A Sikh Labour MP was applauded in the Commons after he demanded that Boris Johnson apologise for comparing Muslim women to letterboxes and launch an inquiry into Islamophobia.
Johnson was forced to address his 2018 Daily Telegraph column in which he said it was absolutely ridiculous that women should go around resembling letterboxes and bank robbers.
Addressing the prime minister, Singh said: “For those of us who from a young age have had to endure and face up to being called names such as towel-head, or Taliban, or coming from bongo-bongo land, we can fully appreciate the hurt and pain of already vulnerable Muslim women when they are described as looking like bank robbers and letterboxes.
“Mr Speaker, if I decide to wear a turban or you decide to wear a cross or he decides to wear a kippah or a skullcap or she decides to wear a hijab or a burqa, does that mean it is open season for Right Honourable Members of this House to make derogatory and divisive remarks about our appearance?” Dhesi said on the floor of the UK parliament.
“Rather than hide behind the sham and whitewash investigations when will the Prime Minister finally apologise for his derogatory and racist remarks?” he asked, with chants supporting the Labour lawmaker.
Dhesi’s stance was supported widely on social media as well, with Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, also sharing the video on his Twitter account to his 2 million followers.
