NARENDRA MODI’s “living bridge”, which connects Britain to the Indian subcontinent, is alive and well thanks to the pioneers who have contributed to UK’s contemporary history, an audience in Southampton heard.
More than 200 specially invited dignitaries, including the Indian high commissioner to London, peers, academics and families took part in the official launch of the Ramniklal Solanki Pioneers Project.
The initiative is a partnership between the Asian Media Group (AMG) and the University of Southampton.
“This living history project narrates the untold biographies of British Asians, including those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who've contributed to shaping Britain's sociocultural, intellectual and economic advancements,” Lord Kamlesh Patel of Bradford, chair of the project and the Indian Business Group (IBG), told the audience.
Kalpesh Solanki at the event
“There's no doubt that south Asians have made a significant impact to the British way of life and have to date entered every profession, every industry and every sphere of public life.
“This research project charts the journeys of the mass migration in the 1960s through to present day Britain, in which south Asians have positively contributed in all walks of life.
“I hope these case studies will inspire future generations to contribute even more and surpass those in whose footsteps they follow.”
Lord Kamlesh Patel
The project is named after AMG’s founder, Ramniklal Solanki, who started his publishing empire in his living room with the help of his wife, Parvatiben, in 1968.
The Indian government encouraged him to tell the stories of south Asians who had begun to settle in the UK.
Solving murder
The founder soon won the respect of the UK authorities, when Solanki risked his life to help solve a murder which would be considered today as a so-called honour killing.
The courts convicted Ahmed Ismail Hazari and Alibhai Ismail Hazari of murdering Rokaya Bibi Hazari, who was 19.
In June 1971 Alibhai Hazari hired a hitman for £40 to kill his wife after he accused her of having an affair.
(From left) Lord Kamlesh Patel, Vikram Doraiswami, Azeem Rafiq and Professor Mark Smith
The court heard that Hazari felt his wife had disrespected him when he confronted her.
“He gave the community not just a voice but one that was respected and heard,” said Kalpesh Solanki, AMG’s group managing editor.
“We have reported on many such stories of pioneers who paved the way and laid the foundation for the great success the community enjoys today.
“This success is visible in politics, academia, medicine, business and many aspects of life in the UK.
“In March, we hosted the 25th annual GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards recognising ethnic talent and organisations promoting diversity.
“The former prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was our chief guest, who spoke about how remarkable, and how unremarkable it was, that he could rise to become prime minister of this great nation in just two generations.
“We come across hundreds of stories of success each year.
“So, my brother, Shailesh, and I wanted to explore the very essence of what makes a pioneer successful and share this knowledge freely.”
(From left) Lord Kamlesh Patel, Vikram Doraiswami, Professor Mark Smith and Dr Chaand Nagpaul
India-UK relationship
The chief guest at the launch, the Indian high commissioner, Vikram Doraiswami, reminded the gathering that India and Britain had a centuries old relationship.
He said that south Asians had often been employed as cooks from port cities such as Chittagong in, what is now, Bangladesh.
The journey continued, he said and soon they started to contribute to UK public life.
He cited Dadabhai Naoroji, who became the first south Asian MP in 1892, as an example.
Professor Barnie Choudhury
The high commissioner praised the role of the University of Southampton in the project.
“History is an important teacher,” said Doraiswami. “It tells us how we regard the past, how we are guided by the past.
“But history is in the past, and it is important for those of us who wish to progress to be guided by history, but not to focus upon it.
“If you really want to be able to be informed by the past and to be able to progress in the future, there is no better place than university to revisit how the relationship should be built.
“In my mind, there is also the added benefit of being able to address and reach out to the next generation of leaders.”
Vikram Doraiswami address guests at the launch
The event also celebrated the fifth anniversary of the university’s India Centre.
The Russell Group institution’s vice-chancellor, Professor Mark Smith, told the audience that universities should play a key civic role in enhancing society.
“One of the ways society actually holds together is by the fact that people of all kinds understand the contributions of others in society,” he said.
“We're such a rich and varied society, and that's what's happened in a globalised world.
Lord Kamlesh Patel (left), Vikram Doraiswami (second from left) and Professor Mark Smith (right) with Lord Navnit Dholakia (second from right)
“People have come to be more mixed, and those societies which take that mixture and get the best out of it are those countries which are going to come out ahead.
“What the pioneers project has done is it has absolutely demonstrated the value that people from the Indian diaspora have made positively and benefitted the UK as a nation.
“So, we're really pleased that we've been able to use the academic prowess of this university to be able to look and understand the values of embracing equality, diversity and inclusion.”
