We own you, Indian immigrant tells the Brits

The Hindustan Times reports:

Britain, which is seeking to overhaul its immigration policy, cannot afford to upset the Asian community because of its increasing electoral clout, says the chairperson of the Indo-British Friendship Society.

“No political party can govern if they upset the Asian vote,” India-born Rami Ranger, who also heads the Sun Group of Industries, told IANS.

Ranger … was commenting on the controversial set of proposals that could mark the most comprehensive revision of British immigration rules in 45 years.

“We can elect 40 to 50 members of parliament from several inner cities… They cannot afford to go wrong,” said Ranger, 60, who migrated to Britain in 1971 and today steers a business empire that exports products and services to 40 countries.

He was referring to some key proposals that have raised hackles in the South Asian community. These include halving the visa period to three months and mandatory deposits for “high-risk” relatives.

A country that lets in large numbers of immigrants of different culture or race is not only giving away its national identity, but its national freedom, because once there is a large immigrant community with an identity distinct from that of the host society, they will deny the host country the right to restrict future immigration. And they will have the power to deny that right, so long as the host country itself has no real identity except for openness. But if the majority people of the host country begin to act as a group, just as the immigrants are acting like a group, then the immigration can be stopped, and the immigrants be made to behave.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 23, 2008 03:58 PM | Send