Let Defectors Depart and the Cause is Strengthened

People have freedom of choice. They are free to switch their allegiance from one country to another, from one political party to another, but can their integrity or their character be trusted? Plaid Cymru is more than a political party. It is an umbrella organisation whose members have various shades of view across the political spectrum; they have been welcomed whatever their ethic origin, their colour or their religion, but the difference is that they all demand self-government for Wales and their hearts are true to the principles upon which the movement for self-determination stands. 


Their interest and their allegiance are with their nation, with unwaivering devotion, and their efforts are directed to achieving their goal. By failing to inform Plaid Cymru officials of his intentions and by  joining a unionist party Mohammad Asghar has revealed his true motives and has shown that he is not worthy to be a party to the cause of freedom for Wales. In that sense he may be  closely compared with Peter Hain. In the case of Moh. Asghar Plaid Cymru was just the first rung of the political ladder on the ascent to a personal political career in a unionist state. In fact he has proclaimed his support of the Union. Yet his welcome into the Conservative ranks is somewhat muted.


The A.M.'s departure, some say betrayal, is no loss to Plaid, as the Party for Wales needs no such political turn-coats in its ranks. Allegiance to the cause of independence must be indisputable and absolute if solidarity and purpose are to be maintained. It is a question of hearts and minds, and the heart must be true and the mind firm and uncompromising however difficult and steep the path may be, and however many set-backs are encountered on the way. Without this kind of unswerving loyalty from all its members and sympathisers the cause for which so many people have struggled over the centuries is doomed. Whether or not the AM for South Wales East  stands down, which he should do in fairness to the people who elected him,  he is likely to have taken the road to political extinction, if not now at least in the longer term.
alanindyfed

Asked why he had stood for Plaid Cymru when he was opposed to independence for Wales, he said his voice had been that of "a little parrot in a jungle", with little chance of changing Plaid's stance on the issue.

"It is has come as a shock that he has now decided that he shares the same values as those held by the Conservative and Unionist party." Plaid Cymru assembly group chair Dai Lloyd said it would be wrong for Mr Asghar to remain in the assembly as a Conservative. "We now call on Mohammad Asghar to take the honourable decision to resign his seat as a Plaid Cymru AM," Mr Lloyd said. "The people of the South Wales (East) region did not want a second Tory AM to represent the area - they elected a Plaid Cymru AM. "Mr Asghar does not have the political mandate to sit in the assembly as a Conservative member..."

A wolf in sheep's clothing no less. An interloper in the ranks. Begone, and no longer darken the threshold of the National Assembly of Wales.

alanindyfed

From the Archives:

Hearts and Minds

I received a comment from a reader who was born in England due to a quirk of fate. There is a considerable number of people living in Wales who are from England, as well as from other lands, and who have adopted this country as their own. In Cornwall the native Cornish are outnumbered by the immigrants by a factor 0f 60/40 as more people are attracted to moving to a more peaceful and less stressful environment. Wales has a long tradition of hospitality and has always kept "a welcome in the hillsides and the vales". America has absorbed peoples from all over the world, including Welsh and Irish, and their descendants are still enthusiastic about their origins and their roots. There is a big trade in investigating one's genaeology these days, with websites such as "ancestry" and "genes reunited" leading the way. This blog-site, Independence Cymru, has links with the Welsh League of Arizona, which is very active and produces a regular newsletter on events in Wales and aspects of Welsh life around the world. There is no doubt that "hiraeth" plays a great part in this. Welsh people around the world retain in their hearts that indefinable connection with their homeland.
Yet there are those immigrants from England and abroad who also have this affinity with Wales. Their allegiance is to Wales and all things Welsh, and they send their children to Welsh-speaking schools and go to Welsh classes to learn the language. They take a pride in speaking Welsh, and have integrated themselves into the community, joining male voice choirs and brass bands, and standing on the touch-lines of the rugby fields. You can find them in the pubs, the car boot sales and the eisteddfodau, in the supermarkets and the post-offices throughout the nation. You find them in the branch offices of Plaid Cymru, giving their support and active participation in the work to wrest and regain Wales from the subtle and overt British tentacles which seek to swamp and diffuse the life-blood of the nation. They are with us and we welcome them, as they lend their hearts and minds for the benefit of the country they have chosen to serve.
It is all a question of allegiance is it not? Are you Welsh or are you British? To say that you are both is innacurate and indefensible. Being British implies that one denies Wales, as it does not exist constitutionally as a country except as a part of the English realm which teamed up with Scotland to form the Union. Are you a Unionist or are you a Nationalist? You cannot be both, or you are like fire and water which are incompatible and like fire your spirit is liable to be extinguished by the water-cannon or at the stroke of a pen. When we speak of Wales we speak of a nation with a long history, like Ireland, of struggle and resistance in the face of adversity. But I do not wish to dwell on the past with all its sorrows and lost opportunities. I wish to talk of now, the time where all that was is no longer with us, the time when fortune beckons. We are now the guardians of the nations fortunes, its heritage, its language and its people. Whether or not we were born in England, or Jamaica, or Pakistan or Japan we owe our allegiance to our nation, this nation, and our hearts and minds are well and truly here in Cymru - Wales.