ASIANS/SCOTTISH WORKING CLASS VOTE CRITICAL AS SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE REFERUNDUM INCHES TOWARDS A CLOSE FINISH

15-9-2014 7.00PM IST

Medhaj News: According to a survey conducted by the Observer newspaper, supporters of keeping Scotland in the United Kingdom have a six percentage point lead over secessionists.

The Opinion pollster said the survey showed the unionists on 53 percent and those wanting independence on 47 percent. Scotland votes in a referendum on independence on Thursday.

However, the Guardian poll shows 51% support for No and 49% for Yes; other surveys also predict a close, `knife edge' call; Rupert Murdoch, a close friend of secessionist leader Alex Salmond, has further complicated the situation by adding a pro-business, and foreign, angle to the Yes vote, banking hitherto on the emotional support of the working classes.

Murdoch's unusual interest in Scottish Independence has baffled many Salmond supporters and convinced a lot of the Labour vote to move from Yes to No; yet, the situation is fluid and the Scottish working class is divided; a campaign by the Leftist Bradford Respect Party MP George Galloway, who hails from Scotland, has also helped the No camp.

Proper attention has not been paid to the `swing' Asians living in Scotland can generate; Scottish Asians, mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, comprise 3% of Scotland's total population. Situated on the banks of river Clyde, the sprawling Glasgow mosque, though apolitical, is an important meeting point of ideas and currents.

Secessionists expect majority of Asians to vote Yes; in fact, secretly, secessionists are banking on the Asian vote to win and deliver a stunning blow to Unionists.

A pre-poll survey conducted by Asian radio station Awaz FM found that 64 per cent of Asians in Scotland might vote Yes and 32 per cent might vote No; held immediately after the heckling of pro-Unionist Alistair Darling two weeks ago, this survey is no longer considered reliable.

A feeling of alienation vis-à-vis London's Tory Government, especially regarding Cameron's conservative immigration policy, led Asians to look sympathetically at the Yes camp. More than 50% Asians are still behind Alex Salmond; but more and more are getting skeptical, especially at the prospect of a long Tory reign in London, where a lot of Asians live too, if Scotland were to secede from the mother nation.

The main challenge before the No camp therefore, is to convince Scottish Asians that remaining with Britain is tantamount to ousting Tories in 2015 elections. And that a new Government will usher in progressive immigration policies and most importantly, combat the Islamophobia that Cameron seems to subtly encourage, ahead of another war crisis looming in the middle-east. The No campaign thus ultimately has to back a policy that avoids putting Britain into another messy war in the middle-east. The whole future of the No campaign rests on this…