In a significant development, at least two top cabinet colleagues of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have publicly extended their support to Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani, who sensationally alleged Islamophobia during her removal as a minister in 2020.
Ghani, Tory MP from Wealden in East Sussex, has caused political tremors by claiming that she was sacked as a minister from the Boris Johnson government in 2020 because of her Muslim faith.
Reacting to Ghani’s allegations, British Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that he would ‘strongly support’ his 49-year-old colleague. Javid tweeted, “@Nus_Ghani
is a friend and a credit to the Conservative Party. This is a very serious matter which needs a proper investigation. I would strongly support her in making a formal complaint – she must be heard.”
.@Nus_Ghani is a friend and a credit to the Conservative Party.
This is a very serious matter which needs a proper investigation. I would strongly support her in making a formal complaint – she must be heard.
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) January 23, 2022
Nadhim Zahawi, another top cabinet colleague of Boris Johnson, too said that there was no place for Islamophobia in the Conservative party. He tweeted, “There is no place for islamophobia or any form of racism in our @Conservatives party. @Nus_Ghani is a friend, a colleague & a brilliant parliamentarian. This has to be investigated properly & racism routed out.” Zahawi, who is the Education Secretary in the British government, ended his tweeted with hashtag #standwithNus.
There is no place for islamophobia or any form of racism in our @Conservatives party. @Nus_Ghani is a friend, a colleague & a brilliant parliamentarian. This has to be investigated properly & racism routed out. #standwithNus
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) January 22, 2022
Ghani had told London’s Sunday Times newspaper, “It was like being punched in the stomach.”
She had added, “I felt humiliated and powerless. I was told that at the reshuffle meeting in Downing Street that ‘Muslimness’ was raised as an ‘issue’, that my ‘Muslim women minister’ status was making colleagues uncomfortable and that there were concerns that I wasn’t loyal to the party as I didn’t do enough to defend the party against Islamophobia allegations.”
Ghani, who’s been relentless in speaking against the brutalities being committed against Uighur Muslims in China, said, “When I challenged whether this was in any way acceptable and made clear there was little I could do about my identity, I had to listen to a monologue on how hard it was to define when people are being racist and that the party doesn’t have a problem and I needed to do more to defend it.”