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Thursday March 28, 2024

Naz Shah opposes Salma Yaqoob over ‘despicable’ campaign

By Saeed Niazi
October 08, 2019

LONDON: The Labour party’s selection process for West Midland’s mayor has plunged into a serious crisis after two British Pakistani politicians publicly fought each other as Labour’s shadow minister and Bradford MP Naz Shah accused prospective candidate Salma Yaqoob of being unfit for the office for running a campaign of “hate and Baradarism” against her during the general election campaign of 2017.

In a letter to the National Executive Council (NEC) of Labour Party, the shadow minister for women and equalities has demanded that Salma Yaqoob should not be allowed to stand as mayoral candidate for the West Midlands because she ran a “despicable” general election campaign against her in Bradford West two years ago.

Salma Yaqoob, a former councillor of Birmingham and leader of George Galloway’s defunct Respect Party, rejected allegations by Naz Shah and said Naz Shah had refused to accept her public apology for standing as a Respect candidate in Bradford West.

Naz Shah believes that the Labour’s NEC should not have allowed Salma Yaqoob to oppose the MP Liam Byrne and a union leader in the race to be selected as the party’s official candidate to take on the West Midlands Conservative mayor, Andy Street.

This reporter has seen a copy of the letter Naz Shah wrote to the NEC and also Salma Yaqoob’s reply to the allegations. Naz Shah told the NEC that that Salma Yaqoob endorsed a campaign of misogyny, religious and sectarian hate, patriarchy and Baradari (clan) politics in 2017. Naz Shah has publicly said that her life was put at risk, she was subjected to public humiliation in Pakistani and Kashmiri community of Bradford and treated as inferior by Salma’s campaign group, on her behest, during the controversial campaign and that she was driven to contemplate suicide.

She said: “This kind of clan politics, not underpinned by any political ideology but driven by men for the purpose of men to gain and retain power, has hindered the development of my city. Despite giving me her word that she wouldn’t come to Bradford West after I explained this to her in detail, Salma Yaqoob still came and stood against me. In doing so I believe she endorsed misogyny, patriarchy and Biradri politics.

“If that wasn’t a betrayal enough by a Muslim woman who I once looked up to, Salma Yaqoob then allowed a local imam at her campaign launch to ‘hijab shame’ me. ‘Who is the most Muslim, that is Salma Yaqoob,’ were his words whilst Salma Yaqoob sat there and applauded,” she said.

She said: “To be questioned whether I was good enough by a bunch of patriarchal men, the misogynists in my community, in public, putting my character on trial for the sake of political gain with not a single word of condemnation but applause from SY is despicable.

“This personal attack on my honour and everything I stood for … made me feel suicidal on two occasions during that campaign.”Naz Shah has accused Labour party of giving Salma Yaqoob “special treatment” but the Labour party said it went through the proper processes and Yaqoob’s candidacy was waved through because there were no other women or BAME candidates.

In a long reply, Salma Yaqoob rejected allegations by Naz Shah and said she had consistently campaigned against the clan system and did not try to shame anyone.She said in a statement: “I would like to move forward in this campaign by recognising the problems of the past, honouring the pain felt on all sides and building collective support to deliver the very best for the people of the West Midlands under the Labour party.

“I have always had an open-door policy and have not shied from taking constructive criticisms on board. I would like the opportunity for Naz to see the journey I have been on over the last couple of years, perhaps this is something that I can only demonstrate through actions rather than words.”

During the heated election campaign, local community men using platform of Salma Yaqoob’s campaign repeatedly subjected Naz Shah to attacks. Asim Husain, a local imam, and senior Labour activist Pateh Khan, made objectionable remarks targeting gender and appearance of Naz Shah.

Naz Shah defeated George Galloway in the 2015 elections on Labour’s ticket and won seat again in 2017 on an increased majority. Naz Shah’s Bradford West constituency has more Muslim voters than any other constituency in Britain. The number of registered voters in Bradford stands at over 43,000 — out of which 23,000 are eligible Muslims.

After the election was over, Labour Party expelled three of its members for supporting a rival to Naz Shah in the election campaign. The Labour Party inquiry established that former Bradford councilor Faisal Khan, Abid Hussain and Adil Hussain either campaigned openly for Salma Yaqoob or ran campaigns against Naz Shah and attacked her in the most vicious manner. Salma Yaqoob has written in detail to the NEC explaining her position: “I acknowledge it was a misjudgement to stand against Naz Shah in Bradford in the 2017 General Election, and understand it would have upset her. I have apologised for that publicly and have reached out to her personally too in the hope of some reconciliation. I felt that bearing grudges would not help the Labour Party or wider movement, and that the real battles against the Tories need to be fought together. I did this by directly calling and texting her, as well as inviting mediation through intermediaries known to both of us — she chose not to respond.”

Salma Yaqoob wrote that Naz Shah had slandered her by calling her, in October 2017 at the Labour Party conference, “George Galloway version two in a hijab from Birmingham”.She said that she did not agree with Asim Hussain when he made misogynist comments and said “the election was not to be conducted on any grounds relating to religion or dress”.