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Press release The British Asian Conservative Link (BACL) were proud to host a celebratory dinner to honour their widely acclaimed political champion, Mrs Priti Patel MP at the prestigious Carlton Club in London. The Churchill Room was filled with guests who had come to show their admiration for Priti on her splendid win at the last election. Guests included Lord Dolar Popat, the Rt. Hon. John Randall MP, Deputy Chief Whip, HE Rajesh Prasad, Deputy High Commissioner of India, Mr Asif Ibrahim, Minister Coordination at the High Commission of India, and Mr JC Sharma former Secretary, Indian Ministry for External Affairs. Priti fought an effective election campaign and won with a convincing majority of over 15000. Priti is the first woman Conservative MP of Indian origin. It is a matter of pride that under the leadership of David Cameron, the Conservative Party now has 5 Asian MPs, where it had only one before. This just shows how far the Conservative Party and the Asian Community have come since the establishment of the British Asian Conservative Link. The Link was set up to bring British Asians to the Party of their natural values. Mr. Ranbir Suri, founder and Chairman of the Link welcomed the guests and pointed out how the Link had done an invaluable work in bringing the Asians to the Tory fold and made the Party and democracy stronger. He praised Priti for her courage and determination which won her a seat in Parliament. What is even more impressive about Priti is that her constituency is predominately white and she used her merit and not her race to win. The Parliament is richer with the addition of a person of Priti’s calibre. Mr. Rickie Sehgal, the Link’s General Secretary explained about the important work still to be done in winning an overall majority at the next election. He said the Link would work hard to win over votes in the inner cities where we still had a great deal of catching up to do. He said “the strategy of the BACL is to build stronger ties with the Party and implement strategic project which benefit the community. These include Parliamentary Intern Program, Religious and Cultural Literacy program for MPs and opening new branches of the BACL around the country”. He acknowledged it was a privilege to be elected as the General Secretary and he would endeavour to make the Link an even more credible force for the Party and the Asian community. He also mentioned how the BACL would support it’s champions by arranging similar dinners to strengthen their standing in their constituencies and community. Lord Popat also praised Priti for her tenacity and determination to achieve success. Priti has rare qualities which made her a formidable force in the House of Commons. He praised David Cameron for his vision for the Party and Britain. Lord Popat said we were privileged to have a leader like David who would not hesitate to do the right thing for the country as the country needed a good leader to get out of the economic mess left behind by the previous Government. The Rt. Hon John Randall MP said he was happy to be present and was delighted to see how Priti was held in such high esteem by everyone. He felt confident that Priti would not only represent her constituency well, but also lend weight to David Cameron’s team. He praised the work done by the Link in getting their message across to their people. Priti thanked everyone and in particular the Link for their support. She said she could not forget how the Link’s members came up to her constituency repeatedly to help and lend her their support. She was touched to see senior members of the Link distributing leaflets to ensure her victory. She also said she did not wish to be treated as an ethnic MP, instead she would like to be judged on her merit. It was a privilege and an honour to represent people of Witham and she would work hard for everyone regardless and be worthy of their trust. She also paid tribute to David Cameron and said David was determined to see that the Party mirrored the makeup of society as a whole. She acknowledged that the Government would need to make some very tough decisions to bring the economy on an even keel and David was the right leader for this. Dr. Rami Ranger MBE, founder and Patron of the Link thanked the management and staff of the Carlton Club for making the evening enjoyable. He also thanked the guests for their support. He also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi who uttered these immortal words, “Be the change you want to see” and as a result, we the Asians had changed and becoming more publicly and politically spirited to strengthen our nation. He thanked Mr Neeraj Arora for managing the stage, Mr. Ravi Gidar for conducting the Q&A session and Indy Aujla for reading Priti’s citation. Please click on the picture to download in high resolution
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