Sanya-Jeet Thandi Accused Party of “Exploiting the Ignorance in British Society”
A leading UKIP supporter has resigned from the party after describing their political campaign as a “form of racist populism.”
Writing on a blog for the Guardian website, Sanya-Jeet Thandi accused UKIP for running an anti-immigrant campaign and “exploiting the ignorance in British society,” Ms Thandi, who is a student at the London School of Economics had been a member of the Young Independence, UKIP Youth Wing, for three years.
In her blog she wrote, “As a British-born Indian supporter of UKIP I should be proud that the party I joined at 18 has grown to challenge the Conservatives and Labour so strongly. In reality, however, the direction in which the party is going is terrifying: UKIP has descended into a form of racist populism that I cannot bring myself to vote for. This week I decided to leave the party and I will abstain from voting in the upcoming European elections. I urge other UKIP supporters to do the same.”
“I am the daughter of Indian nationals and strongly support immigration. According to the Adam Smith Institute, GDP could more than double with the free movement of labour. There’s no denying immigration is a positive thing. Yet if I voted UKIP, how many of those voting with me would privately prefer that my parents and I were not citizens of this country?”
“UKIP is now constantly in the political spotlight, meaning it is easy for members and candidates to get tripped up. In order to convince society they are not racist they need to stop giving positions in the party to people with racist views. It is not good enough to say that these individuals just slipped through the net, time and time again. Yes, UKIP is still a relatively young party. No, that is not an excuse to allow racists to stand for election. Nor is it an excuse to exploit the ignorance in British society and indulge the racist vote by telling them “they’ll take your jobs”. Sorry UKIP, you’ve lost another vote.”
