INDIAN nationalists in Britain are supporting Tory candidates in 48 key marginal seats in the forthcoming general election.

Members of India’s ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party are urging people of Indian origin in Britain to vote for Tory candidates.

Overseas Friends of the BJP-UK (OFBJP-UK) president Kuldeep Singh Shekhawat said his group had identified 48 Labour-Conservative marginal seats which the British-Indian vote could swing, and was even trying to oust six Indian-origin Labour MPs.

The BJP’s support for the Tories has been prompted by Labour’s position on the issue of Kashmir.

India’s ruling BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revoked Kashmir’s position as a semi-autonomous Indian state. The decision set off protests in Kashmir, which has a majority Muslim population.

Mr Modi visited Britain in April last year, meeting with then prime minister Theresa May.

The BJP’s position was criticised by the Indian Workers’ Association (IWA) in Britain.

Harsev Bains of the IWA told the Star: “As soon as Labour passed a resolution on Kashmir the BJP began to campaign against Labour.”

He said an “anti-Muslim alliance” had been formed involving US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the BJP’s Mr Modi.

“There’s a Trump-Netanyahu-Modi axis based on Islamophobia — an anti-Muslim alliance,” Mr Bains said.

“[Home Secretary] Priti Patel has been instrumental in bringing the Boris Johnson government into that. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is a problem for that international alliance and BJP says Labour’s concern over human rights in Kashmir is interference in India’s internal affairs.”