Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards

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MARCH 2009

Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar 2009

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The Members' Dinning Room atthe House of Commons wasbuzzing with excitement on

Thursday 26th February, when over200 special guests gathered for theAsian Voice Political & Public LifeAwards for 2008.

The awards are held to celebratethe achievements of those who havemade a special contribution to our polit-ical and public life over the last 12months in a variety of fields. This yearlived up to expectations as a succes-sion of major figures picked up awardsfor their efforts.

The room was packed to thebrim, when the compere for theevening Ms Sheena Bhattessa kickedoff the show.

The first set of awards this yearwere presented by the special guest

Geoff Hoon MP, who flew in from Paris.Mr Hoon is the Secretary of State forTransport and has previously served asMinister for Europe, Secretary of Statefor Defence and Chief Whip.

The winners were voted for byour readers, from shortlists compiled bythree parliamentarians; Lord King ofWest Bromwich, Baroness Howells andMarsha Singh MP.

Our Publisher and Editor, C.B.Patel and Mrs Jyotsna Shah, ManagingEditor were on hand to present the tra-ditional garlands to each of the win-ners, as well as to Mr Hoon and ourother special guests.

The Parliamentarian of the Yearaward was given to Harriet Harman MP.During her time at the Parliament, MsHarman has campaigned to improvethe rights of minority groups. In her cur-

rent roles as Deputy Leader of theLabour Party, Leader of the House ofCommons and Minister for Womenand Equality she has continued hercommitment to minority groups.

Collecting her award, she spokeof her delight at being honoured by thereaders of the Asian Voice.

The Opposition Parliamentarian ofthe Year, was awarded to Sarah TeatherMP.

On her election as LiberalDemocrat MP for Brent East in 2003,Ms Teather became the youngest MP,or the ‘Baby of the House’ and sincethen she has rapidly established herselfas one of her party’s leading figures.

The Restaurant of the Year wasgiven to Amin Ali, owner of The RedFort in Soho, London. Mr Ali hasdelighted customers to his restaurantfor over 25 years and numerous parlia-mentarians and ministers have eaten atthis famous restaurant, helping tosecure the reputation of The Red Fortas one of the top Asian restaurants inthe capital.

The Backbencher of the Yearwent to Rob Marris MP. Mr Marris is theMember of Parliament forWolverhampton South West and isChair of the All Party ParliamentaryGroup for UK Sikhs. He is renowned forhis tireless devotion to his constituents.

The Entrepreneur of the Year wasgiven to a young entrepreneur who is atthe head of the next generation ofAsian businessmen in this country.Bhanu Choudhrie has been the drivingforce behind his company’s success, as

To those who serve.....

Mrs Jyotsna Shah Managing Editor Gujarat

Samachar garlanding the Chief Guest,

Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP

Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP receiving the

Parliamentarian of the year award

Mr Bhanu Choudhrie receiving the

Entrepreneur of the year awardMs Natasha Mudhar receiving the Media

Company of the year from Caroline Flint MP

Mr Dolar Popat receiving the Community

Award (for promoting the community in

politics) from Eric Pickles MP

well as beingactively involvedwith educationand health chari-ties.

Eric PicklesMP, Chairman ofthe ConservativeParty presentedthe second set ofawards. MrPickles was previ-ously the National

Co-Chairman of the Joint CommitteeAgainst Racism and spoke to the roomabout his experiences in Yorkshirebefore his election as an MP.

Mr Pickles presented theCommunity Award for promoting thecommunity in politics to Dolar Popat.Mr Popat was honoured for hisactivism in the Conservative Party forover 30 years. He has served on the

Anglo Asian Conservative Associationand the Conservative Ethnic DiversityCouncil and constantly championed therole of the Asian community in Britishpolitics.

The Lifetime Achievement Award,which was given to Mohammed Ajeeb

CBE, the former Lord Mayor ofBradford. Mr Ajeeb has devoted his lifeto public service in West Yorkshire andwas the first Asian Lord Mayor inthe United Kingdom.

As he was unable to collecthis award personally due to healthreasons, his son Irfan and MarshaSingh MP, were at the ceremony toaccept the award on his behalf.

Asian Broadcaster of the Yearwas given to Sony EntertainmentTelevision Asia. After launching inthe UK & Europe in 1998, SET Asiahave established themselves as oneof the leading providers of Asianprogramming in this country.

The Minister for Europe,Caroline Flint MP, gave away the thirdset of awards. She spoke about thecontribution of the Asian community tothe UK, before presenting the award for

Media Company of the Year.This went to Sterling Media, an

international communications agencycovering PR, marketing and brand man-agement, advertising, events and out-reach with specialist diversity, entertain-ment and digital divisions.

