Indian nationalists in Britain have pledged to canvass on behalf of Conservative election candidates after anger over Labour’s stance on the divided region of Kashmir.

The controversial move by the Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) comes amid an increasingly bitter battle for the Asian vote.

The pressure group — which backs the governing Bharatiya Janata Party of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister — claims an estimated 900,000 Hindu and Sikh voters of British-Indian origin could play a decisive role in as many as 40 constituencies.

Among the marginal seats that OFBJP activists will target is Harrow East, where Bob Blackman, the Tory candidate, has a majority of 1,757. “We are planning a lot of stuff in that area — my team and