The outgoing mayor of Cambridge has criticised the “right-wing rhetoric of migrants being blamed for everything”.
Cllr Baiju Thittala (Lab, East Chesterton) is a first generation migrant to the country and said it was “painful” to be subjected to “unacceptable, intolerable humiliation”.
He said immigrants “work tirelessly” to contribute to the community and that they “are not strangers”.
Cllr Thittala made the comments during his speech as the outgoing mayor at a Cambridge City Council meeting last Thursday (22 May).
Cllr Thittala was born in India and moved to the UK in 2004, where he studied law and became a solicitor in 2019.
He was elected as a councillor in 2018 and in 2023 he was elected as the first Asian deputy mayor of Cambridge, and became the mayor the following year.
Cllr Thittala thanked those who have supported him through his mayoral year and highlighted the number of people born in other countries who work in Cambridge’s hospitals and businesses.
He said: “We are part of society, yet why are immigrants being blamed for everything and anything?
“Why are immigrants being subjected to the right-wing rhetoric? Are immigrants criminals?
“There is no data in this country that substantiates that the majority of immigrants are criminals, no. I am a criminal lawyer, most of you know this. When I go to court, when I go to the police station I am not someone who only sees immigrants there.
“Immigrants are the community who work here, who work tirelessly to build a society, contribute to the community and part of a system they are trying to integrate. We are not strangers.
“Why are immigrants being subjected to this humiliation whenever it suits the politicians? Why are migrants treated differently?
“What about those people who fought in World War One and World War Two? They too were immigrants, their contributions, their sorrows, their pain, their life, the freedom that we cherish today. They too were immigrants.”
Cllr Thittala highlighted the Windrush generation and said they were the people who helped to “rebuild Britain brick-by-brick in the post-war era”.
He said: “And yet why are migrants being subjected to this unacceptable, intolerable humiliation, whether it be on social media, whether it be in the news, whether it be in politicians ambitions?
“Immigrants are human, like we all are. Those people who work in Cambridge University Hospitals, doctors, nurses, they look after our sick and elderly people.
“My wife is a nurse. She has been looking after our sick and elderly population of Cambridge for 25 years, and my daughter wants to be a medical professional and she will be looking after the sick and elderly population of Cambridge and beyond.
“My son wants to be a lawyer. He wants to serve the community and my little one wants to be a politician. They want to serve the community where they live, yet why are immigrants a target?
“Do we immigrants have to do something extra to please our politicians?
“It is painful in a country where you live, you work, you left everything behind back home and you build your life here, but yet you have been subjected to this kind of rhetoric. It is unacceptable.”
Cllr Thittala said his wife had been asked whether someone like him should be able to be mayor.
However, he said Cambridge is a city that “treats all people equally”.
He said: “It is a city where migrants and natives work shoulder to shoulder to build community, to build a society which is equal and a society which is peaceful.
“Cambridge is a city that will never fall in the trap of divisive politics.
“In Cambridge, the people live in harmony no matter where they have come from. We look at the people as human.
“I am privileged to be mayor of Cambridge, to serve the community of Cambridge, and it was not only my privilege, it was an opportunity for me to prove that an immigrant can do this.”
Cllr Dinah Pounds (Lab, Romsey) has taken over as the new mayor of Cambridge. Cllr Pounds has lived and worked in and around Cambridge for 21 years and now lives in Romsey.
