Coalition serving best national interest - Lord Dholakia

Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia OBE DL is a British politician, was born on March 4, 1937 in Gujrat (India). He received his early education in Tanzania and India. He came to Britain in 1956 to study at Brighton Technical College. Dholakia was made a life peer as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the County of West Sussex, in 1997, and sat on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords. From 1997 to 2002 he served as a Liberal Democrat whip in the Lords, and from 2002 to 2004 he was the Home Affairs Spokesman. He was elected President of the Liberal Democrats at the end of 1999 and served in the post from 2000 to 2004. In November 2004 he was elected joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Peers in the House of Lords. He is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of CINI UK, the Child In Need Institute. In 1994 he was given an OBE. In 2000 he was named 'Asian of the Year', and won the Pride of India Award in 2005. Lord Dholakia has been married to Lady Ann Dholakia since 1967, and they have two daughters. The Asians interviewed him about formation of coalition government, Lib Dems’ policies and other issues.

The Asians: Please tell us about yourself?
Lord Dholakia: I represent Lib Dem in the House of Lords. My party is the part of the coalition government came into being after May 6 elections. I have some blurred memories of my childhood when my father left India for Tanzania in search of better future and reached there after 6 months of voyage. My father served there in Railway and retired as Station Master. We were three brothers and three sisters of whom four are alive. Our parents have died who belonged to Bhal Nagar in Indian Gujrat. I married with Ann in 1967. I have two daughters Anjali and Alene and two grandchildren.

The Asians: What was the reason for coming to Britain?
Lord Dholakia: I received primary education in Tanzania and secondary education in India. I was called back to Tanzania after I fell ill. I returned to my family on one condition that they would allow me to go anywhere else for higher education to which they agreed. I served in a bank and collected money to reach Britain.

The Asians: Why did you join Lib Dem Party?
Lord Dholakia: When I came here in 1956, I had no knowledge of politics of this country as was the case with other youth. People did no have radio or television facility in their homes in Africa. Many even did not read newspapers. One day when
I was waiting for a college fellow at a pub and per chance met with some Lib Dem workers and join their party. But later my interest in the party and its programme gradually increased. After some time I decided to contest elections and was elected as the first Asian Councillor from English populated area of Brighton.

The Asians: Both Lib Dems and Conservative Party are poles apart in their policies. What made them to form the coalition?
Lord Dholakia: We have examples of many countries where coalition governments are successfully working. Coalition doest not mean that the parties should fully unite. Coalitions are formed in the best national interest to give country a stable government. Since no single party could win a clear majority both parties came into an agreement to form a collation for five years and make such policies that could benefit the people and the country. You have to make many compromises when it comes to politics. However, 80% of the promises we had made during elections are covered by the coalition government and are part of its action plan.

The Asians: Many think that this step has annoyed the electorate. What is your opinion about this?
Lord Dholakia: There are many who only criticise others. But I would call it a triple lock system. The party leader Nick Clegg had said at that time that  that party should form the government that had won more seats than others and therefore the first right to form the government was of the Conservatives having the largest number of seats. The party decided to join coalition with Conservative party after consensus was drawn among the elected MPs and the party leaders. Ma be some people don’t agree with your decision but there is no harm if something is decided with consensus. In my opinion the actual question is whether we kept the election promises or not and not that why are we part of the coalition government. The clear answer is yes, as we steered the country out of the economic crisis.

The Asians: Many think the budget cuts as premature?
Lord Dholakia: I don’t agree with them because when the country was in the grip of economic crunch you have to curtail your non essential expenditures from day one. For some time people would feel that unemployment or tax pressure is rising. But if we continued with spending money without maintaining balance like Labour party had been doing we would be facing the same crisis as by Spain and Greece.

The Asians: Political critics are raising fingers over the future of the coalition government. What’s your opinion?
Lord Dholakia: I don’t’ think there are any differences in the coalition government over immigration policy and VAT as immigration remained the basic point of the general elections. Capping on immigration by the coalition government is aimed at allowing only those immigrants whose services the country actually needs. It would definitely affect migration from Commonwealth countries but people are now opting for countries other than Britain.

The Asians: Why the number of Asians and non white people is much less in your party?
Lord Dholakia: In my opinion there are three reasons for this. In the first place people came here in search of better future, job and shelter, secondly for children’s education and thirdly to set up their social structure including temples, gurdwaras and mosques. For these reasons our community did not pay sufficient attention towards politics. In their early period of migration when they were dealing with other important problems they had no reasons to enter into politics but since then things have changed a lot. In the recent elections 40 candidates from ethnic minorities participated in the elections on Lib Dem tickets. First black lady became member of the House of Lords from Lib Dem platform and now Turkish lady has become MP which means that now these people are also joining Lib Dem party. Since our community started late in politics therefore it did not pick up the required speed but the situation is now changing. I’ll always press the community to participate in political process so that they could convey their voice to the corridor of powers and they are part of the parliament at the time of any legislation concerning them.

The Asians: As British peer how do you think peace could be brought to South Asian region?
Lord Dholakia: In my opinion Kashmir is the only issue on which neither India nor Pakistan would retreat an inch. Pakistan is facing with frequent bomb blasts killing innocent people and in this situation no workable solution could be achieved. I think it better to open the border so that people of these countries could meet each other, improve bilateral trade and import goods directly instead of trading through Dubai. Both countries should make free trade and tariff cut areas for mutual trade. They should set up a common trading zone on the pattern of European Union where trading could be carried out on less tariff and with common currency. If so happens the region could overtake China whose progress is threatening all. On the other hand these steps would also help alleviate poverty.

The Asians: Are you satisfied with the progress of the Asian community?
Lord Dholakia:  Asian community shares £6 to 8b in the British economy.  Future of thousands of people depends on Asian business. India is the second largest country investing in London. Asian community has equal share in the social and economic development of UK. But one cannot ignore the problems like Islamophobia, extremism and radicalization. My only advice is that the community should play its role in making our children useful citizens of the society. The white people should also realize that we are not here to usurp their share bur are part of this multicultural society. We should learn good values from each others culture. We cannot punish anybody here for what is happening in other parts of the world. Asian restaurants are a big support to British economy. Asian community has achieved exemplary progress in education, medicine and sports.

The Asians: How is the experience of being a member of the House of Lords?
Lord Dholakia: It’s a good experience. I always try to meet people to know their propblms and encourage them wherever they need my help.

The Asians: How do you see progress achieved by India?
Lord Dholakia: Once India was reckoned with countries which receive aid but now its name appears in the list of donor countries. If you look at the globe you will find Indians everywhere. Indians travel to other countries more than others. India’s 60 present population is below 25 years and their education is the preference of every family. If India is made free of corruption and bureaucratic control none could stop it from progress. Today India is investing all over the world.

The Asians: You are also involved in charity work. Will you please brief us about it?
Lord Dholakia: I am patron of many charities and working with many charity organisations. My special area of interest it welfare of the jail inmates. The number of prisoners including women is on the increase. £60,000 per year is being spent on each inmate. I want to make them useful member of the society. As a community member it is my duty to guide the youngsters about what is right and what is wrong.

The Asians: What message would you like to give the community?
Lord Dholakia: My only message to them is that they could achieve success only by supporting each other.