THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE - WHY ASIAN LEADER SPOKE OUT ON IMMIGRATION

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Thinking the unthinkable - why Asian leader spoke out on immigration

Immigrants, eh? Coming over here, taking our jobs... it's time the Government did something. That was the general gist. It's hardly newsworthy now; the kind of opinion you can hear being bandied across pub tables every night of the week.

Sometimes, though, it's not what's been said, but who has said it.You don't expect a banker to have a go at bonuses and you don't expect an Asian community leader to question the wisdom of Britain's immigration policy.

Yet last week, in the pages of this newspaper, Suleman Nagdi – spokesman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations, chairman of the Muslim Burial Council, Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire, MBE – did just that.

It felt like a watershed moment; an immigrant – Mr Nagdi arrived in Britain in 1976 – calling for tighter immigration controls.

To some, it was an example of towering hypocrisy; an ill-judged comment by someone who should know better, that could only blow wind into the sails of the far-right.

"People have said, 'It's okay for Suleman. He's here, he's got himself a good life. Now he wants to stop other people doing it'," says Mr Nagdi.

"The other side of it is, 'I agree with you. We don't have the resources here at this moment to deal with these people'."

Mr Nagdi made his original remarks after being asked to comment on a survey which found 39 per cent of British Asians – compared with 34 per cent of whites and 21 per cent of blacks – wanted all immigration into the UK to be stopped permanently.

Those figures were greeted with raised eyebrows, but they weren't altogether surprising, says John Benyon, a professor of political studies at the University of Leicester.

We tie the label "immigrant" to all new arrivals.

Yet what do Somali refugees have in common with Eastern Europeans or Indians who came here from Uganda and Kenya in the 1970s?

The answer, Prof Benyon points out, is not a great deal – beyond the desire to build themselves better lives.

He says: "A lot of generalisations about immigrants are made without any attempt to distinguish between the different motivations of people for wanting to come here. Some are economic migrants, some come here for security."

Mr Nagdi finesses his comments of last week, but he doesn't row back from them.

Mukesh Naker, a spokesman for Leicester pressure group British Hindu Voice, said similar things in that story. He, though, has not responded to our requests for an interview.

So, fair play to Mr Nagdi.

"I'm just being practical," he says. "Look at the situation we now find ourselves in. We are in the grip of a worldwide economic recession.

More people are losing their jobs.

"We need to look at the demands made on housing and education.

There are far-reaching consequences if you have large numbers of people coming in.

"I'm not talking about a total ban on immigration. I'm talking about more control over immigration."

The far-right is always looking to scapegoat certain groups for social and economic problems, he argues. If we don't take the issue of immigration seriously, then we run the risk of playing into their hands.

It's a point, but does the Leicester of today look so very different to one Mr Nagdi moved into in the 1970s?

We had a three-day week back then, an oil crisis, a recession and the National Front were on the march.

Yet Mr Nagdi, like so many others who had little luggage and a lot of ambition, made a go of things. He worked hard, he set up his own business and, along with many others, he helped reinvigorate this city's spluttering economy.

"There are some major success stories relating to minority communities," says Mr Nagdi, seemingly trampling on his own argument. "If you look at Leicester, some of the richest people in this city are from minority communities. They have contributed to the wealth of this city."

The Asian immigrant success story has been told so often it teeters on the brink of cliche.

Manjula Sood, Leicester's first Indian lady mayor and first woman chairman of the city's council of faiths, came to Leicester on December 18, 1970.

Home, back in India, had been a 25-room house with servants. She swapped that for a one-bedroom place in Highfields with no carpets or central heating.

Manjula wanted to go back to India, but her grandfather told her to stick it out with her new husband. She did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

"This city gave me the support to bring up my children and live with dignity," says Manjula.

It is a debt Manjula has undoubtedly paid back with interest – just as today's new arrivals will do, she believes.

When Manjula sees Eastern Europeans cleaning cars, opening shops and working on building sites for the minimum wage, she sees the same determination to succeed she saw in Indian immigrants 30 and 40 years ago.

Lazy people don't cross continents. If someone leaves their country, they do it because they want to build themselves a better life.

Given time, they too will be part of Leicester's establishment, says Manjula. You can't pull the shutters down on immigration. Try to do that and society stagnates.

That's not to say she doesn't understand people's concerns, particularly in the Indian community.

People mortgaged their lives to buy into the British dream, and now, they can see it evaporating before their eyes.

Is it any wonder if people have concerns about new arrivals, she asks. The recent English Defence League rally brought back unhappy memories for lots of people.

There is a fear that minority communities could bear the brunt of any backlash if immigration concerns are not addressed.

"I can stand on a rooftop saying I'm British, but others don't see me as that. It's not what I say, it's what others think," says Mr Nagdi.

There is a fear in the Asian community, says Manjula, that they "could be the first targeted if anything goes wrong".

"Go into the communities and you will find this is the talk at the moment."

Such concerns are perfectly understandable, says Prof Benyon. People who come to a country for a better life are often less likely to take that life for granted.

There is another factor at work, too, he says.

"Immigrants are often fiercely proud and loyal of their new country, much more so sometimes than people who have been here for generations," says Prof Benyon.

As far as Mr Nagdi is concerned, he's not saying the unsayable. We have to talk about such things, he believes.

"Immigration is a debate we all should be having," he says. "I'm the first one to say I don't have all the answers.

"If you had asked me about this 20 years ago, my answer may have been different. I think more about being a British citizen than an Asian citizen. My focus has changed."

Just to set the record straight: this article describes Cllr Manjula Sood as "first woman chairman of the city's council of faiths". The first woman Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths was actually Minou Cortazzi (2007-9).