,000 and 10,000 Ugandan Asians came to the city.

They brought with them a wealth of skills and business know-how that would boost Leicester's fortunes.

The Asian families, many of whom owned Uganda's most successful businesses, had been given 90 days to leave the country and could only take their personal belongings and up to £55 in cash.

Among them were Praful Thakrar's family.

Praful, who is now 64, working as an accountant and living in Oadby, was 24 and studying accountancy in London when the announcement was made.

While watching the News at Ten he saw footage of his mother and eight brothers and sisters getting off a plane at Stansted Airport.

"I had been in England two weeks and I had no idea what my family were doing until I saw them on television," he said. "I rang ITN and found they had been taken to a camp in Devon."

After 47 years in Uganda, Praful's parents had built up a good life, living in a large house.

When they arrived in Leicester, the family of 11 all had to live in a terraced house, and had to start working and rebuilding their lives.

Praful said: "We had seen the advertisement in the newspaper asking us to not come to Leicester, but it backfired.

"Luckily, the job market in Leicester was very good at that time and within four months we were renting a second house as well. We were very lucky to come here. My own children both work in London now and have good lives."

Manu Madhani, who lives in Evington, Leicester, was 28 when the expulsion announcement was made.

He said: "The first thing I did was get all my money out of the bank and give it away to my African staff and get ready to leave. I felt hurt by what happened because I had worked hard on my export and import business in the past four years and put all my savings into it."I was born in Uganda and didn't want to leave."

Manu, now 68, runs Manu Export Services, in London Road, Leicester.He said the city council's warning to stay away had produced the opposite affect.

"Leicester City Council said the city was full of immigrants and that they didn't want any more.

"If we hadn't seen that advert we would have gone somewhere else."When we came to Leicester we were not using benefits and asking for aid – we were all business-minded people.

"The second day I was here I was out looking for work."

After working as a machinist at an engineering company in Abbey Lane, Leicester, Manu's employers discovered his business skills and promoted him to the export department.

He later spent 17 years working for a London export company before concentrating on his own business.

He said he had never experienced racist attitudes in Leicester and was happy to call it home.

He said: "I think about Uganda but I haven't been back. My two daughters and my son are all settled here and married.

"My mother, who is 89 now, is against me going back because she still has fears. This is our home now."