Preet Gill, daughter of a bus driver from Punjab, is the first female Sikh MP of the UK
Preet Gill, the daughter of a bus driver from India is now the first female Sikh Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom.
Preet Gill is a representative of Birmingham Edgbaston, from the Labour Party of UK, which is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. She was a councillor in the Sandwell constituency and now has won 24,124 votes, thereby amplifying the majority of the Labour Party to over 6,900.
Daljit Singh, the father of Preet, was once a bus driver in the United Kingdom who had moved there and settled in 1962. After getting this news, her extended family in the village of Jamsher village has organised an ‘akhand path’, a common practice in Sikhism, which means continuous recitation (without any break) of sacred religious texts. The family has also organised ‘Langar’ at the village gurdwara.
In a chat with Hindustan Times, Kuldeep Singh, Preet's cousin said,
I received an early morning call from Preet to inform us that she had won the election. It is a really proud moment for us. If her father were alive today, he would have been the happiest person.
According to Birmingham Mail, speaking about her roots in her acceptance speech, Preet said,
My father came to this country from India with great aspirations for us all and tonight this is the beginning of a journey that he would have been proud of had he been here. I was always inspired by my father who was a bus driver and he drove the no. 11 bus.
As per a report by Times of India, Preet said,
I am delighted I have been given the opportunity to become the next MP for Edgbaston where I was born and raised. I want to engage with the people of Edgbaston and with hard work, passion, and determination I think we can achieve great things together.
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