Prof Upkar Pardesi OBE sets the scene by addressing the importance of active participation

On Saturday the 21st of November the Nishkam Centre hosted a “Parliament Week” event to raise the awareness amongst young children, students and adults from the Sikh community in Birmingham. The aim was to get people to engage with the democratic processes at local, national and European level whilst identifying the barriers holding them back.

The event began with a meet and greet over light refreshments in the conference room, this allowed conversations to flow and the guests to interact with one another in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

This was followed by a welcome and introduction to Democracy in the UK from Prof Upkar Pardesi OBE,

Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh OBE recalls the historical significance of ‘Sikhs and politics’ and the importance of good human beings

Vice Chair of the Nishkam Civic Association (NCA). Prof Pardesi, who is currently part of an international team helping to set up the first international Business School in Ethiopia at Addis Ababa University, was passionate about engaging the audience and the broader Sikh community in the democratic process. Under the banner of Parliament week, a series of events were organised which included the Saturday event and also an event at the Nishkam Primary School on the Friday.

This set the scene for the address by Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh OBE, Spiritual Leader of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (GNNSJ) and Chairman of NCA. The address was inspirational and iterated the importance of being a good human and first and foremost, having good values. Bhai Sahib was passionate about ensuring everyone understood the importance of good values and ‘the gold standard of being a good human being’. He reminded everyone to embrace good values in everything we do. “It is important that our youth are empowered with good values so that whatever profession they go into they will be good workers, good leaders, and good ambassadors”. He also stressed that, “A good human being would always be a good citizen but a good citizen may not necessarily be a good human being”.

Cllr Hendrina Quinnen shares her journey with the participants

Bhai Sahib gave a challenging address to allow attendees to think deeper about the Sikh history and politics. “When Guru Nanak Dev Ji came on the scene in 1469, there was chaos – it was a time of political unrest. Throughout the 239 years that Ten Sikh Gurus were on this earth, their main goal was to teach us to be good human beings. Therefore, Sikh Dharam came up as a faith consisting entirely of values.

“From 1797-1840, under the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji, Sikhs had their own kingdom. However, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was clever, and never involved Sikhs in politics. In politics, you find a double standard; it’s unfortunately a dirty game of numbers. Sikhs had values and therefore would not cheat and lie. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji passed away, Sikhs did not know how to govern as they had never been involved in politics.

“Democracy is about “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. But now we are in the

Neena Gill MEP invites the participants to get involved and do their bit for society

realms of a 49/51 equation – 49 people voting can be right, however 51 can overrule them. Does this seem right? This is what is occurring and this is what keeps good people away from engaging in politics.

“In 1997, politicians from many different countries came together to create a Universal Declaration of Rights. Within the Declaration, there are 19 clauses, one of which is called the Universal Declaration of Responsibilities. Examples of what this declaration states are as follows:

• all men and women have a responsibility to respect one another
• religious freedom must be granted
• no one should incite hatred, victimize groups or individuals
• freedom of media carries the responsibility to be correct and accurate
• every person has the responsibility to protect life

“This should have become a global declaration! Wars would have stopped! However it is frozen and unable to move forward. This is a prime example of the double standards involved in politics. When we are not properly practicing our dharam (faith) ie we are not dharmi – practicing and living our faith – we become jealous and malicious. If we were good human beings it follows we would be good politicians.”

Hendrina Quinnen, Councillor for Lozells and East Handsworth Ward gave an overview of her background and why she became a councillor. She also spoke very passionately about engaging with the local community and why she wanted to serve them.

Some of the speakers and attendees

Gurdail Singh Atwal and Narinder Kooner, Councillors for Handsworth Wood, inspired the youth to engage in local democracy and how it can affect their day to day lives.  They spoke about how you can make a change and gave examples of some of the current changes they are hoping to make. Gurdail Singh encouraged and motivated, in particular the young Sikh community, to be more involved and explained how the Sikh community is under represented and its implications. He gave an account on his inspirational journey into local government.

Neena Gill, Member of European Parliament for the West Midland spoke of what members of UK and European Parliaments do. She stressed the need for greater representation of ethnic minorities in national and European government. She also offered to give young people the opportunity to shadow her in the European Parliament in Brussels. We will certainly be following this up in the coming months.

Surinder Singh, Electoral Participation Officer at Sandwell Council spoke on how local government works and how local citizens are represented. To conclude the speakers, Councillor Narinder Kaur Kooner addressed the guests briefly to invite more participation from the BME communities. She went on to specify how we can get involved in politics. She said, “Politics influences our daily lives more often then we realise – for example, there are policies that determine what our children learn in schools. There are many ways to get involved in politics, without actually having to become an MP or Councillor. You can become a member of the political party you are supporting a political party.  This way, you can vote on specific policies that are being passed, rather than just for the party in power”.

The event closed with a question and answer session inviting audience responses to “What is stopping the Sikh community from engaging in local and national government?” Questions such as; how do you feel about the Sikh community being represented, what is the best way for you to be involved, and how can you be more proactive, were discussed. The responses of the questions were collated on Post-It notes and handed in. We are hoping to have the information ready in the near future to share and disseminate with interested parties. The responses will also inform future engagement opportunities so that the barriers can be overcome and promote more participation in the democratic process.

Amrick Ubhi, Nishkam Centre Director, gave a vote of thanks to all the speakers, the organisers, Bhai Sahib Ji for the pearls of wisdom, and importantly, all the attendees for their attendance and valued participation. Amrick also invited the audience to become more proactive rather than responding to invitations all the time. He said it was our duty to get involved in governance be it a school, community events, politics and ward meetings. He went on to say that it is not only Bhai Sahib Ji’s role to represent the community at civic engagements but that we must all do our part.

The event was a great success and raised a lot of interest within the community. The intention is that many more events of this kind will be organised in the future.