Details of Aspire Party candidates below is taken from campaign leaflets. All candidates are Bangladeshi males apart from one Bangladeshi female candidate in Limehouse ward.
Lutfur Rahman is not running to be a councillor and has yet to declare his candidacy to be Directly-Elected Mayor.
Anyone who has any personal biographical information on any of the candidates please send it to hello@eastendenquirer.org.
| Ward | Party | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Bethnal Green | Aspire | Ahmodul Kabir |
| Bethnal Green | Aspire | Nurul Gaffer |
| Bethnal Green | Aspire | Syed Hasan Abdullah |
| Blackwall & Cubitt Town | Aspire | Abdul Malik |
| Blackwall & Cubitt Town | Aspire | Bellal Uddin |
| Blackwall & Cubitt Town | Aspire | Ahmodur Rahman Khan |
| Bow West | Aspire | Junu Ali |
| Bow West | Aspire | Ripon Ali |
| Bromley North | Aspire | Abdul Mannan Nazrul |
| Bromley North | Aspire | Saif Uddin Khaled |
| Canary Wharf | Aspire | Saied Ahmed |
| Canary Wharf | Aspire | Maim Talukdar |
| Island Gardens | Aspire | Sadiqur Rahman |
| Island Gardens | Aspire | Syed Shofor Ali |
| Lansbury | Aspire | Ohid Ahmed |
| Lansbury | Aspire | Jahed Choudhury |
| Lansbury | Aspire | Iqbal Hossain |
| Limehouse | Aspire | Atia Begom Jorna |
| Mile End | Aspire | Haji Habib |
| Mile End | Aspire | Azad Miah |
| Mile End | Aspire | Helal Miah |
| Whitechapel | Aspire | Kamrul Hussain |
| Whitechapel | Aspire | Shafi Ahmed |
| Shadwell | Aspire | Harun Miah |
| Shadwell | Aspire | Ana Miah |
| St. Dunstans | Aspire | Juned Khan |
| St. Dunstans | Aspire | Nazir Ahmed |
| St. Peter’s | Aspire | Amin Rahman |
| St. Peter’s | Aspire | Abu Talha Chowdhury |
| St. Peter’s | Aspire | Musthak Ahmed |
| SKD & Wapping | Aspire | Abulkashem Helal |
| SKD & Wapping | Aspire | Khayrul Hasan |
| Weavers | Aspire | Fazle Elaahi |
| Weavers | Aspire | Kabir Ahmed |
Enquirer comment
Every Aspire Party candidate is Bangladeshi. This fact alone is a condemnation of both the Aspire Party and local politics in Tower Hamlets.
Not only is Aspire not representative of the population of Tower Hamlets it is not even a representation of the Bangladeshi population.
This candidate list is a gift to the fascist thugs who still pander to the racist beliefs of their groups. These people will argue that if one party can field exclusively candidates of Bangladeshi heritage then they cannot be criticised for fielding exclusively white candidates of ‘English’ heritage (whatever English means).
The East End is diverse and always will be
Last time we went to the shops the population of the borough is not 100% Bangladeshi. It is diverse. It is the East End.
The Bangladeshi population makes up around one third (32 percent) of the population, the rest of us are the usual wild, wacky and mundane mix of people from all over the planet, which is Tower Hamlets main selling point.
There are no Somali candidates. There are no West Indian candidates. There are no European candidates. There are no Commonwealth candidates. As far as we are aware there are no candidates from the LGBTQ+ community, but we would be extremely surprised if there were.
The Aspire Party has been approached for comment and we will update this story when we receive this.
The reason why the Enquirer would be surprised if there are any Aspire candidates who identify as LGBTQ+ is because this candidate list is not designed for the population of Tower Hamlets.
It is not even designed for the Bangladeshi population of Tower Hamlets.
It is designed for ‘the uncles’, the elderly very conservative (small c) Bangladeshi men who wield power in their communities and seem to still control its politics.
The Aspire Party candidate line-up is dangerous for the simple reason that by fielding candidates of one specific ethnic background there is the unspoken assumption that there is a need for the Bangladeshi population in Tower Hamlets to have its own political party which will look after the needs of Bangladeshis.
The need for one part of the population to have its own political party is not something this author has heard in eight years of analysing the web of corruption that passes for local politics in this borough.
This is probably because there is no need. But Aspire seem not to realise that.
So what is the next step on this particular path? Each demographic gets its own party and only members of that demographic can become councillors? And then each party decides that only residents who are of the same ethnicity can join the party?
That way lies damnation.
A blatant rejection of diversity
History proves that the argument that a party that fields exclusively Bangladeshi candidates can govern for the rest of the Tower Hamlets population is false.
Lutfur Rahman, leader of the Aspire Party, was found guilty at the end of the electoral petition in 2015 for a multitude of offences including ensuring that Tower Hamlets grants went to wards that were loyal to him.
Those residents who lived in wards that were not loyal to Rahman, wards that were not predominantly Bangladeshi, were intentionally deprived of council grants.
It is safe to assume that all of the Aspire Party candidates listed above fully endorse the leader of their party.
So it is safe for Tower Hamlets voters to assume that if Aspire control the council their primary interest will be the 32% of residents that are Bangladeshi.
The needs of the rest of the population will not be of concern to them because they did not vote Aspire.
This goes against the most basic principles of democracy and all fair-minded people should reject it at the ballot box.
There is no place in the East End for a political party that blatantly rejects diversity.
Ethnicity in Tower Hamlets
The facts and figures below are taken directly from Ethnicity in Tower Hamlets Analysis of 2011 Census data
- Two thirds (69 per cent) of the population belong to minority ethnic groups (ie not White British)
- 55 percent belong to BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) groups
- 14 percent are from White minority groups
- Census data covers 18 different ethnic group populations
- The borough’s three largest groups are the Bangladeshi, White British and ‘Other White’ populations
- People from these three ethnic groups make up around three-quarters of the Tower Hamlets population
- The Bangladeshi population makes up almost one third (32 per cent) of the borough’s population
- This is the largest Bangladeshi population in England
- White British residents comprise 31 percent of the borough’s population, far lower than the 80 percentage nationally
- Tower Hamlets has the fifth lowest proportion of White British residents in England.
- The third largest ethnic group in the borough is the ‘Other White’ group who comprise one in eight borough residents, close to the London average
- The ‘Other White’ group is very diverse and includes residents from a mix of ethnic backgrounds (eg Europeans, Australians, Americans)
Why can’t we have a us and them party
Good point!
I may not agree with the party and their politics, but why does this article refer to the candidates as Bangladeshi rather than British? Silent racism at play once again and one wonders why these niche groups exist.
Well everyone else seems to have worked out why this story refers to Bangladeshi candidates and not British or even British-Bangladeshi apart from you. So I will spell it out. It’s because the story is about a British political party deliberately choosing candidates of Bangladeshi ethnicity and by doing so signalling to everyone that they reject mainstream British identity and they will govern only for those residents who have, can you guess? Yep, Bangladeshi ethnicity. And ignore everyone else. And every candidate is endorsed by Lutfur Rahman who was found guilty of corruption by an election court a main part of which was his awarding of grants on the basis of ethnicity rather than need. That is why the article refers to the candidates as Bangladeshi and not British. Because voters are not stupid and I would never write such stupid, politically correct nonsense ignoring the main issue. The silent racism is emanating from the Aspire Party, not me. That you accuse me of silent racism exposes your own prejudice.
We need a change in Tower Hamlets. So we need people like Lutfur Rahman and his team to back in power. To help the community of every religion and ecthic background. The current Labour Party Mayor and his team are corrupt they need to be removed.
Lutfur Rahman has a lot of non Bangladeshi people supporting him. Just has ex mayor of London Ken Livingston, ex leader of respect party George Galloway and many more.
If you think Aspire is a 100% only Bangladeshis and racist then why are these big people supporting Aspire. This is because they exactly know how dirty politics is in Tower Hamlets.
Lutfur Rahman was not found guilty he was cleared by the police and the Scotland Yard. Read the latest news then you may find out the truth.
I am Algerian me and my family are definitely supporting him I was utterly disappointed to see how dirty games Labour Party played with Lutfur Rahman and his team. Surely, we need justice and revenge. Lutfur Rahman done a lot of good work for Tower Hamlets when he was in power.
Thanks for this comment Mamz, it confirms to anyone reading it the prejudice on which Aspire is based and contains some of the many untruths which are peddled by its candidates. It’s interesting to hear that Lutfur Rahman is supported not only by Ken Livingstone but also George Galloway of the Respect Party. That’s two people, neither of whom live in the borough. You say there are ‘many more’, would you care to name them? As for your call for ‘justice and revenge’… again you confirm that the Aspire Party has no place in our political system or any other.
It would be interesting to know which politicians this media outlet is in bed with.
A request for any personal biographical information on any of the candidates reeks of desperation for a smear campaign! Good luck.
Perhaps your request should be extended to information on corrupt politicians who have held office for the last few years. Maybe even an article on how the borough has regressed under the Labour Party? I won’t hold my breath!
Lutfur Rahman had always maintained to judge him on his achievements for the borough. Try your best to look past your racism and you’ll find that’s his achievements have been remarkable over a small period of time, for the entire borough, black, white or Asian.
It is media outlets like yours who in fact promote division and racism, us and them. It’s evident for all to see.
Since you mention Bangladeshi’s, they’ve always been victims of racism in this borough since the 60’s, possibly earlier. Historical fact.
“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
Malcolm X
I won’t be surprised if my post isn’t uploaded! I’ve taken a screenshot, so it’ll do the rounds on social media.
Anyone who considers Ken Livingstone and George Galloway are big people needs to seriously review their thinking. The comments made about the lack of diversity in Aspire’s choice of candidates are all true with one exception, they don’t note that there is one female candidate? I would feel sorry for her if she was elected with all others being male but there’s no chance of this happening anyway!
I am surprised nobody mentioned the lack of female candidates. The one female is the only one standing as solo Aspire candidate whilst all the men come in pairs at least.