London:
Supporters of London’s mayoral candidate for the Conservative party Zac Goldsmith have launched a multi-lingual campaign featuring a song in several Indian languages, including Hindi and Urdu, to help him win. Goldsmith is up against Pakistani-origin Labour candidate Sadiq Khan, believed to connect better with Asian-origin voters who make up almost 20 per cent of London’s population, in the May 5 election.
Grassroots organisation, Conservative Connect, this week decided to launch ‘Zac Goldsmith Jeete Ga’ in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali in an attempt to woo a wide voter base. The chorus line of the song also features some Mandarin and the tune is a blend of jazz, reggae and Indian folk.
“Zac Goldsmith is everyone’s favourite leader” and “he is worthy of appreciation, he is patient and he is brave” are some of the lyrics of the song, which has an accompanying video of the candidate making speeches and interacting with party leader, Prime Minister David Cameron.
The song has been created by the same group which had launched the Hindi campaign song ‘Neela Hai Asmaan’ for Cameron during the May 2015 general elections in the UK.
“This is the first time in British political history that a multilingual campaign song has been used in order to connect with ethnic minority voters. The main target audience of the song is London’s British-Asian community, who make up almost 20 per cent of London’s total population,” said chairman and founder of Conservative Connect Raza Anjum.
“The multilingual nature of the song reflects London’s diverse and dynamic nature. It is this diversity which makes London a leading global city and the song emphasises that Zac is a mayoral candidate who work in the best interests of all Londoners. Zac is the only mayoral candidate who has with the vision and ability to deliver for London.”
Goldsmith is the brother of Jemima Goldsmith the former wife of Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and son of late billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. The race to succeed Boris Johnson as the next mayor of London is hotting us with only 15 days to go.
