Suella Braverman : In a heartfelt plea to his niece, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a Delhi-based Catholic priest, Father Ayres Fernandes, has voiced concerns about her language regarding immigration. He reminds Suella Braverman not to forget her own roots as a child of migrants.
Father Fernandes, who serves as the director of a retreat center in Okhla, India, shared his thoughts with ‘The Times,’ emphasizing the importance of addressing illegal immigration while also advocating for more compassion towards refugees and asylum seekers.
Suella Braverman Comments
“I only pray that she remembers that she herself was born to migrant parents, and therefore, she needs to be a little cautious when making such comments,” said Father Fernandes.
The 73-year-old priest, who grew up in Kenya alongside his four siblings, including Suella Braverman’s father, Christie Fernandes, expressed his concern over his niece’s political posturing. He speculated that her hardline approach might be influenced by Conservative Party right-wingers.
“She’s quite strong by herself, that much I know; she has her own thinking. But I believe that there is somebody backing her up to make such comments. Being a minister, holding such a position, maybe she should be a little cautious,” he said.
Father Fernandes’ remarks come in the wake of Suella Braverman’s speech at the Tory conference in Manchester, which drew criticism from within her own party, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who declined to support her statement about a “hurricane” of migrants.
“The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming. Because today, the option of moving from a poorer country to a richer one is not just a dream for billions of people, it is an entirely realistic prospect,” Braverman asserted.
As a minister of Goan heritage on her father’s side and Tamil heritage on her mother’s side, both families having migrated to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius, Suella Braverman has also questioned the effectiveness of multiculturalism in a recent speech in the United States.
“Uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration, and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination for Europe over the last few decades… Multiculturalism has failed,” she declared.
While Father Fernandes admitted that he is not in regular contact with his niece, he conveyed his congratulations when she assumed the position of Home Secretary last year. He noted that they share a birthday and likened her to a younger version of himself, both being “very strong people in our thinking and attitude.”
“But with my experiences, I learned you need to change, you need to adjust, you need to give space to people and their way of life and opinions. And in politics, that is very important—to be able to be open to others and others’ views and opinions. I pray for her every day that she may be able to calm down and relate with people in a better manner,” Father Fernandes concluded.
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