As
Mayor
of
Barton
Councillor
with
Jasminder
People
In the Footsteps of
Dick Whittington & His Cat
IANS
Gloucester's new mayor, Harjit Singh, is well underway on the proverbial "rags-to-riches" journey, in the very footsteps of the 14th century lad.
Harjit Singh Gill, a keen hockey player, referee and former resident of Dakoha village on the outskirts of Punjab's city of Jalandhar, is all set to make history by becoming the first Asian mayor of Britain's city of Gloucester.
The community sits in the heart of historic Gloucestershire, home of the 14th century lad of legend and fable, Dick Whittington (and his cat), who - guided by the Bow Bells of London and looking for roads paved in gold - thrice became Lord Mayor.
Gill, the newly re-elected Labour city councillor for Barton and Tredworth, is due to be inaugurated as Gloucester's 527th mayor May 21. He emerged victorious in the May 3 local elections, defeating his closest rival, the Liberal Democrat candidate.
A popular figure in Barton and Tredworth, Gill has worked as a postmaster and became the city's first Asian councillor in 2003. He later set another record in 2004 by becoming Gloucester's first Asian sheriff.
Gill has been mayor of Barton - an area of Gloucester City, which elects its own mayor - for two years from 1999.
Gill, 52, told the reporters in London: "I'm just looking forward to serving the people of Gloucester. There have been 526 mayors. So it's taken a long time to see a mayor from an ethnic minority. But I'm very close to every community in my area."
But he does not want to be identified with any one community alone.
"I just want to carry on working hard for the people of Gloucester. We must have representation from different communities, but my aim is to represent every member of the public, not just one community."
As a hockey player, who donned India's colours at international hockey events and had the entire Indian hockey team attending his wedding with British-born Jasminder Kaur in 1978, Gill says he always loved challenges.
He moved to Britain the same year he married, after completing his Master's in political science from Jalandhar. He had not even met Jasminder till he arrived in England to marry her.
The couple has two children - a son, Gurkamal Singh, 26, who is at university, and a daughter, Amrit Kaur, 24, who is currently doing her A-levels.
"It feels great to have a friend like him who goes on to become mayor in his adopted country," his friend for three decades, Arvind Abrol, said from Dakoha.
Harjit still plays referee at local hockey events. He took the Gloucester police hockey team to India in 1998 to play matches with Indian police teams.
The mayor-in-waiting is now organising a trip of the British police orchestra to India.
He told reporters in London: "It's an excellent way for people to learn about other countries. I think Gloucester is well known for its good community relations. I work in the heart of it and that's what I see every day."
[Courtesy: Indo-Asian News Service]