London:
The Asian voter in Britain has traditionally voted for the Labour Party. Even Indians, who effect the outcome of results in more than 50 constituencies in Britain, have largely stayed with the Labour.
But disillusionment with 13 years of Labour rule have put a question mark on whether the immigrant community will stick with the Labour.
Trailing in the third place in the polls, Labour is now desperately trying to retain its traditional vote bank of ethnic minorities by releasing a manifesto specifically for them.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently celebrated Baisakhi at the gurdwara in Southall, which is an overwhelmingly Indian area in London and has been a safe Labour seat.
But there is a realisation that the Asian origin community cannot be taken for granted. So ten days before polling, for the first time ever, the Labour Party released what it calls its manifesto for the black and ethnic minority.
When asked if the party was taking this community for granted given that they released the manifesto barely ten days before voting, Deputy Leader of the party Harriet Harman said: "We feel we have a strong and proud record and a progressive agenda. The key thing is diversity in this country key to our economic prosperity. It's not about doing blacks or Asian voters a favour."
But as Indians become more prosperous and move towards the mainstream, they are looking at other options too. So both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are pitching for their vote. While Conservatives have fielded a record number of Asian origin candidates this time, Liberal Democrats have the most open immigration policy.
While polls suggest a hung Parliament, studies indicate that the Asian vote will split this time, as never before.
Battle for Britain: Set your agenda here
But disillusionment with 13 years of Labour rule have put a question mark on whether the immigrant community will stick with the Labour.
Trailing in the third place in the polls, Labour is now desperately trying to retain its traditional vote bank of ethnic minorities by releasing a manifesto specifically for them.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband recently celebrated Baisakhi at the gurdwara in Southall, which is an overwhelmingly Indian area in London and has been a safe Labour seat.
But there is a realisation that the Asian origin community cannot be taken for granted. So ten days before polling, for the first time ever, the Labour Party released what it calls its manifesto for the black and ethnic minority.
When asked if the party was taking this community for granted given that they released the manifesto barely ten days before voting, Deputy Leader of the party Harriet Harman said: "We feel we have a strong and proud record and a progressive agenda. The key thing is diversity in this country key to our economic prosperity. It's not about doing blacks or Asian voters a favour."
But as Indians become more prosperous and move towards the mainstream, they are looking at other options too. So both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are pitching for their vote. While Conservatives have fielded a record number of Asian origin candidates this time, Liberal Democrats have the most open immigration policy.
While polls suggest a hung Parliament, studies indicate that the Asian vote will split this time, as never before.
Battle for Britain: Set your agenda here
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