10 Indian-Origin Politicians Who Excelled in Political Realm Worldwide

The stepping up of Kamala Harris as the vice president-elect of the United States has strengthened the fact that Indian-origin politicians are now engraving their name worldwide becoming top leaders in the political realm also, apart from the business and other spaces. Yes, this is a fact that the Indian-origin politicians are occupying top offices across the world more than ever before and this can simply be assured by doing an internet search which will reveal a result of around 250 Indian-origin people who have participated in mainstream politics of different countries and held crucial positions in governments. Let’s have a look on few of the Indian-origin leaders who are excelling at their work and are renowned as the symbol of encouragement for other leaders in this world.

Anita Anand, Canada

Anita Anand, born as Anita Indira Anand is the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Member of Parliament for Oakville in the House of Commons of Canada. She is the first Indian Canadian of a Hindu background to become a federal minister in Canada. Prior to her political career, Anand was a professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law specializing in corporate governance and the regulation of the capital markets. A professor of law at the University of Toronto, Anita was born in the town of Kentville in the province of Nova Scotia. Her parents, both medical professionals, are from India. Her late mother Saroj Ram was from the Amritsar area in Punjab and her father SV Anand is a Tamilian. A mother to four children, Anita was the earlier chairperson of the Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilisation. She also conducted research for the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182.

Ashok Sridharan, Germany

Ashok Sridharan was Ashok Alexander Sridharan and he is a German politician of Indian and German ancestry who served as Mayor of Bonn from 2015 until 2020. He is also a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), and he was the first mayor of Bonn to be of immigrant background. Ashok, has his roots in Kerala. His father was an Indian diplomat, who immigrated to Germany in the 1950s and married his German mother. The 50-year-old had earlier served as treasurer and assistant mayor of Koenigswinter.

Claude Moraes, UK

Claude Moraes OBE is a British Labour Party politician and campaigner, who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London between 1999 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on January 2020. Claude Moraes born Claude Ajit Moraes is of Indian descent. He was born in Aden (State of Aden), and grew up in Scotland, having moved to Dundee with his parents at the age of four from India. His parents are Indian Catholics from Karnataka (Mangalore) and Mumbai respectively. He attended the state St Modan's High School, and studied law at the University of Dundee, government at Birkbeck, University of London and international law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Claude was Chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party and Vice-President of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament. In November 2019 along with MPs Alberto Costa and Stuart McDonald he was given the Ambassador award for his work on EU citizens rights by the organization the3million.

Halimah Yacob, Singapore

Halimah Yacob was born Halimah binti Yacob and is a Singaporean politician and the current President of Singapore. She was born to Indian-Muslim parents and she scripted history by becoming the first woman speaker of Singapore's parliament, replacing Michael Palmer. Previously a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Jurong GRC (Bukit Batok East) from 2001 to 2015 and for Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC (Marsiling) from 2015 to 2017. She was the 9th Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore from 2013 to 2017, which she resigned to participate in the 2017 Singapore presidential election. Halimah won in an uncontested election, as no other presidential candidate was issued the Certificate of Eligibility. In recognition of her contributions, she was conferred the Berita Harian Achiever of the Year Award in 2001, the ‘Her World Woman of the Year Award’ in 2003, the AWARE Heroine Award 2011, and was inducted into the Singapore Council of Women's Organization’s Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.

Jagmeet Singh, Canada

Jagmeet Singh Dhaliwal, who is professionally known as Jagmeet Singh, is a Canadian lawyer and politician serving as leader of the New Democratic Party since 2017 and as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Burnaby South since 2019. Jagmeet began his career as a criminal defence lawyer. His political career began in 2011 where he contested the 2011 federal election in the federal riding of Bramalea Gore Malton which resulted in a narrow victory for Conservative opponent Bal Gosal. Jagmeet’s youth-oriented policies and representation of Canada’s strongest minority group, Sikhs, are expected to help him pave way for his party into the mainstay. Jagmeet was born in Scarborough, Ontario, to Harmeet Kaur and Jagtaran Singh, immigrant parents from the Indian state of Punjab. His mother is from Ghudani Khurd, in Punjab's Ludhiana district, while his father is from Thikriwala, in Barnala district. His great-grandfather was Sewa Singh Thikriwala, a revolutionary who fought against British occupation in India.

