Indian-origin politicians have made a huge impact in world politics. The sphere of influence has gone beyond countries where Indians were settled by the British during colonial rule to the West. Ireland’s young prime minister Leo Varadkar, whose father went from Mumbai to set up home in Ireland, is one of them. As is Jagmeet Singh, who was elected chief of Canada’s National Democratic Party. His family comes from Punjab. Down Under, in New Zealand, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, who graduated from Delhi University in 1985, was recently elected a member of the country’s parliament for the fourth consecutive time. Most of them won with the support of the entire community. In the case of Jagmeet Singh, he was elected as his party wanted to showcase its multicultural identity. Financial Chronicle takes a look at their careers
Kamala Devi -Harris, US
Kamala Devi Harris, a protege of former US president Barack Obama, who called her brilliant, tough and fearless is seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2020. Some see her in the image of Obama and call her the ‘female Obama’. Kamala Devi Harris, a lawyer, whio had served as attorney general of Canada, was born to immigrant parents – half Indian and half Jamaican. Her mother was a prominent breast cancer researcher, who emigrated from Chennai in 1960. Her father was a Stanford University economics professor, who emigrated from Jamaica in 1961. Her grand father was an Indian diplomat.

Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, came to the US from India to study science, specifically endocrinology and complex mechanisms of cancer. Having grown up in San Francisco’s Bay Area, Harris earned a Law Degree from Hastings College of the Law. Following that accomplishment, Harris proceeded to leave her mark on the legal arena of San Francisco. In 2003, she made history by being elected as the San Francisco district attorney, becoming the first woman, black and South Asian to achieve this feat. In November 2007, voters re-elected her to the office. A civil rights activist involved in immigrant and women’s rights causes, she announced her bid for the US Senate in January 2015. One way or the other, she is believed to be the next big thing on the Democratic Party stage with probably enough firepower to take on the best in the political arena.
Nikki Haley, US
Apart from Kamala Devi Harris, another person of Indian origin who has scaled the heights in politics outside India is Nimrata Nikki Haley, the first female Governor of South Carolina and the second Indian American, after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal, to serve as a Governor in the United States. Currently serving as the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Haley served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina from January 2011 to January 2017. In 2016, Haley was named among “The 100 Most Influential People” by Time magazine. Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, in an Indian-American Sikh family. Her parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and mother Raj Kaur Randhawa, hailed from Amritsar and moved to Canada after her father secured a scholarship in the University of British Columbia. Later, the family immigrated to the US and settled in South Carolina.

Haley is known to harbour political ambitions of the highest kind and this was evident during last year’s campaign for the presidential nomination. At one stage, it was speculated that she would be US president Donald Trump’s candidate for secretary of state. That did not happen and instead she became US Ambassador to the United Nations. At the time, she had pledged to carry out Trump’s vision on world politics. However, she retains an independent streak. She has been outspoken on the issue of allegations of abuse levelled against the US president by a string of women. She recenty said on the issue, ““Women who accuse anyone should be heard,” she told CBS’s John Dickerson.
Leo Varadkar, Ireland
Ireland’s first openly gay Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, got a lot of headlines when he was elected for another reason — his Indian roots. He has a Hindu father and an Irish mother, who was catholic. His father, a doctor from Mumbai met his mother, an Irish nurse, while they were both working in the UK, before settling in Ireland in the 1970s.

Varadkar had come clean on his sexual orientation in a radio interview in January 2015, when he was a minister – also the minister Irish cabinet minister of Indian heritage. He was openly gay at a time when being so was frowned upon. It was also a time when immigrants were not numerous in Ireland. He clearly trumped that to be elected prime minister.

For his social roots and his sexual orientation, Varadkar has been lauded for bringing in a breath of fresh air into a country that has been known for its conservative politics. Varadkar, Ireland’s youngest prime minister at 38-years-old, has been a hard-nosed politician. He won a tough race for leadership of Fine Gael, the biggest party in Ireland’s ruling coalition. Lately, his ratings have risen sharply following his tough stance on the Irish border question in the Brexit negotiations, with respondents saying they backed him on the issue. His personal ratings have coincided with approval for his Fine Gael party against the opposition Fianna Fail.

That explains his reputation for being a straight talker. When he told the Irish national broadcaster in an interview that he was gay, he was matter-of-fact. "It's not a big deal for me any more. I hope it's not a big deal for anyone else - it shouldn't be,” he had said. A few months later, Ireland voted in a referendum to legalise same-sex marriage.

The urge to get on with things was evident at his election as party leader. When his predecessor Enda Kenny announced his retirement, the campaign for him weas run with such force that most Fine Gael members of parliament put their weight behind him in the space of two days, giving his rivals no chance to make their case before the party.

