First female Muslim council leader in the North slams ‘dehumanising’ campaign

The first female Muslim council leader in the North has said she was ‘dehumanised’ by a deliberate ‘smear campaign’ after she became the second Labour leader of Oldham Council to lose her seat in as many years.

Arooj Shah, who was first elected to the council in 2012, became leader in May 2021 after her predecessor Sean Fielding lost his seat in that year’s election.

Shah, who represented Chadderton South, lost her seat by just 96 votes to Conservative candidate Robert Barnes. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News after the result was announced, Shah slammed what she described as a ‘really personal campaign’.

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“I fought a really positive campaign, I believe in positivity, that’s what I wanted to bring to politics in Oldham. The campaign against me was a really personal campaign”, she said.

“I saw a new low in the Conservatives in Oldham, they really jumped into the gutter. At every opportunity, I told myself ‘they go low, you go higher’. I think the one thing I can do is that I wanted to do my best for the people of Oldham. Even the opposition, I never retaliated”, she added.

Ms Shah said the campaign against her was ‘not about policy at all’, adding that she felt the aim of it was to ‘dehumanise’ her.

“This is not just about me standing here saying this, it was there for everyone to see me. This is the first election I’ve ever been to where I have not been able to bring my family. That’s because I just did not want them to be here and experience anything negative. I can’t wait to go home this evening”, she said.

Just two months after she became the first Muslim woman to take charge of a council in the north of England, Ms Shah was the victim of an arson attack. Her vehicle was set alight damaging the car and a neighbouring property.

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