Kamala Harris, US

The vice president-elect of the United States, Kamala Harris, an American politician and attorney, was born Kamala Devi Harris to immigrant parents and is of half Indian and half Jamaican descent. A member of the Democratic Party, Kamala is all set to assume office from January 2021. Prior to which she has served as the junior senator from California since 2017 and has served as the former 32nd Attorney General of California. She is the daughter of a Tamil Indian mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, and a Jamaican father, Donald Harris. Kamala’s mother was a prominent breast cancer researcher, who emigrated from Chennai in 1960. Her father was a Stanford University economics professor, who emigrated from Jamaica in 1961. Kamala is the grand-daughter of Rajam Gopalan, a known Indian diplomat. Kamala has added several firsts to her name after winning the election, as she is the first female, first Indian-American and first Asian vice president-elect of the US. Kamala was only the third woman vice presidential nominee to be selected on a major party ticket.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trinidad

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, often referred to by her initials KPB, is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer and a politician who was the seventh Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from May 2010 to September 2015. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, whose forefather went to Trinidad from India as an indentured labourer was elected the first woman prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago after the political alliance led by her emerged victoriously and ended the ruling party's 43 years in power. Just like Kamala Harris, but before her, Kamla Persad added several firsts to her name when she became the head of the country. She was the country's first female Prime Minister, Attorney General, and Leader of the Opposition, the first woman to chair the Commonwealth of Nations and the first woman of Indian origin to be a prime minister of a country outside of India and other South Asian countries. Kamla Persad-Bissessar was born in Siparia in southern Trinidad to Raj and Rita Persad, both of Indian descent. She was born into a Hindu Brahmin family. Her ancestors emigrated from India to Trinidad under the Indian indenture system.

Nikki Haley, US

Nikki Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa to an Indian Punjabi American Sikh family at Bamberg County Hospital in Bamberg, South Carolina. Her parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and mother Raj Kaur Randhawa, hailed from Amritsar and moved to Canada after her father secured a scholarship in the University of British Columbia. Later, the family immigrated to the US and settled in South Carolina. Nikki was the first female Governor of South Carolina and the second Indian American, after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal, to serve as a Governor in the United States.  She served as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018, prior to which she served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina from January 2011 to January 2017. In 2016, Haley was named among ‘The 100 Most Influential People’ by Time magazine.

Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritius

Pravind Jugnauth born Pravind Kumar Jugnauth is a Mauritian politician who is the Prime Minister of Mauritius. He has been the leader of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) party since April 2003. He has held a number of ministerial portfolios and also been Leader of the Opposition. Born on 1961 in La Caverne, a suburb area in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius, Pravind was born into a Hindu family of the Ahir (Yadav) caste. He was born to Anerood Jugnauth, a barrister, and Sarojini Ballah, a schoolteacher. He has an elder sister, Shalini Jugnauth-Malhotra. Pravind was honored Doctor from the University of Buckingham with an Honoris Causa in 2005. In 2017 he has awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

Priti Patel, UK

Priti Patel, born Priti Sushil Patel is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for the Home Department since 2019. She previously served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Witham since 2010. She is ideologically positioned on the right-wing of the Conservative Party and considers herself to be a Thatcherite. Priti began her career in politics with being elected MP from Witham, she then served as exchequer secretary and a work and pensions minister. She was then appointed international development secretary in 2016 and resigned from the post in 2017.  Prior to being a politician, Priti worked as a public relations consultant. Patel was born in London to a Ugandan-Indian family. Her parents are Sushil and Anjana Patel. The pair are first-generation immigrants from Uganda who moved to the UK in the 1960s and settled in Hertfordshire where they went on to set up a chain of newsagents.