Ideologically, Varadkar is known to be centrist, in the mould of France’s Emmanuel Macron, who has the tough task of taking one of the less affluent EU nations forward. His oft-quoted line is that his party represents those who get up early in the morning, for which he meant “people working in the public and private sector, the self-employed, carers getting up to mind loved ones, parents getting up to mind children”.

 Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritius
Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, who came to India on a three-day visit in May this year, succeeded his father Anerood Jugnauth, the well-known Indian origin leader, to the post. He took over in January this year. That was after a set of unexpected developments in Port Louis. The country’s prime minister at the time, 86-year-old Indian-origin Anerood Jugnauth, resigned and handed over the post to his son. Two days later Pravind, who is a barrister from Lincoln’s Inn in London and had been the country’s finance minister then, was sworn in as prime minister.

The outgoing prime minister had at the time said that he was giving up his position in favour of a “"younger and more dynamic leader". The description did not impress his political adversaries. The opposition Labour Party termed Pravind Jugnauth’s swearing in as a father-son deal that was unacceptable.

“This is a black day for Mauritius. The Jugnauth family is turning the Island into a 'Banana Republic'. This is great treason in history as the population never voted for this dynastic arrangement," former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Navin Ramgoolam said.

According to the constitution of Mauritius, the president appoints a member of the National Assembly as prime minister who has the support of the majority of members. Pravind Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement has the majority in the National Assembly with 32 members.

When Jugnauth came to India in May, he met Prime Minister Nar­endra Modi and then President Pr­anab Mukherjee, apart from holding discussions with home minister Ra­jnath Singh, railway minister Suresh Prabhu and petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It was his first visit abroad as prime minister after assuming office.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, New Zealand
Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, who came to India on a three-day visit in May this year, succeeded his father Anerood Jugnauth, the well-known Indian origin leader, to the post. He took over in January this year. That was after a set of unexpected developments in Port Louis. The country’s prime minister at the time, 86-year-old Indian-origin Anerood Jugnauth, resigned and handed over the post to his son. Two days later Pravind, who is a barrister from Lincoln’s Inn in London and had been the country’s finance minister then, was sworn in as prime minister.

The outgoing prime minister had at the time said that he was giving up his position in favour of a “"younger and more dynamic leader". The description did not impress his political adversaries. The opposition Labour Party termed Pravind Jugnauth’s swearing in as a father-son deal that was unacceptable.

“This is a black day for Mauritius. The Jugnauth family is turning the Island into a 'Banana Republic'. This is great treason in history as the population never voted for this dynastic arrangement," former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Navin Ramgoolam said.

According to the constitution of Mauritius, the president appoints a member of the National Assembly as prime minister who has the support of the majority of members. Pravind Jugnauth's Militant Socialist Movement has the majority in the National Assembly with 32 members.

When Jugnauth came to India in May, he met Prime Minister Nar­endra Modi and then President Pr­anab Mukherjee, apart from holding discussions with home minister Ra­jnath Singh, railway minister Suresh Prabhu and petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It was his first visit abroad as prime minister after assuming office.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, New Zealand
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, one of three MPs of Indian origin in the New Zealand Parliament, is the only one among them serving a fourth consecutive term. Before the elections earlier this year, he had said, “All three current India-born Members of Parliament are Punjabi. I expected at least one more India born MP to be elected to parliament next month, in addition to the current three, who comes from South India. There are 12 India-born candidates in the fray already, which is a tribute to the leadership qualities of the Indian diaspora living in New Zealand.”

Bakshi, believes that in an atmosphere charged with global threats and terrorism, the responsibility of the community and the individual has increased manifold, since their conduct will now be held up to greater scrutiny. He once said in an interview, “While governments do everything they can to ensure public safety, the onus really lies with us as individuals and with our communities, to ensure that we value the rights and liberties we enjoy in countries like New Zealand in Australia. We need to be more aware of what transpires around us, and exercise much greater responsibility, since we now live in a world challenged by terrorism and security threats."

Talking about the Five Eyes alliance that is currently holding its meeting in Canada, Bakshi said, "Australia, New Zealand, US, UK and Canada have been working closely together for decades through the Five Eyes alliance, and this association has become all the more important in the current environment."

Although New Zealand so far has not been touched by acts of violence, Bakshi has said that terror attacks in Australia have sent a shudder down his own country too. “I can tell you that we in New Zealand watch everything that happens in Australia very closely, and every unsavoury incident renews a wave of fear in our country – because our people think if it can happen in Australia, it can happen in New Zealand too.”