The company was founded by TejiSingh, the only ethnic minority womanin Britain to head a major media andmarketing company. The award was

presented to Natasha Mudhar,Managing Director Sterling Media.

The Journalist of the Year award

was given to the Chief of the EuropeanBureau at the Indo-Asian News Service,Dipankar De Sarkar. Mr De Sarkar hasbeen a journalist for 30 years, morethan 20 of which have been spent


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Robert Howard Marris MP receiving theGovernment backbencher of the year award Sarah Teather MP, receiving the Opposition

Parliamentarian of the year award

Sheena Bhattessacompere of the event

Mr Amin Ali receiving the Restaurant of theyear award from Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP

On behalf of his father Mohammed Ajeeb, son IrfanAjeeb and Marsha Singh receiving the Lifetime

Achievement Award from Eric Pickles MP

Mr Rajesh Rupani of Sony TV receiving theAsian Broadcaster of the year award from

Eric Pickles MP

Members of Slumdog Millionaire receiving theSpecial Award for International Achievement

Mr Naresh Goyal and Mrs Anita Goyalreceiving the International Entrepreneurs of

the year award

Ms Ann Treneman receiving theParliamentary Journalist of the year award

South Asia is unparalleled.The TV Personality of the Year

was given to a familiar face for viewersof BBC1’s Eastenders. Nina Wadiaplays Zainab Masood in the show. Herperformances have gained critical andpublic acclaim and have led to anincreasingly loyal following from theshow’s fans.

The final award of the eveningwent to a film that is no stranger tobeing honoured at lavish ceremonies.Just days after picking up eight Oscars,including Best Picture and BestDirector, the makers of SlumdogMillionaire were presented with theSpecial Award for International

Achievement.In addition to the Oscar success,

the film has won seven BAFTA awards,five Critics’ Choice Awards and fourGolden Globe Awards and can nowadd an Asian Voice Political and PublicLife Award to the list!

This award was presented by thetwo Cabinet Ministers, Mr Hoon andMs Flint, to Christian Colson, the pro-ducer of the film. He was joined onstage by Nick Toon and KatherineButler from Film4.

Mr C.B. Patel closed the ceremo-ny thanking all the guests and winnersfor attending the awards.

working out of London as a foreign cor-respondent for the Indian and globalmedia, and as an editor for the interna-tional media.

The final award presented by MsFlint was the Professional of the Year.This was given to Nina Amin, TaxPartner at one of the country’s leadingaccountancy firms.

Ms Amin is a qualified charteredaccountant, and has established her-self as one of the leading Asian profes-sionals in the country.

The fourth and final set of awardswere given away by Mr Hoon, whowas invited to return to present them,starting with the ParliamentaryJournalist of the Year.

Anne Treneman, a sketchwriterfrom The Times was the winner. MsTreneman is renowned for her acerbicwit, which she targets at politicians ofall backgrounds and political parties.Despite this, she is hugely respectedby MPs and was warmly applauded bythe Parliamentarians in the room whenshe collected her award.

The International Entrepreneursof the Year award was presented toNaresh and Anita Goyal of Jet Airways.Jet Airways operates over 400 flightsto 64 destinations every day and isIndia’s largest private domestic airline.The Goyals contribution to aviation in


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Mr Dipankar De Sarkar receiving the Journalist

of the year award from Caroline Flint MP Ms Nina Amin receiving the Professional of

the year award from Caroline Flint MP

Ms Nina Wadia receiving the TV Personality

of the year award

On behalf of Baroness Uddin her son Mr Sharif

Uddin receiving the award Peer of the year

There is never a dull moment in UK political and pub-lic life and if I may say so, it is, at most times, the cyno-sure of all eyes both at home and abroad. Very oftenthe ramifications of the decisions made in our politicaland public arena are of international consequencesand impact on the lives of millions. That Britain’s opin-ion is sought, and has been historically, in majorevents accross the globe speaks of our statesman-esque stature and theskill and intellect of our policy makers. Whatever the political affiliationsand the criticism they may draw from various quarters their achievementsare worth recognising and honoring . Whether at a national, internationalor local level, our elected representatives perform a vital and often silentrole in ensuring that the nation’s well being is of the highest standard.

Our multicultural society is perhaps a model for the rest of the worldand the fact that our major political parties are committed to upholding thevalues of all faiths and communities is a reflection of the greatness of thisnation. It is heartening indeed to see many from the Asian community mak-ing a mark in our political and public life.

We are living in challenging times and the scale and ferocity of theunfolding events have turned the spotlight on our policy makers . The met-tle of those in political and public life is being tested to an extent not seenfor a long time. This nation has endured wars, plagues, political unrests andin recent years, terrorism and one can safely say that we have men andwomen whose intellect and integrity will help us weather the storm andcome out stronger.

