British-Indians script history by becoming Lord Mayors of Birmingham and Central England City

Birmingham got its first British-Indian Lord Mayor after the local councillors of the West Midlands city of England chose Chaman Lal to represent it as its first citizen.

Lal was born in the village of Pakhowal in Hoshiarpur before he moved to the UK, where he served as a local councillor for many years.

He came to Birmingham with his mother in 1964 and has lived in the city ever since.

"It is a very proud moment for me and our family, as a son of an army officer born in India, but made in Birmingham," Lal said in his acceptance speech at a mayoral ceremony last week.

"I am an adopted Brummie, and I never thought that one day I would become the Lord Mayor of my adopted city. I would like to thank my fellow councillors for electing me as their first citizen and of our great city which happens to be the highest civic role entrusted to a serving councillor," he said.

Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Chaman Lal, said: “By accepting this honour, I am very proud to be able to serve this great city as Lord Mayor.

“When I was first elected to the city council nearly 30 years ago, I never imagined that one day I would become Lord Mayor.

"It will be a huge privilege to serve this city as First Citizen, and I look forward to representing Birmingham locally, nationally and internationally over the coming year.

“I’m also keen to meet people from our diverse communities and will do all I can to support organisations and volunteer groups that help vulnerable residents, especially during the current cost of living crisis.”

"He believes in lifelong learning and continued his academic studies in economics and law on part-time degree courses at the local Polytechnic. He qualified as an engineer in electronics and became an apprentice with an electronics company. He progressed to becoming their youngest chief engineer in the service department and was later promoted to the post of manager of the service department," Birmingham City Council said.

"He has served many years on the West Midlands Transport Authority and has a keen interest in improving public transport. As Chair of the Transport Scrutiny Committee, he led several Task and Finish Groups including making the recommendations for the best e-ticketing solution for the WMPTA which led to the introduction of the contactless travel (Swift Card) in the West Midlands area," the local council noted.

British Sikh councillor creates history, becomes first turban-clad Lord Mayor of UK city

British-Sikh councillor, Jaswant Singh Birdi, based in Coventry, has created history by becoming the very first turban-clad Lord Mayor of the central England city.

He recently took charge as Lord Mayor with the official Chains of Office with his wife Krishna by his side as the Lord Mayoress.

“I am so proud to become Lord Mayor of my adopted home city,” said Birdi.

“It has given so much to myself and my family over the years and I will be honoured to show why I love it so much and to promote the city and the wonderful people who live here,” he said.

“As a Sikh, it also means so much that I will be wearing the Chains of Office and the turban. It will help show what a happy multicultural city we have and maybe inspire others as well,” he added.

Before taking charge as the Lord Mayor, he served as a local councillor in the city for 17 years, representing Bablake Ward for the past nine years, following two terms of office in the 1990s in the Hillfields Ward.

Besides being a councillor, Birdi has also been actively involved in setting up religious, social, and community projects in Coventry.

In his role as Lord Mayor, and the ambassador of the city, his chosen charities for support for the year include Muscular Dystrophy Charity, the Coventry Resource Centre for the Blind, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Charity.

He has succeeded Councillor Kevin Maton in the role of Lord Mayor and Councillor Mal Mutton has been named the Deputy Lord Mayor for the coming year.

Previously, he served as Deputy Lord Mayor for the past 12 months and was presented with the Chains of Office at the Annual General Meeting at Coventry Cathedral last week. The ceremony was attended by members of his family.

Birdi's early life and Career

Jaswant Singh Birdi was born in Punjab and spent some time as a child in Kolkata, West Bengal before he moved to Coventry 60 years ago.

He emigrated with his parents to Kenya in East Africa in the mid-1950s, where he had his primary and secondary education and emigrated to the UK in the 60s to carry on with his further education.

The Coventry City Council took to its official Twitter handle and congratulated Birdi on taking charge as the Lord Mayor.

"We're pleased to be able to announce that @birdijaswant is the new Lord Mayor of Coventry. Cllr Birdi was presented with the Chains of Office today at our AGM," the tweet read.

(With inputs from agencies)

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