Face of Labour NHS poster joins Tories

It's election time in UK. Defections and desertions have started. However, this one catches your imagination. Anwara Ali, a Labour councillor and also a GP, whose face adorned a NHS poster has joined the Tories. Ali feels Labour has failed to reform the health services and the Tories have a better plan.

Dr Ali has worked to spread awareness on breast cancer and was a member of a taskforce to encourage more women from BME (Black Minority Ethnic) groups to become councillors. Dr Ali's role as GP brings her face to face with several local citizens everyday.

While her defection is certainly a setback for the Labour party, it will be interesting to see what difference she makes in the elections. Dr Ali's parents are from Bangladesh and she reportedly had a good influence on the Bengali-speaking women in Tower Hamlet. In the run up to the elections, this is one of the earliest high-profile defections involving an individual of Asian origin.

Ali, who was elected as a councillor in 2006, met David Cameron at the party's headquarters and will work with the Conservative councillors at Tower Hamlets. However, for some of her Labour colleagues it has been a good riddance.

As one of the comments on Evening Standard says: "I am the leader of the council at Tower Hamlets and can say that we all at the Tower Hamlets Labour Party are glad that she left. She is full of rhetoric but no action. She never made time for her Bow west area. She is sure to cause divisions amongst the Tories. The reason why she defected was because she was delected from Bow West and changed to Shadwell - a ward that would have been tougher to win. I for one am glad that she is now their problem rather than ours."

A tale of two bullies: Gordon Brown & Kamlesh Bahl

Gordon Brown went on national telly yesterday to defend himself against allegation of bullying after an anti bullying charity went out on record to say that some staff members from his office had contacted them for help.

Gordon Brown said: “I get angry sometimes, doesn't everybody. I get impatient, I'm driven to do things. We're a sort of family in Downing Street and like any family there are issues from time to time."

If this was India, this wouldn’t even be news. Unless there was a television sting involved and it would have only ranked in viewer ship for a day and then forgotten. But it has created a furor in the UK and with elections around the corner, it is important for the PM to defend this image. And he did. So did his senior staff members and his loyal wife.

Brown also denied "unleashing hell" against Chancellor Alistair Darling on his comment about the recession. In fact they were so ‘close’ during the PM questions at the Common yesterday, that David Cameron actually said, ‘any closer they would start kissing!’

Its interesting how such a serious offense of ‘bullying’ can get a white wash when you have excellent spin doctors and the person in question in the Prime Minister of the country. While some have spent years to fight it out in court, lost their jobs, ruined their career, and spent hundred thousands of pounds in legal fees and compensations.

I remember when I was covering the Kamlesh Bahl case in 2004. Kamlesh Bahl, an NRI, was the vice president of the Law Society and slated to be the first ever woman and Indian origin President of the body that represents over 80000 solicitors in England and Wales when allegations of bullying brought her entire career down.

I was at the Old Bailey where a tribunal was hearing her case, but did not really hear her out. I saw her lawyer and her make several attempts to put forth their point, but were brushed away ever so often. She lost the case. She then filed a case against the Law society for race and sexual harassment. She lost that too and her claims were termed ‘ludicrous’. Her total costs were estimated to be around 300,000 pounds.

I often wondered if things would have been different if Kamlesh Bahl was British or a man. And Gordon Brown’s case just reinforces this point. Perhaps its better to be a Brown than be brown when its about bullying.

So while the debate continues whether Brown is a Bully or not, a Hong Kong based TV has put the allegations into animation. Take a look, just for laughs!

Amnesty, Begg, Sehgal and the British Media

The Gita Sahgal-Amnesty International row refuses to die down. The latest to enter the fray is Salman Rushdie who has come out in support of Gita Sahgal against her suspension by Amnesty International. Sahgal had protested against the Amnesty joining hands with Moazzam Begg (in picture), a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

Rushdie's statement has sparked a new debate on the issue with every commentator worth his salt throwing in his hat. Sahgal had supported Rushdie when a fatwa was issued against him in 1989 for his book Satanic Verses. While in Rushdie's case it may be a case of gratitude, for many, Sahgal's credentials are too strong to not take a stand.

However, the comments from readers and common public on he issue are the ones that are more enlightening and reveal the faultlines. This is not a simple black and white debate. Sahgal, is known for her liberal views and activism and her stand on the Begg issue acquires an altogether different dimension.

Interestingly, Begg's father was from India (just like Sahgal and her family) who went to Pakistan and settled in UK. Rushdie himself has links with India and Pakistan (where some of his relatives have lived) and his statement will go a long way in keeping the debate alive for some more weeks. But Salil Shetty, who is also India-born and currently with UN, slated to head Amnesty must be hoping the issue dies down before joins its London headquarters in June/July.

Read my interview with Salil Shetty published in Mumbai Mirror.