Tory candidate accused of dog-whistle tactics against rival with Indian name

A Conservative candidate has been criticised for sending letters to British-Pakistani voters allegedly insinuating they should vote for him instead of his Labour rival because of her Indian surname.

Marco Longhi, the Tory candidate fighting for re-election in Dudley North against Sonia Kumar, has been accused of using dog-whistle politics and attempting to “alienate British Hindus”.

In a letter to “voters of the British Pakistani/Kashmiri community in Dudley”, Longhi asked if the Labour candidate would speak for Kashmir in parliament. Kumar’s name was in bold, capitalised and underlined.

Rishi Sunak has been called to withdraw his support for Longhi and condemn the letter.

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Anneliese Dodds, the chair of the Labour party, said: “This is clearly inappropriate, divisive, dog-whistle politics from the Conservatives. There is no place for such behaviour anywhere in our political system.

“Rishi Sunak needs to take action immediately. If he fails to do so, it will show his promise of professionalism and accountability to be a hollow sham.”

Kumar is a common Indian surname, with Hindu origins. As of 2014, 97% of all known holders of the surname were residents of India.

There is no written record in Hansard of Longhi having brought up Kashmir in the chamber since he became an MP in 2019.

Dodd’s comments were echoed by Labour’s candidate for Leicester East, Rajesh Agrawal, who classed the letter as a “shameful attempt to divide the area that Mr Longhi claims to represent”. Agrawal said it was “offensive to both Muslim and Hindu communities”.

“There should be zero tolerance of the dog-whistle politics Mr Longhi is engaged in. Rishi Sunak should immediately remove Conservative party support for Mr Longhi’s campaign and apologise for attempting to alienate British Hindus,” he added.

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Krish Raval, chair of Labour’s group for Indians, also criticised the letter, and the prime minister for failing to call out the divisive politics.

“We find Marco Longhi’s comments racist, dangerous and wholly divisive,” Raval said, adding: “It is also disheartening to see an Indian-origin leader of the Conservatives let anti-Indian racism run rife through his party.”

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future thinktank, said: “Different parties, and candidates, have in past got into trouble making pitches to voters of one ethnicity/faith background that could harm the party if seen by voters of another background. It should not happen – especially in such brazen prejudiced form.

“Obviously, any representative in parliament ought to be able to represent constituents of different ethnic and faith backgrounds. In my view any of the major parties should suspend a candidate for doing this.”

Longhi later doubled down on his letter, telling GB News: “This is politics, isn’t it? Do you want someone who has consistently been supportive of Kashmiris where there have been human rights abuses or do you want someone called Sonia Kumar who no one has ever heard of?”

The Guardian has contacted Longhi for comment.