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Play word association with an Englishman. Toss the word 'Asian' at him. And he will, in response, toss back words like Curry. Cricket. Tendulkar. Akram. Aishwarya. Shekhar Kapur.
Then again, if you played that game with him today, he might come up with a different list: Keith Vaz. Mohammed Sarwar. Khalid Mahmood. Parmjit Dhanda. Marsha Singh. Piara Khabra. Dr Ashok Kumar.
Asians, all. That is one commonality. A second, is that all of them are members in good standing of Britain's Labour Party. And the third, that they were all successful in the just-concluded elections that saw Labour, for the first time in history, win a second successive election.
The election also saw the Asian strength in the House of Commons go up from five, to seven.
The sub-continent, it would seem, is casting a shadow on the land of its erstwhile rulers -- and that shadow is increasing in size. More importantly, the focus is shifting -- from exotica to power and influence, as the Asian community in Britain increasingly makes its presence felt where it counts the most.
At the forefront of that shift, today, stand the successful seven. Who are they? What are they all about?
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