A fascist British politician, who openly wants Indian and other immigrants to be deported to their countries of origin, was pilloried by the audience during prime time BBC programme on Thursday night amidst protests on the streets.

The BBC’s decision to invite Nick Griffin, British National Party (BNP) leader, raised a welter of protest with hundreds of protesters grappling with the police during a violent demonstration outside the television centre in London, where the Question Time programme was recorded.

Griffin shared the panel with members of mainstream political parties such as Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Baroness Warsi and Chris Hune. The audience included Asians, African-Caribbeans and white British.

Amidst criticism that the programme had lent respectability to the fascist party, the BBC insisted that it was right to invite Griffin on the programme because the party had won over a million votes in the June election to the European Parliament and that the party had not been banned.

On the widely watched programme, ethnic minority members of the audience termed Griffin a ‘disgrace’, while others ridiculed his stance on race and immigration. Straw highlighted the fact that British campaigns during the two world wars included large contingent of soldiers from the Indian sub-continent.

Griffin, whose party until recently admitted only whites as members, claimed that he had changed his views and had no problems with Indian and other communities who had settled here, but was against allowing any more immigrants in the country.

An Asian member asked him bluntly: “Where do you want me to go? I love this country, I’m part of this country. I was born here, educated here.”

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