Labour’s Tan Dhesi is wrong about ‘Islamophobia’

I like Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough. I’ve known him since we were both fresh-faced university students. We last met at this year’s Vaisakhi reception at Downing street and he was as cordial as ever. It was a proud moment for us all, when he was elected as the first turban wearing Sikh in parliament. I’m always intrigued by what colour turban he will next be wearing whilst eloquently articulating constituent concerns in the Commons – purple, peach, or perhaps pink?

That said, I’m afraid he’s got it wrong on the issue of defining ‘Islamophobia’, which includes attacks on Sikhs or the ‘Muslim looking other’. Following the government’s decision to reject the APPG on British Muslims definition and commit to a process to establishing a workable one, Dhesi has backed calls to include words from the shelved definition, such as expressions of ‘perceived Muslimness’ which he says would protect groups like Sikhs from persecution.