UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under fire from the Opposition and charities even as her own party colleagues distanced themselves from remarks that implied that some homeless people sleeping in tents on the streets of the country were making a “lifestyle choice”.

The Indian-origin cabinet minister announced plans on social media over the weekend to crack down on the rows of tents occupied by homeless people as they caused nuisance and distress to residents.

However, some of her language has since been challenged with the Opposition Labour Party branding it “despicable”.

“The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice,” reads Suella Braverman’s post on X.

“Unless we step in now to stop this, British cities will go the way of places in the US like San Francisco and Los Angeles where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor. Nobody in Britain should be living in a tent on our streets,” she said.

The minister goes on to claim that the government has put options in place for people who do not want to be sleeping rough and is working with local authorities to strengthen “wraparound support” including treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction.

“What I want to stop, and what the law-abiding majority wants us to stop, is those who cause nuisance and distress to other people by pitching tents in public spaces, aggressively begging, stealing, taking drugs, littering, and blighting our communities,” added Suella Braverman.

During a visit to a gas terminal in Norfolk on Monday morning, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was asked by reporters if his minister’s comments were “offensive” and he declined to repeat the phrase.

“I don’t want anyone to sleep rough on our streets. That is why the government is investing GBP 2 billion over the next few years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping,” said Rishi Sunak.

“Our Homelessness Reduction Act which was a landmark law that we passed has already ensured that over 600,000 people have had their homelessness prevented or relieved so I am proud of that record. But of course, there is more to do and we will keep going so that nobody has to sleep rough on our streets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Suella Braverman’s fellow Goan-origin Cabinet colleague, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, admitted she “wouldn’t necessarily use that language” as she attempted to defend the Home Secretary.

“I think she was talking about different things. She acknowledged that there are people who just, you know, need our compassion. They’re struggling with things like addiction,” she told ‘Sky News’.

However, Labour’s shadow leader of the Commons Lucy Powell accused Suella Braverman of seeking to divide people with such remarks.

“I think the comments of the home secretary are despicable, really. And they speak to what this government’s whole meaning now seems to be about, which is creating more division, where division isn’t needed, by trying to inflame and sort of false wedge political issues,” Lucy Powell told ‘Sky News’.

Fifteen of Britain’s homelessness charities reacted by issuing a combined letter, addressed to Suella Braverman, to caution that her plan to ban tents for the homeless will lead to “totally preventable” street deaths.

“Sleeping on the street is not a lifestyle choice. Laying blame on people forced to sleep rough will only push people further away from help into poverty, putting them at risk of exploitation. At the extreme end, we will see an increase in deaths and fatalities, which are totally preventable,” reads their letter, also posted on X.
 

The Himachal Pradesh Police have slapped a case against a businessman for allegedly defaming the director general of police. The businessman, on his part, has sent a legal notice to the police seeking the registration of a case against the DGP and cited threat to his family and property.

In his complaint, DGP Sanjay Kundu maintained that hotelier Nishant Sharma, a resident of Palampur, had on October 29 sent a letter on his official email, with copies to other officials, in which he made false allegations with intentions to harm his reputation and tarnish his image.

A case under sections 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 499 (defamation) and 500 of the IPC was registered against the businessman.

Mr Sharma, in his complaint to the Shimla superintendent of police, had alleged threat to him, his family members and property from his partners and cited an incident of “brutal attack” on him in Gurugram on August 25 saying two influential persons of Himachal Pradesh, including a former IPS officer, were identified in the CCTV camera footage related to the incident.

“I came to Palampur in Kangra district after the attack but the DGP called me up from his official number and forced me to come to Shimla and on the same day two criminals stop me at Mcleodganj in Dharamshala and threaten to harm my two-and-half-year old kid and wife,” he alleged.

“I drove to the house of the Superintendent of Police, Kangra at Dharamshala and narrated the plight to her and gave her my complaint but nothing has been done so far,” he claimed.

Mr Sharma, who addressed the media in Palampur on Monday, said he was dismayed to learn that a false and manufactured case had been registered against him.

“I demand an independent and unbiased investigation and lodging of an FIR against everyone, including the DGP. This is the only way you would be able to apprehend this whole gang of extortionists,” he said.

When contacted, the DGP told PTI that he had filed a criminal complaint against Mr Sharma and would also file a civil suit of defamation against him.

Calls were made to him from the police headquarters as there were apprehensions that something nefarious was going on and “we do not want any gang war in Himachal,” the police chief said.

The Gurugram police have not found any cognizable offence in the complaint regarding the attack on the businessman, he said and added that Sharma moves around with a security cover and has at times claimed that they are sleuths of Haryana Police.

The DGP also claimed that the businessman has levelled false allegations against him and several other renowned people.

When contacted, Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI a notice has been received and added the case is sensitive and all aspects of the complaint are being verified.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged the people of Mizoram to vote for his party and said it was his guarantee that their culture, language and traditions will be protected.

Assembly polls will be held in Mizoram on Tuesday. Over 8.57 lakh voters of the state will decide the electoral fate of 174 candidates amid tight security arrangements.

In a post on ‘X’, Rahul Gandhi said, “To my brothers and sisters of Mizoram, when you go out to vote tomorrow, vote for Congress.” “We will protect your culture, language and traditions – That is my guarantee,” he said and shared a video montage of his recent visit to Mizoram and also former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s recent video appeal to the people of the state to vote for the Congress.

To my brothers and sisters of Mizoram, when you go out to vote tomorrow, vote for Congress.

We will protect your culture, language and traditions – That is my guarantee. pic.twitter.com/KuIt6oHdVn

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) November 6, 2023

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi last Wednesday had appealed to the people of Mizoram to elect her party in the November 7 assembly polls, saying this is no time for experiments and a vote for the Congress is one for peace, progress and prosperity in the northeastern state.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday appealed to the people in Mizoram to vote for his party, saying while the Congress had helped bring peace and stability to the state, the BJP and the RSS were “hell-bent on destroying” the Mizo culture and its way of life.