Anuja Prashar: At the heart of why Europe matters

Anuja Prashar is a woman on a mission - and that mission is synergy; on a local, national and international scale. Prashar, who is a candidate for the European Elections in 2014 for the Liberal Democrats has a determined and clear-sighted vision of how to move the world forward both socially and economically for Britain and Europe in particular as Ashlea Williams discovers.

Prashar, an OBV graduate from the 2011 Parliamentary Shadowing Scheme, is rapidly making her political presence be felt. Having shadowed Baroness Ros Scott, former President of the Liberal Democrats with who she has maintained a relationship, Prashar feels she was given a unique and exceptional opportunity on OBV’s scheme and was surrounded with like-minded people.

During my time talking with her she consistently reiterated the need for our society to not simply tolerate each other’s differences, but to engage with and celebrate them. Whilst on the OBV programme, Prashar founded and implemented the organisation British United Indian Liberal Democrats also known as BUILD which is geared particularly at Members who are of Indian origin or those with an association/interest in Indian matters, who go beyond the mere ‘tolerance’ of diversity, to accept and value cultural, social and economic diversity within British society.

Her grassroots experience of politics and as a current member of the Liberal Democrats, Prashar has collaborated and having cultivated good relationships with the Chinese, Romanians, Turkish, Caribbean and African forums, to name a few and is a strong advocate for pluralism and recognising the different strengths of all people, valuing them and taking the opportunity to engage and empower them.

Synergy must occur she says. Having always had an interest in politics Prashar, born in Kenya, has spent significant amounts of time in Africa, Britain, even studying in America giving her a rare comprehensive grasp on the social workings of each society. Upon arriving in the UK more than 20 years ago, she quickly recognised the necessity that in order to be part of the solution she had to learn more and was inspired to get educated.

She says that people must realise that even down to historical discourse, we are socialised in particular perceptions about particular people or groups of people. Britain especially has looked out at the rest of the world with a very marked view. Take the Commonwealth; if we continue to sit in the past and think of it as a patronage, Britain will be “Missing the trick”, it is the time to let go of our historical legacy and collaborate, optimising their strengths and ours together.

She mentioned that economically, as many have already realised, China is well on its way to becoming a big contender, yet there is little to no engagement from the UK, but there is a similar situation with Kenya and that we have 2-5 years at most to capitalise on these economies. She believes that people such as her and others, should be utilised for their connections and networks in these countries to encourage partnership.

She postulated that instead of trying to extricate ourselves from the EU, for any reason other than treaty change, instead Britain should be at the centre of it, helping to shape it. Prashar believes that whilst we make our position difficult for ourselves within the EU, however Britain as part of a unified and strengthened European bloc would surely have a more powerful voice when engaging in the global arena, and emerging economies such as China and India would not be the only ones dictating terms. Prashar questioned the wisdom in sending UKIP MEPs as the UK’s representatives in Europe when they do not want to be a part of it, why not send those who actually want to go.

Looing forward to the 2014 European Elections, Prashar who is standing for London region, is openly of the opinion that politics at the EU level directly and vitally correlates with, or perhaps overshadows, that of Britain. On the home front she says that integration for Ethnic minorities is critical and that in order to win these communities political rhetoric must become more inclusive so as to move away from Britain’s historical racial and class segregation.

Prashar states that people are tired of party politics and that to win their trust back politics must go back to its origins and serve the people and stop stereotyping communities. She also charges the members of BME communities that we must step up. To do so takes courage, it takes passion but the end results will make it worthwhile. That we need to be present in society and determined that if we walk away there is no one else to do it and we leave things open to right-wingers who are equally if not more determined that things go their way. If we hope to prevent this, we have the responsibility to take up the torch and not apathetically assume that the elusive ‘someone else’ will so it.

We at OBV wish her every continued success and will continue to watch her career with much anticipation.

Ashlea Williams