Houston: Shaid Shafi, an India-born Republican facing removal as Texas county leader for being a Muslim, will remain in office as his party officials have overwhelmingly slapped down a motion to oust him from the post of vice chairman. The Tarrant County Republican Party rejected the motion to strip Shafi, a trauma surgeon and member of the Southlake City Council, at a contentious meeting on Thursday. The committee voted 139-49 in favour of Shafi, with 10 abstentions, Washington-based news website The Daily Caller reported.
“This vote reaffirms the commitment by a majority of Tarrant County Republicans to our core values and moral compass, a demonstration of our allegiance to the Texas Republican Party Platform and the Constitutions of the United States and Texas, which strictly prohibit religious and racial discrimination of any kind,” Tarrant County Party Chairman Darl Easton said. Shafi said he was “honoured and privileged to receive the support of my fellow Republicans” and emphasised that he held no ill will towards those who voted against him.
A small but vocal minority of the county’s 269 precinct chairs was behind the push to remove Shafi from his leadership position. Shafi received an outpouring of support from Republicans across the state, including from Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Land Commissioner George P Bush, leading up to the vote. Shafi, born in India and raised in Pakistan, travelled to the US to study medicine. He became a naturalised citizen in 2009 and, since then, has been involved with the Republican Party. “Religious litmus tests are wrong, whether they occur in my party or whether its Democratic Senators who have questioned Catholic judges’ ability to be unbiased. What matters is a person’s character, judgment and values. Shahid Shafi has all three,” Bush said on Twitter.