I want to tell you why I joined the Liberal Democrats and to encourage you to make the same journey.

As first-generation immigrants, my parents could have barely imagined the journey they or their children would make in the mother country. As an immigrant from South Asia, barely able to communicate in English, my mother built up a real estate business in London, in a country which has increasingly diversified in the intervening years.

Although many immigrants in this country may no longer live ‘on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity’, we still have a long way to go and we must never cease to celebrate and promote ethnic diversity especially in these divisive times. We have seen the Windrush generation scandal, in which those who worked hard to build our economy, health service and the Britain we have today, threatened with deportation and lives made incredibly difficult because of the Home Office policy of hostility.

We are also witnessing the rise of far-right politics, which undermines the valuable contributions made by minorities and threatens people’s basic rights on the basis of race, creed, and religion. Like Martin Luther King, we must refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. Now is the time to lift our nation, from the quicksand of racial injustice, to the rock-bed of our party – equality and unity.

Today I urge those who are in a minority of race, creed, or religion to join the liberal Democrat party, whose existence has been based on fighting for justice, for the rights of those who have historically been undermined and shall continue to do so, without wavering.

So, if you want a Britain in which every child has equal opportunity, a Britain with a population that is educated, understands and appreciates other cultures whilst maintaining its own. If you want a Britain that leads the way in equal rights and opportunities, then the Liberal Democrats await your membership.

Thank you and as-salāmu ʿalaykum.

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