We appreciate.....

CB PatelPublisher / EditorAsian Voice and Gujarat Samachar


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Message from the winners

Government Backbencher of the Year

As a leading publication, Asian Voice keeps the wholecommunity well informed on a weekly basis. So I amdelighted, as well as humbled, to have received its"Government Backbencher of the Year" award 2009.

In Wolverhampton, we are fortunate to have sev-eral long-established Asian communities, includingHindus, Sikhs, Moslems, and Buddhists; principallyfrom Punjab and Gujarat. Their presence enriches thecity, with energy and steadfastness and faith.

The peaceable community relations inWolverhampton did not drop out of the sky: they cameabout through the hard work of many people, overmany years. Building on that positive experience, Iwork with others in Parliament, to try to progress mat-ters at the national level.

It is a work-in-progress. As I always say, it's likeriding a bicycle: if you stop working, you fall off - butthat's the beauty of life!

Entrepreneur of the yearI am delighted and deeply honoured to have receivedthis award from Asian Voice. It is a great pleasure, andsomewhat humbling, to receive recognition in this wayfrom one's peers for what one tries to contribute. Thereare many in the Asian community who lead the way inbusiness and I am honoured to have been singled outon this occasion. Asian Voice deserves praise, I think,not just as a vibrant publication but for providing acohesive forum for the Asian community in the UK andfor articulating our engagement within the nation. Theawards ceremony in the House of Commons was anunforgettable event. I would like, again, to offer a heart-felt thank you for the honour you have bestowed onme.

TV Personality of the year'I was delighted to be awarded the TV Personality ofthe Year at the Asian Voice Political and Public LifeAwards.

It was a great honour to be selected and a pleas-ure to attend the ceremony in such a beautiful settingwith all the wonderful people who have made a specialcontribution this year.

My gratitude goes out to all the readers for votingfor me. It means so much to me. I truly appreciate itand hope they keep enjoying the show.'

Community Award (for promoting the

community in politics) It was a great honour for me to receive this award,especially from my Party Chairman, at this very impor-tant gathering of industry leaders and politicians at theHouse of Commons.

The award was given to me for ‘Promoting theCommunity in Politics’, when in fact I have always‘Promoted the Conservative Party in the Community’.The reason for doing so is that I genuinely believe thatour community shares the same ideals as theConservative Party.

When I first came to this country in 1971, I sawthat the Conservative Party related more to my way oflife than the Socialist Labour Party in power at the time.I was also thankful to the Conservative Party for allow-ing my fellow Ugandan Asians into the country at avery difficult time. Therefore it has been both excitingand challenging pushing the Conservative Party agen-da in the community, and I am happy to continue thegood work for the Conservative Party to ensure thatboth the Party and the community interact well in thiswonderful country that we live in.

Opposition Backbencher of the year

"Thank you very very much for the award - I am gen-uinely chuffed, as are the rest of the team. In truth, wedon't do any more for our Asian constituents than foranyone else - and this makes the award all the morevaluable for our teams morale.

In Gravesham we have a very considerable Asiancommunity - from India, the Punjab, and the areaaround Jalandhar in particular. But there are specif-ic problems confronting our Asian community, not leastthe inability of the system to recognise that we havemany many citizens of overseas origin whoms prob-lems are often treated as standard "immigration"issues: I refer particularly to guests for weddings andfor those needing family members to come over atshort notice for funerals. We regularly have to get intouch direct with the High Commission in Delhi to sortout such issues. Or only this week we have had a bitof a nightmare getting specialist carpenters to the UKfrom India to do highly refined carpentry on the newGurdwara being built in Gravesend - the system expectssuch craftsmen to be able to speak English...

Anyway, thanks again for this - and keep up thegood work."

Robert Howard Marris MP

Mr Bhanu Choudhrie

Mr Dolar Popat

Ms Nina Wadia

Adam Holloway MP


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Restaurant of the yearLet me begin by first thanking Asian Voice for confer-ring this prestigious award on me. I am both delightedand humbled by this honour. At The Red Fort, it hasalways been my endeavour to bring the finest in culi-nary excellence to all our treasured customers at alltimes. My team is passionate about the food we loving-ly prepare in our state of the art kitchens, and we takepride in delivering them with a smile to our discerningclientele amidst stylish and chic surroundings. It fills mewith joy today to receive this award and encourages meto work tirelessly towards surpassing my very own stan-dards, well established and nurtured over the last 25years. May I take this opportunity to thank Asian Voiceonce again for giving me this unparalleled honour.