Bakshi in fact made history when he took oath in the parliament in the Hindi language. It was perhaps the first occasion where any MP had taken oath in the Hindi language in the global-west. He said after the swearing-in, “It was a great honour for me to take the oath for the fourth consecutive time in New Zealand parliament. I wanted to use this opportunity and take oath in the Hindi language, which is the fourth most widely spoken language in New Zealand – a fact that recognises the important role of Kiwi-Indian community in NZ.”
Jagmeet Singh, Canada
Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal, popularly known as Jagmeet Singh, was elected president of Canada’s leftwing National Democratic Party (NDP) and is said to have it in him to pose a challenge to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Singh, who won the leadership vote in October this year – making the NDP the first major political party in Canada to be led by a minority member and a non-white – was born to immigrant parents from Punjab.

Born in Scarborough, raised in Newfoundland and Windsor, he is the son of a psychiatrist and teacher who emigrated from India. He was educated in law, being a criminal lawyer by training, and schooled in street politics, is proficient in both official languages – one of which is French. When he took over as leader of the federal wing of the NDP, there were widespread celebrations at Thikriwal village in Barnala, Punjab.

Some say he is too nice to be a politician, but he has many things going for him. One of this is youth and style, attributes that people associate prime minister Trudeau of the Liberal Party with. In fact, when he was deputy leader of NDP, he was lauded as a poster boy for the patry that was trying to establish itself as one that catered to a multi-cultural demographic. That he was young with a sense of fashion made him a media darling and helped the party with image building – for instance, he is known to bicycle in immaculately tailored three-piece suits. That apart it is felt that his well-known youth-oriented policies and his representation of the powerful Sikh minority group in Canada could spur the NDP in the next elections, even though the party suffered a humiliating defeat the last time around.

The contest with prime minister Trudeau, himself a rockstar politician, will be interesting to watch as both use trademark exuberance, energy and style to connect with people. There is another significant similarity. Both are fighters, while the prime minister is a boxer, the new NDP leader is a mixed martial arts exponent. Besides, both are spontaneous politicians not making a huge case for form and protocol.

In some cases, though, it is work in progress – like the strength of his team, and the subjects he chooses up front for the voters. For instance, his passion is human rights, but his voters would rather have him talking real politics. They would expect him to come up with things more substantive than inequality, climate change and electoral reform, with which he has been engaged more

publicly.
Ashok Sridharan, Germany
The current mayor of Bonn, Ashok-Alexander Sridharan, who comprehensively won the mayoral elections in 2015 as a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union has his roots in Tamil Nadu. Sridharan, who was appointed as the country’s first Indian origin mayor in 2015, had managed to bring the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to power in Bonn after over two decades by defeating the ruling Social Democratic Party. Sridharan’s father, an Indian diplomat, who immigrated to Germany in the 1950s married a German. His mother’s family had been in the city since the 16th century, it is believed. The 50-year-old had earlier served as treasurer and assistant mayor of Koenigswinter.

A South Asian mayor is not a novelty in Europe. Sadiq Khan, who wowed Indians on a recent visit to the country, has been in office in London. What made Sridharan’s election praiseworthy was the all-round support he got at the election. There are just over a thousand people with Indian citizenship and another 144 of Indian-origin in the city of 3,20,000 inhabitants. Just under a third of the entire population is of a migrant background, though mainly Turkish and Polish. It was against the backdrop of this demographic that he won the election.

“My background was used negatively only by a handful of people. It’s really not worth mentioning. It was more of an advantage being multicultural than a disadvantage because I am already easily recognizable,” he said afterwards, adding his background was not a disadvantage even in his growing up years.
Paramjeet Parmar and Priyanca Radhakrishnan, New Zealand
Paramjeet Parmar and Priyanca Radhakrishnan are Indian-origin MPs to have been elected to the 121-member parliament house in New Zealand. Paramar will commence her second term as a Nationals Party parliamentarian, and Radhakrishnan is making her parliamentary debut for the Labor Party. 

Parmar, who lives in Auckland, migrated to New Zealand from India in 1995. She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Auckland and Bachelor and Masters degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Pune. She contested from Mt Roskill, Auckland.

Radhakrishnan, born in Paravur in Ernakulam district of Kerala, grew up in Singapore before finally moving to New Zealand as an International student. She attended Victoria University of Wellington and graduated with a Masters degree in Development Studies. She contested the seat of Maungakiekie, Auckland.

National and Labour had been almost neck and neck in opinion polls, with charismatic 37-year-old Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern almost single-handedly dragging her party back into the race after taking over the party's leadership in August.

The centre-right National Party took 46 per cent of the vote, the Electoral Commission said, while support for Labour was 35.8 per cent. The results set up the nationalist New Zealand First Party to hold the balance of power and form the next government with 7.5 per cent of the ballot.