Lord Kamlesh Patel (left), Vikram Doraiswami (second from left) and Professor Mark Smith (right) with Neil Basu (second from right)
Important project
The project was part-funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Professor Christopher Smith, the executive chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), said that project built on a culture which Britain shares.
He said it had inspired him, and that UKRI was how it could help future projects which demonstrated a link between south Asia and Britain.
“One of the ones that we want to talk about is exactly the kind of project that his excellency [Vikram Doraiswami] mentioned, understanding our global past to create our global future,” said Smith.
Professor Mark Smith
“In doing so, there is absolutely no doubt the Asian subcontinent will be a critical part of that long term backwards look to walk forwards purposely, and I hope not to trip over ourselves.
“But I also like to say how important it will be to study our contemporary culture.
“We will be supporting work in the creative and cultural economy, and the creative and cultural economy of the UK depends hugely on diaspora, India and Asian contributions.”
Professor Christopher Smith
The pilot project profiles 10 south Asian pioneers, including Ramniklal Solanki, who have played a role in enhancing and enriching life in the UK, writes Barnie Choudhury.
Meera Syal
Syal is the national treasure who rose to prominence as a comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She won several national and international awards for the 1993 comedy-drama film Bhaji on the Beach, which laid bare the tensions between inter-generational south Asian women. In 2023, the arts charity, BAFTA, recognised her with a fellowship which is its highest accolade.
Azeem Rafiq
In 2021, Rafiq testified before the sport and culture select committee about the racism he faced during his time at Yorkshire County Cricket Club. It led to an inquiry into institutional, structural and systemic racism in the sport. Rafiq’s revelations should mean that future generations of south Asian cricketers will no longer face discrimination, potentially changing the face of cricket in Britain. In June 2024, he published his memoir, It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism: What Cricket’s Dirty Secret Reveals About Our Society.
Poppy Jaman
Jaman is the founder and executive vice chair of MindForward Alliance, a leading global not-for-profit membership organisation which wants to change workplace culture, so firms support the mental health of their employees. In 2007, the Department of Health, asked her to investigate how it could roll out mental health training across England. That year, the National Institute for Mental Health in England started to offer mental health first aid courses.
Neil Basu
Basu was the UK’s first head of counter terrorism. He retired in November 2022 after spending his entire policing career in the Metropolitan Police, where he rose to the rank of assistant commissioner. Basu admitted that he performed a u-turn on whether the police were institutionally racist. It happened after murder of the black American, George Floyd, in the United States in May 2020. Basu revealed that a black, female officer “shamed” and “embarrassed” him into writing to his Metropolitan Police colleagues about the impact of the killing among ethnic minority officers.
Southall Black Sisters
The work of this campaigning group has helped generations of women from south Asian communities. It was founded in 1979 after the murder of anti-fascist activist Blair Peach. The former teacher had taken part in a demonstration against a National Front rally at Southall Town Hall. The group made history after helping to free Kiranjit Ahluwalia from prison. The courts convicted Ahluwalia for murder after she fatally burned her abusive husband. SBS proved that she had not been provided with sufficient legal counsel.
Sajid Javid
Javid is a political pioneer who led the way for other politicians of colour to follow. He became the first south Asian UK chancellor, home secretary, health secretary, business secretary, culture secretary and communities secretary. Javid famously tweeted in support of cricketer Azeem Rafiq, “P***” is not banter” after his club concluded in a report that the P-word was banter.
Sardar Harnam Singh Roudh
This pioneer came to the UK with three pounds in his pocket. But he spent his life in the UK helping all communities in Southampton. By the time he passed in 1988, this humble businessman was known by the hundreds who lined the city’s streets as “the father of the city’s Sikhs”.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul
Nagpaul became the first person of colour to lead the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, in 2017. The family doctor almost did not make it into medical school after several rejections because of his south Asian name. The London GP led the BMA during Covid, and he spotted that doctors of colour were dying disproportionately compared to their white colleagues. During his term as BMA chair, Nagpaul exposed the racism faced by doctors in the National Health Service.
Lord Navnit Dholakia
This Liberal-Democrat peer was instrumental in helping former Labour prime minister, Harold Wilson, create the 1976 Race Relations Act. He joined the Liberal Party by chance, and Dholakia was elected as the first south Asian councillor in Brighton. The candidate faced racism during the election. Dholakia and his wife Ann also faced bigotry when they decided to date in the late 1960s. He was the first Liberal-Democrat of colour to be his party’s president.
