A Labour councillor told Anas Sarwar he could not back him in the Scottish party leadership contest because Scotland was not ready for a "brown, Muslim Paki".
Another Labour member told the MSP she could not support his leadership bid after she saw a picture of his wife wearing a hijab.
Mr Sarwar lost out to Richard Leonard in last autumn's leadership contest which was sparked by the resignation of Kezia Dugdale.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour launch investigation into Anas Sarwar racism claims
The MSP does not believe he lost due to his ethnic background but has spoken out to raise awareness about racism and Islamophobia.
Mr Sarwar, a former deputy leader of the party, said the first incident happened as he was canvassing support from senior Labour figures.
He told the Daily Record: "A leader of a Labour council group told me very clearly the reason that he couldn't support me in the leadership election was that, in his words, Scotland wasn't ready for a 'brown, Muslim Paki'.
"When I challenged him on that, saying it was a racist, Islamophobic comment, he said that wasn't his opinion, it was his fear about what his constituents believe."
READ MORE: Parliament needs huge big kick up the backside, says SNP MP
Another Labour member told him she could not support his bid after seeing a picture of his wife Furheen wearing a hijab.
Mr Sarwar told the newspaper: "My wife wears a hijab and she said, based on the picture she saw of my wife, she couldn't vote for me in the leadership election."
He said his wife is "a Scot in every way possible" and that "her identity is way more than what she chooses to wear on her head".
The former Scottish labour deputy leader will on Tuesday launch a Scottish Parliament cross-party group on tackling Islamophobia.
Mr Sarwar said that in general people in Scottish society see past an individual's faith, colour and country of origin.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour launch investigation into Anas Sarwar racism claims
He added: "But what we have to challenge here is institutional racism, institutional Islamophobia, institutional sexism and homophobia. It is those institutions that need to be challenged directly."
Mr Sarwar said it was not just an issue for the Labour party but said that the party should hold itself to a higher standard.
Other politicians have supported Mr Sarwar for speaking out, with Transport Minister Humza Yousaf MSP tweeting: "Utterly shocking. Sorry to hear @AnasSarwar and his wife Furheen had to ensure this.
"Anas may feel he shouldn't name the Councillor involved but really do hope he has reported him. A person with those views shouldnt remain in elected office."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel