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'When Will the PM Finally Apologise?': Sikh MP Slams Johnson for 'Letterbox' Remarks About Veiled Muslim Women

Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough, challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, September 4, on past remarks where Johnson compared women who wear veils to “letterboxes” and “ninjas," with his question drawing a rare round of applause.

Dhesi, a Sikh and the first turban-wearing member of the House of Commons, said, "For those of us who from a young age have had to endure and put up with being called names such as towelhead or Taliban or coming from Bongo-Bongo Land, we can appreciate the hurt and pain felt by already vulnerable Muslim women when they are described as looking like bank robbers and letterboxes.

“Rather than hide behind sham and whitewash investigations, when will the prime minister finally apologise for his derogatory and racist remarks which have led to a spike in hate crimes?”

On September 2, Tell Mama, an NGO that tracks anti-Muslim incidents in the UK, said that Johnson’s comments on veiled women, made in an article in The Telegraph, were followed by a 375 percent rise in anti-Muslim incidents. Credit: Parliament TV via Storyful