OBV alumni Tan Dhesi could make history

OBV alumni Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi could make history on June 8th. If elected to the relatively safe seat of Slough he could become the only Sikh MP in Parliament. He won’t the first, Marsha Singh had that honour followed by Parmjit Dhanda.

For OBV it would be a particular honour, not least because the organisation has had a seven year relationship with Tan in his journey to be a main stream politician and serve his country.

In 2010 Tan Dhesi took part in our very last MP shadowing scheme. He shadowed the experienced MP Dame Anne Begg. Thereafter he became the youngest Sikh Councillor in the UK, and stood as a parliamentary candidate in 2015 fighting a Tory majority of 9,000.

Anyone who comes across this young man is quickly impressed with his drive, his passion for equality and affability that makes people want to work with him.

If elected on June 8th Dhesi will be a great role model for the Sikh community and a great representative for all the people of Slough.

The other astonishing fact if Dhesi is successful will be that OBV’s MP Shadowing schemes and other projects will account for over 10% of BME senior politicians, including two present MP’s-Helen Grant, Clive Lewis , a powerful city Mayor Marvin Rees, the first female Muslim Cabinet Minister Sayeeda Warsi and now hopefully Tan Dhesi.

OBV can only reflect Imagine what the diversity make up of Westminster might look like if we’d never had to stop in 2010?

Thankfully this ground breaking scheme is back open again. Here’s where to apply: http://www.obv.org.uk/what-we-do/schemes

Oh, and Good luck Tan.

Picture: Tan Dashi in one of  OBV MP shadowing training days in Dec 2011.

Simon Woolley