British PM David Cameron’s Party Woos Indian-Origin Voters with Hindi Song

Apr 24, 2015 - 3:38 pm EDT @theindpanorama Europe 0

Britain’s Conservative Party has launched a new campaign song in Hindi aimed at wooing Indian-origin voters in the run up to the May 7 general elections.

Prime Minister David Cameron led party, which heads the current coalition government in the country, launched ‘Neela Hai Aasma (Blue Sky)’ today in reference to the symbolic blue colour of the party.

The catchy tune set to Indian beats encourages the British Indian community to join hands with the British PM in taking the UK forward with a chorus repeating the name ‘David Cameron’.

“The Conservative Party has the largest number of British Indian parliamentary candidates standing for election including four incumbent MPs – Shailesh Vara (Minister of Justice), Priti Patel (Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Indian Diaspora Champion), Alok Sharma (Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party and Member of the Treasury Select Committee) and Paul Uppal (Member of No.10 Policy Board) together with 14 new candidates of British Indian origin,” the Conservative Friends of India (CFI) group, which commissioned the ditty, said in a statement.

The Bollywood-style campaign song is reflective of the Indian tradition of election propaganda, which often relies on popular film beats to praise key candidates.

“Your dreams will be fulfilled; He’ll keep his commitments; The job which David has started; He’s determined to finish,” are among the lyrics of the song performed by British artists of South Asian origin such as Navin Kundra, Pandit Dinesh and Rubayyatt Jahan.

The CFI, which seeks to build stronger links between the Conservative Party, the British Indian community and India, said: “Over the last five years, the Prime Minister has consistently engaged with the British Indian community across a series of high profile political, business, social, religious and cultural events.”

He visited the Swaminarayan Hindu Mandir in Neasden and the Sikh Gurdwaras in Leamington Spa and Gravesend as well as the Golden Temple in Amritsar. He unveiled the Encyclopaedia of Hinduism last year as well as attending the Asian Business Awards, it said.

Last month, David Cameron joined Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Bollywood Actor Amitabh Bachchan, to unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square alongside statues of Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela, it said.

A video accompanying the song presents a snapshot of some of these key India-related highlights in Cameron’s career.

“David Cameron has done more than any other British Prime Minister since World War II to help build a strong and positive relationship with India and engage actively with the British Indian community. The Conservatives are also the only party to have made specific commitments in their manifesto about India, including pushing for an ambitious EU-India trade deal and supporting India’s bid for permanent representation on the UN Security Council,” the CFI added.

The Indian diaspora is estimated as 1.5 million strong and forms a crucial vote-bank for each of the major parties – Conservative and Labour – in the UK elections.