New Delhi: Tesla CEO Elon Musk came out in support of Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, who objected to the term “Asian” in connection with the grooming gangs scandal in the UK.
This was after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sparked a controversy by generalising the use of “Asian” in the backdrop of a series of child abuse cases involving suspects of Pakistani origin.
“Repeat after me, they aren’t ASIAN Grooming Gangs but PAKISTANI grooming gangs,” Chaturvedi wrote Wednesday in a post on ‘X’, formerly Twitter. “Why should Asians take the fall for one absolute rogue nation?”
Responding to the Shiv Sena (UBT) MP’s remarks, Musk wrote: “True.”
The British prime minister has drawn flak for his use of the term “Asian” from the Indian diaspora groups in the UK. “This lack of specificity has made it harder to address the problem and worsened the plight of victims,” the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) has said in a statement.
The controversy got reignited again after Musk responded to Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe’s post on ‘X’ wherein he said that Labour MPs should ignore Starmer’s call to vote against a national inquiry into the Pakistani grooming gangs scandal in the country.
“For all those poor little girls who were so terribly abused, many of whom died, they should do the right thing,” the founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX said in a post on ‘X’.
The scandal
Musk has been leading voices seeking Starmer’s resignation for the latter’s failure to tackle the alleged rape and trafficking of girls as young as 11 when he was the UK’s leading prosecutor.
Starmer, who was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013, defended his record on the issue, citing the reopening of abuse cases and securing the first prosecution of an “Asian grooming gang” which first came into light in 2010. The controversy centers on the exploitation of young girls in northern towns like Rochdale, Oldham and Rotherham by men of Pakistani origin.
For years till now, far-right groups have amplified the demand for investigations while predominantly accusing British Pakistanis for the abuse. Till now, however, Starmer has not taken any decisions regarding the probe and has instead emphasised the implementation of a set of nearly two-dozen recommendations from an extensive seven-year inquiry.
Meanwhile, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper had announced tough measures in the Crime and Policing Bill, making it compulsory for organisations to report child sexual abuse. Referring to decade-old reports, Cooper revealed that 1,400 children had endured sexual exploitation, rape, trafficking, abduction, physical abuse, and gun threats.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Elon Musk has seized on UK grooming gangs issue for his own cause, not for rape victims
Musk and the MP are right. It was Pakistanis runnings the gangs, not Indians or Bangladeshis or Chinese or Afghans or Japanese or Filipinos. Should I keep naming Asians? Time to call a spade a spade. Pakistanis cause trouble wherever they go. Even their Iron Brother China limits the number of Pakistanis allowed into the country and they are only allowed to stay on a temporary basis.
And the so call moderate Muslims will still defend their brethren and their medieval belief system which encourages this activity instead of calling them out.
Seems like Ms. Bakhsh is very hurt at Musk bringing into the spotlight the rape and abuse of thousands of white girls by men of Pakistani origin over several decades.
Ms. Bakhsh has written extensively on the “violence” and “terror” unleashed by Hindutva right-wing organisations like RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP and BJP. She has repeatedly painted Modi and other BJP leaders as the ones organising pogroms targeted at Muslims in India.
However, she would not speak a word on the atrocities on Hindus and other minorities in her own state of Kashmir. Neither would she talk about the violence unleashed on Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The terror perpetrated across the world by Islamic Jihadi groups does not bring forth a single article from the likes of Ms. Bakhsh.
This, unfortunately, is the attitude of most educated and “moderate” Muslims towards such issues.