Eight British citizens of Bangladeshi origin are running in today’s general elections in the UK, with blessings from the three major political parties.
Of them, six – the highest – are running with the opposition Labour Party’s banner and one each under the banners of ruling coalition partners the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.
Rushanara AliRushanara Ali, born in Bangladesh, immigrated to the East End of London at the age of seven with her family. She attended the Mulberry School for Girls and Tower Hamlets College. She grew up in Tower Hamlets and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St John’s College, Oxford.
On May 6, 2010, she was elected a Labour Party Member of Parliament with a majority of 11,574 votes.
She is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to the House of Commons and, along with Shabana Mahmood and Yasmin Qureshi, became one of the United Kingdom’s first female Muslim MPs.
Four years later, Rushnara resigned from the Labour front bench so that she did not get forced to vote in favour of a motion permitting military action in Iraq.
Tulip SiddiqTulip joined the Labour Party at the age of 16. She has worked for Amnesty International, the Greater London Authority, Philip Gould Associates, Save the Children, and Brunswick.
She worked on Ed Miliband’s campaign to be leader of the Labour Party. In 2008, she campaigned for Barack Obama in the USA.
In May 2010, She became the first Bangali woman in Camden Council, where she held a cabinet position for the next four years.
In 2013, following a vote by local party members, Labour chose her as its prospective candidate from the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency for today’s general elections.
She describes herself as a socialists and in opposition to the Iraq War. Siddiq is married to William St John Percy, a Cambridge-educated strategy consultant, and lives in West Hampstead of London with her family.
She is the daughter of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana.
Ali Akhlakul IslamAli Akhlakul Islam has been living in Luton since he was a boy and studied in Denbigh High school. His family immigrated to the UK in 1960.
He has worked in restaurants and has management experience. He had to work hard to get this nomination.
He said he would run campaigns on reducing crime, creating more opportunities for the elderly, increasing health care provisions and bringing in jobs and facilities for the youth.
He also said that his vision is to bring positive changes into society.
Anwar Babul MiahAnwar Babul Miah was born in the Sunamganj district in Bangladesh. His father, the late Alhaj Barik Miah, settled in the United Kingdom in 1957 and is the founder of a major British investment company.
Anwar, president of the British Bangladeshi Practicing Barristers Association, is an expert on complex financial arrangements and practices law from Great James Street Chambers near Chancery Lane in Central London.
His chambers have been involved in cases associated with the 9/11 attack and the Enron Corporation of America scandal.
He is the Labour Party nominee for his home constituency of Welwyn Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
Anwar is married to Sony Sadaf Haroon, who is also a barrister of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and runs her own law firm in St Albans Hertfordshire.
Marina AhmadMarina Ahmad is a Labour nominee from the Beckenham Constituency of Greater London. Marina Ahmad, a barrister by training, is a course facilitator of various children’s centres.
She has been a Labour party member for the last 30 years, and her constituency has been known as a Conservatives stronghold.
Her father was a restaurant businessman. She moved to the UK with her parents when she was only six months old.
Marina took her BA Honours in English and History at the University of Surrey. Later she obtained post graduate diplomas on Development Studies and Law.
She worked as Health Promotion Officer and Manager in NHS. She spent two years in Bangladesh as part of her International Development Department job and worked for street children’s literacy.
Mina Sabera RahmanMina Sabera Rahman was born in Chhatak of Sunamganj in Bangladesh.
She moved to the UK with her parents as a 21-day infant and lived in Birmingham with her family before moving to London in the 1970s.
Now she lives in Redbridge with her four children and husband.
Initially a health service worker, Mina switched to the housing industry in 1992 and secured a job with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as a part-time estate officer.
Later, she became a full-time Housing Officer at the same office.
In spite of family commitments, an established career, studies and voluntary duties, Mina continued developing excellent leadership skills.
Rupa HuqRupa Huq stood as a candidate for the Labour Party in the European Parliament election the North West in 2004. In the 2005 UK general elections, she stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire.
Rupa was one of three Labour candidates campaigning for a council seat in Walpole in the constituency of Ealing.
In 2010, after local elections, she became the Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Ealing. In November 2013, Huq was chosen by Labour for the Ealing Central and Acton constituency.
Rupa’s teaching career started In 1998, when she moved to Manchester. From 1998 to 2004, she was a lecturer at the University of Manchester. Then she served as a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Kingston University in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She also teaches Media and Cultural Studies.
Rupa Huq has a column in Tribune, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, New Statesman, Progress magazine and The Times Higher Education Supplement.
Sadik ChowdhurySadik Chowdhury is an accomplished local politician and community activist who has gained immense respect both in Northamptonshire and nationally.
While pursuing a career as a barrister at The University of Northampton, his interests in Politics grew. Thereafter, he joined the Liberal Democrats and won a seat in the Borough Council election of 2007.
He was the only British-Bangladeshi Councillor in Northamptonshire from 2007 to 2011.
His family moved to Northamptonshire in the early 1970s and he has been a permanent resident of Northampton for over 25 years.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Sadik’s commitment, dedication and work ethic have been impressive over the years.
This article was first published in weekly Bangla Mirror
