People
Hizzoner Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:
Mayor of Gravesham, U.K.
by I.P. SINGH
Sikh-Brit Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, 32 is set to become the youngest Sikh mayor in the United Kingdom after he was unanimously elected by majority Labour councillors in Gravesham Council in the south-east county of Kent.
He will be sworn-in on May 17, 2011.
The election to the 44 seats of the council being governed by
Conservatives, was held on May 5 and the results were declared on May 6.
Labour got 25 seats while Conservatives trailed with 19. The Labour party
councillors held a meeting on May 7 and unanimously elected Tanmanjeet Singh as
Mayor. He was declared mayoral candidate by the Labour party even before
the election.
This is also the first time that there have been
five Sikh-Brits elected from Gravesham. Others
elected are Narinderjit Singh Thandi (Northfleet South Ward), Makhan
Singh (Pelham Ward), Balbir Singh Sangha (Pelham Ward) and Gurdeep
Singh Bungar (Central Ward).
Gravesham Council was one of the highly
contested councils in the south-east this year. It witnessed campaigning
by both the Prime Minister and David Cameron,
leader of the Conservative party, and Ed Miliband, leader of the
opposition and the Labour party. Gravesham falls within the Conservative
heartlands in the south-east.
Ed Miliband
even joined the victory celebration on May 6 and said wresting the
council from the Conservatives was a good sign for them. This is the
only local council in Kent under the control of the Labour Party.
Tanmanjeet Singh, born and brought up in the UK, has family roots in village
Raipur of Jalandhar, Punjab. He studied in three of the most prestigious
universities in the country including Cambridge and Oxford. He studied
mathematics with management studies at University College, London, before
studying applied statistics at Keble College, Oxford University. He then went on to explore the history and politics of South Asia while studying for his M.Phil. at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.
After he completed his studies, he joined the Labour Party and was
elected as Councillor from the Northfleet North Ward in Gravesham in
2007, from where he has been elected again. He was unanimously elected
as Chairman of the Gravesham constituency Labour Party for the last two
years running.
[Courtesy: Times of India]
May 11, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Hardeep Singh (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), May 11, 2011, 5:34 PM.
Great to see Sikhs participating in mainstream political arenas and other government and defence organizations of their respective nations. It truly reflects the image of Sikh mindset as citizens of international society. Best wishes, Tanmanjeet.
2: Kumar Sanjeev (Jalandhar, Punjab), May 17, 2011, 1:01 PM.
Really makes us so proud. Congratulations.