Racial profiling of voters in London mayor campaign?

Mar 29 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)

Racial profiling of voters in London mayor campaign?

Siobhan Fenton

THE INDEPENDENT





Zac Goldsmith has been accused of racial profi ling voters after sending campaign material targeted at Gujarati Hindu and Punjabi Sikh voters in the London mayoral election race.The letters are ostensibly from David Cameron and have been delivered to homes in London as part of the Conservative candidate's campaign. They call on voters to back Goldsmith's campaign, saying: “The Gujarati community makes London great.
Closer ties between the UK and India have been a priority for me as prime minister. I was pleased to join Zac and thousands of British Gujaratis in welcoming PM Mo di to the UK last year.“ They follow similar letters revealed by The Independent last week in which Cameron wrote to British Indian voters highlighting how much Goldsmith respects India.
Recipients took to social media to express their distaste at the letter.
One wrote: “Dear Tories, please stop sending me this patronising crap just because you've seen my surname on the electoral role“ and asked if the Conservatives had consulted a “bumper book of Asian surnames“ in order to decide which voters to send the particular letters to. Some recipients said they found the leaflet perpetuated stereotypes about Indian voters and was reductive and patronising.