Sikh MPs add to Indian set in House of Commons

THE ELECTION RESULTED IN THE MOST DIVERSE PARLIAMENT IN BRITISH HISTORY, WITH 51 MPS FROM ETHNIC MINORITY COMMUNITIES

There is much delight in Britain’s Sikh community over the election of Preet Kaur Gill — the first Sikh woman MP — and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi — the first turban-wearing Sikh MP — whose presence in the House of Commons increases the Indianorigin group from 10 to record 12.

The dozen includes seven from the Labour Party and five from the Conservative Party.

All 10 Indian-origin lawmakers in the previous Parliament expectedly retained their seats, with Dhesi (Slough) and Gill (Birmingham Edbaston) — both Labour — taking forward the “Indian” participation in British politics that began with Dadabhai Naoroji being elected in Finsbury Central in 1892. There were more than 50 Indian-origin candidates from various parties in the fray.

Dhesi and Gill are not the first Sikhs to be elected MPs. Former lawmakers from the community include Paramjit Dhanda and Piara Singh Kabra.

Jasdev Singh Rai of the British Sikh Consultative Forum told HT: “I think they (Dhesi and Gill) will have the same visible impact that Manmohan Singh had in raising the profile of Sikhs in the world. They understand current issues and are very articulate.

“We can say Sikhs have finally arrived on Britain’s political scene. For too long, political parties have taken Sikhs for granted. We will now have a voice in Parliament. The two are well respected within the community, are in touch with gurdwaras sangats, Sikh youth and also know issues of 1984 in depth,” he added.

The Labour Party was praised by the community for delivering on its commitment to encourage Sikhs to contest elections. It promised in its manifesto to hold an independent inquiry into Britain’s role in Operation Bluestar, which was conducted by Indian troops in 1984 to flush out Sikh extremists holed up in the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Besides Dhesi and Gill, another turban-wearing Sikh almost made it — in Telford, Kuldip Sahota lost by 720 votes. Yet another Indian-origin candidate to lose narrowly was doctor-politician Neeraj Patil (Labour) in Putney against education secretary Justine Greening.

Senior Labour leader Keith Vaz comfortably retained his seat. His sister Valerie Vaz too retained her Walsall South seat.

Alok Sharma, minister for Asia in the Theresa May government, retained his Reading West seat, while Paul Uppal lost to the Labour candidate.

Overall, the election resulted in the most diverse Parliament in British history, with 51 MPs from ethnic minority communities (including the 12 of Indian-origin), compared to 41 in the last Parliament.