Labor Party in Victoria has allegedly frozen the party membership applications from the Indian subcontinent community following a big increase in the number of applications from these communities.
The applications put on hold for investigation/verification are, in some cases, taking up to eleven months for the approval.
An ALP member from the Indian community lamented that the party had chosen to single out just the Indian community.
The member, a senior Labor figure from the Indian community has told SBS Punjabi that Labor MPs from areas with a huge presence of the Indian community are behind this freeze as they sense trouble to their political prospects due to a surge in party membership from these communities.
“It’s primarily happening in Melbourne’s west,” he said.
He said while the community had political aspirations, the absence of representatives at leadership positions in the party had left the community vulnerable to such ruse by certain lobbies.
“The Indian community is politically orphan at the moment,” he said.
Star Weekly reported last week that more than 100 membership applications had been put on hold and the party was looking into the authenticity of the applicants.
Whyndham City Councillor Intaj Khan confirmed to SBS Punjabi that membership applications of people from Indian subcontinent were being put on hold for “investigation”.
“Many people feel they are being treated unfairly here. They have been waiting for their membership approvals for 2-3 months.”
“I feel that lately, people with the heritage of Indian subcontinent, including, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan have become more active in the Labor Party. And according to the rules, their authenticity is being verified,” said Mr Khan.
“But I have not come across even a single case where the membership of a person of Indian subcontinent heritage has been declined due to reasons of character or any wrongdoing,” he added.
ALP Federal MP from Lalor Joanne Ryan told Star Weekly that expected the party to conduct a thorough investigation into the membership applications.
ALP did not respond to SBS Punjabi’s email for a comment.
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