PM David Cameron heaped high praise on “the hard working” Sikh community in UK and invited more from the community to enter British parliament.
LONDON – British Prime Minister David Cameron has for the first time said that UK is open to having a Sikh as the head of its armed forces or as a chief justice in its judiciary.
Hosting a Baisakhi celebration at 10 Downing Street, Cameron heaped high praise on “the hard working” Sikh community in UK and invited more from the community to enter British parliament.
Referring to the “hard work so many Sikhs now do in our parliament,” Cameron said “Not enough – I’m proud that we have in Paul Uppal a British Sikh on Conservative benches, Paul is here working hard, but we shouldn’t rest until we see more British Sikhs on green benches and red benches, until we see more British Sikhs at the top of every one of our organisations – whether that is our army, or our judiciary – not because we should believe in tokenism, but because we believe, I believe, that we won’t access the talent of our country unless we demonstrate that everyone from every background and faith can get to the top of any organization that they choose and that is so important for our country”.
According to Cameron, British Sikhs “have been an absolute model in terms of integrating into our communities and playing a role in our communities; whether it is in our armed forces, whether it is serving in government, whether it is working in business, whether it is representing us brilliantly on the cricket field, there’s hardly an area of natural life where British Sikhs haven’t made a huge impact”.
Cameron hosting the fourth Baisakhi party in 10 Downing Street also recalled the recent floods that devastated parts of UK.
He said “We had people from across the country who had shown extraordinary public service in the floods earlier this year, and we had then Sikhs who had gone out of their way to travel across our country and help people, whether they were in Somerset, whether they were in the Thames Valley, whether they were in East Anglia, who needed help. “Serving the community, putting back into the community is something deep in the heart of all British Sikhs,” he said.
The Sikh vote bank will be a major factor in the next general election in UK in 2015.
Britain’s 2011 census says UK is home to nearly 4.3 lakh Sikhs of which 4.2 lakh live in England alone. The community is also very politically active.
Around 3 in 4 Sikhs have voted in different elections in the last 4 years. Around 2 in 3 voted in the 2010 general elections.
Comments are closed.