Savitha Prakash, an NHS physician dwelling in the London borough of Harrow, believes there are similarities between the Reform UK chief, Nigel Farage, and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. “He’s [Modi] one of those people, like Nigel, he walks the talk. He made [a] difference to the country,” stated Prakash, who chairs Reform UK’s department in Harrow.
In specific, the 47-year-old stated Farage and Modi – who’ve every been accused by their critics of scapegoating marginalised communities – have been centered on placing the wants of the majority first.
“There was a time before [Modi] came into power that minority appeasement was normal,” she stated. “Everybody believed that if you want to be in power, you have to appease the majority. Today’s Nigel speaks the same thing. He speaks about looking out for the majority.”
Prakash, a first-generation immigrant born in India, stated this was one in every of many causes behind the rising support amongst British Indians for Reform UK.
Last yr, research by the 1928 Institute – a bunch of Oxford teachers who analyse the British Indian group – confirmed support for Reform had risen from 4% in 2024 to 13% in 2025. “British Indian support for Reform is significantly lower than that of the general UK population. However, there is a strong upwards trend in support,” the report stated.
Prakash is one instance of this pattern. She arrived in the UK from the southern Indian state of Mysore in 2003, aged 23, on a customer visa to finish her medical exams. She received a job as a junior physician in the NHS and was granted a piece visa, earlier than being granted indefinite go away to stay (ILR) and British citizenship.
“When I started working in metropolitan areas, like London or Birmingham or places where there’s lots of immigrant populations,. I slowly started seeing how things have changed in Britain,” she stated. “This was not the Britain I moved into. It looks more like regressing back to how things were in India.”
Prakash is main a bunch of 55 Reform candidates in Harrow hoping to be elected to the council in the native elections on 7 May.
The 2021 census discovered British Asians made up nearly half the inhabitants in the north-west London borough, which has been seen as a Conservative stronghold in recent times. A YouGov ballot revealed on Wednesday recommended the Conservatives may win greater than twice as many votes as some other get together in Harrow.
The Tory MP Bob Blackman has held the constituency seat for Harrow East since 2010 and has gained attraction by selling pro-Modi narratives. Last yr, the MP was awarded one in every of India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri, and held an occasion celebrating Modi’s birthday in the House of Commons.
Prakash, beforehand a supporter of Boris Johnson, stated the Tories “forgot what they came to power for”, particularly criticising the get together’s failure to implement its plans to forcibly deport unlawful migrants to Rwanda.
Prakash backs Reform’s priorities, together with its plans to scrap ILR, which provides individuals rights and entry to advantages. Instead, migrants will likely be pressured to reapply for a visa each 5 years and face more durable guidelines together with the next wage threshold and commonplace of English. Critics have referred to as the plan merciless and unfair.
“The country decides the amount of net immigration they need to have,” Prakash stated. “I wouldn’t be wanting to have more than the required number of people in more than the required number of places. I don’t think we should be misunderstanding work visas as lifetime visas to convert into citizenship.”
Did Prakash have any sympathy for those that need to pursue a life in the UK to reside and work, in the identical approach she had? “I have sympathy for these people who have been falsely shown all the dreams” of life in the UK, she stated.
Speaking to residents in Harrow, it turns into clear that narratives round asylum seekers and immigration are chopping by means of. One particular person, 29, born in Gujarat and dealing as a waiter in central London, who did not need to be named, stated: “Asylum seekers, they get to stay in hotels where the government is paying for them … Their meals are taken care of and that’s our tax money that goes there. Whereas us, who [have] a legal status coming from a different country, wanting a better life, have to pay a lot of that.”
The authorities says it has halved the variety of inns used to accommodate asylum seekers and eliminated almost 60,000 unlawful migrants and international nationwide offenders since the 2024 election.
A 28-year-old man born in Mumbai and dwelling in Harrow, who additionally did not need to be named, stated he was an undecided voter however was open to Reform. He criticised the Labour authorities for introducing stricter insurance policies on authorized immigration, together with growing the ILR qualifying interval to 10 years.
To some, Prakash’s fervent support for Reform might come as a shock. One of its MPs, Sarah Pochin, was accused of racism after she stated final October: “It drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people.” Pochin apologised, saying the remarks had been “phrased poorly”.
The Guardian has reported on allegations from greater than a dozen of Farage’s faculty contemporaries who recounted incidents of antisemitic and racist abuse. The Reform chief denied the allegations, saying he had by no means harm anybody “with intent”.
For Prakash, the accusations of racism have been makes an attempt to “scare people”. She stated: “People wouldn’t be putting me in that position if they were racist. And people wouldn’t put Zia [Yusuf, Reform’s spokesperson for home affairs] in the position that he is in if they were racist. And that explains everything. We are not racist.”
Prakash stated it was ironic that the get together confronted accusations of racism after she stated Reform activists in Harrow have been subjected to abuse on-line, prompting some to cease utilizing social media. This week Farage criticised Elon Musk, the proprietor of X, saying Reform UK candidates from minority ethnic backgrounds have been being subjected to “utterly appalling abuse”.
Prakash stated she tended to disregard the abuse she confronted. “The amount of brainwashing each one has undergone to have this hatred towards one particular party,” she stated.
Instead, Prakash is centered on the election marketing campaign. “People are coming forward, both from old Labour voters, the staunch Conservative voters and the silent voters,” she stated. “Everybody is overwhelmingly saying now: stop the appeasement. We have to put Britain first.”
