A special party was thrown by Sikhs for Labour in honour of the two new Sikh MPs recently elected.
Held at the Houses of Parliament last Tuesday, Preet Kaur Gill, the first ever Sikh woman MP, as well as Tanmanjeet Dhesi, MP for Slough were introduced by Tom Watson, deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Preet and Tanmanjeet were among six Sikh candidates, the highest number to ever stand at General Election for any political party in the UK.
Guests crammed inside the Old Shadow Cabinet Room and were treated to soft drinks and Indian savouries. As we walked from Central Lobby at Westminster towards the Room we were greeted, by chance, by the Rt Hon Keith Vaz who joked, asking if I was leading a delegation. Mr Vaz introduced me to Mr Dinesh Patnaik, the Deputy High Commissioner of India, who showed no interest. Observing him, it was pretty much evident that he was only interested in so-called VIPs, and MPs, rather than in ordinary people, an amusing observation I found.
Speakers included Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry – a fantastic speaker and Neena Gill CBE MEP, Chair of Sikhs for Labour. Other guests included Matthew Western, MP for Leamington & Warwick, Shabana Mahmood MP, Jaspal, President of the Sikh Society at Birmingham City University, founding Chair of City Sikhs and barrister Jasvir Singh OBE, MPs Valerie Vaz, Pat McFadden, Shabana Mahmood and Steve McCabe, Cllr Mota Singh from Royal Leamington Spa, Vickram Grewal, Cllr Bawa Singh Dhallu from Sandwell Council.
Sikhs for Labour was set up in 2014 to ensure that there was strong Sikh representation on the Labour benches in Parliament, as well as to help guide policy issues for the Party. Neena Gill who was re-elected as MEP for West Midlands in 2014, said that the aim of Sikhs for Labour “is to engage Sikhs in the political process, to listen to them, to act on their feedback and to harness their talents and energy in shaping what Labour might be.”
According to the 2011 census, the Sikh population in England stands at just over 420,000; almost 3,000 in Wales; 9,000 in Scotland; and 220 in Northern Ireland.