Parliamentary Journalist of the year

It was a wonderful surprise to hear that I had won anaward from Asian Voice for parliamentary journalist ofthe year and I must admit that I still find it hard tobelieve, even though the award not sits on my book-shelf. I would like to thank the readers very much. Itwas a particular joy to receive it from Geoff Hoon, whois the transport secretary now but who has been on ofmy favourite subjects - some would say victim! - formany years now. As a sketchwriter, I am far more usedto receiving brickbats (mostly from politicians, it mustbe said) than accolades. It is wonderful to be appreci-ated. Thank you very much!

Special Award forInternational Achievement

'The whole team behind the making of 'SlumdogMillionaire' is deeply honoured to have received thisaward. We set out to make a film that was urgent,dynamic and true to what we saw in the here and now,and not mired in the old cliches of West-meets-East. Itis a source of great pride to us that 'Slumdog' has beenembraced in the way it has by Asian audiences theworld over'.

Professional of the yearIn a highly successful career spanning 30 years, NinaAmin, Tax Partner, KPMG, has won several accoladesfor her stellar role in a number of high profile initia-tives. She was bestowed the ‘Professional Of The Year’award from a selection of high-achieving contenders.Speaking to Asian Voice, a delighted Nina Amin said,“Iam overwhelmed and delighted with this award, whichis one of the highlights of my career to date. I think I’mvery lucky to get to work with some amazing businessand great colleagues and I really enjoy what I do. It’sparticularly great to receive this award from the readersof Asian Voice and such a distinguished panel from theAsian Community.”

Journalist of the yearIt was an honour to receive the Journalist of the Yearaward from the Asian Voice, a publication that is wide-ly respected for its reach and coverage.

The normal job of a foreign correspondent is tointerpret foreign societies for audiences and readersback home. But the assignment for an Indian corre-spondent working out of the UK is made additionallycomplex by two factors. First is the process of globali-sation, which is rapidly making the world a smallerplace in terms of information. And the Indian I.T world,as we all know, is exploding. Second is the existenceof the Indian Diaspora, which often involves the corre-spondent writing about 'Indians to Indians' in a mannerof speaking. This is where the Asian Voice comes inwith its unique unparalleled coverage of Diasporaissues.

The contribution of people of Indian origin is nowwidely acknowledged as one of the enduring successstories of post-War Britain. The Asian Voice Politicaland Public Life Awards today is the gauge by whichwe measure this stellar contribution.

International Entrepreneurs of the Year

It is a privilege for my wife, Neeta and me to be invitedto the House of Commons on this auspicious occasionto receive the Asian Voice “International Entrepreneursof the Year’’ award-particularly when it is based onthe votes cast by the readers of this newspaper. Weare deeply grateful to them.

This award is a tribute to each and every memberof the Jet Airways extended family who have workedtirelessly over the years to make our company a trulyInternational Airline in every sense of the word. Neetaand I would like to dedicate the award to them.

One of the most important roles of an internation-al airline such as ours is to build bridges between coun-tries and continents so as to facilitate commercial andcultural interaction and bring people together. So it isparticularly fitting that this ceremony is being held herein London, one of the world’s great aviation hubs anda very important destination in our own internationalroute network.

We thank Asian Voice for the work it does inbringing together the Indian community in the UK. Wethank its readers for the recognition accorded to uswith this prestigious award and our particular thanksgo to you, Secretary of State, for presenting it to us.

Mr Amin Ali

Mr Dipankar De Sarkar

Mr Naresh Goyal and Mrs Anita Goyal

Ms Ann Treneman

Ms Nina Amin

Team at Slumdog Millionaire


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Life Time Achievement AwardMohammed Ajeeb, CBE

It’s a great privilege and honour to be conferredthe Life Time Achievement Award of the year.Unfortunately, I could not attend the distinguished cer-emony due to ill health. However, my son Irfan wasdelighted to attend the event and to receive the awardon my behalf.

Hopefully the recognition of my contribution topolitical and public life will inspire young members ofour community to follow suit. I’m proud to make amark in British politics by being the first Asian LordMayor in Britain. I attribute my success to hard work,dedication, courage, and honesty and my adherence tothe principal of serving all people without any distinc-tion.

Finally, my congratulations to all the recipients ofthe awards and my sincere thanks to the Asian Voiceand especially to C.B Patel who has made outstandingcontribution to the development of Asian print media inBritain.

Media Company of the year I am truly honoured that Sterling Media has been recog-nised for its efforts and humbled to have been shortlistedamongst a very high profile calibre of winners. We havealways felt that Asian Voice is a reflection of the Asiancommunity and has created a dialogue that has beenresponsive and relevant to both first and second and alsothird and fourth generations of Asians.

In today’s society where communities are becomingever more fragmented, it is imperative that we reach out to

and engage with our audiences in ways that are culturallysensitive. We have always believed that diverse issuesshould be given mass awareness and with Multiculturalismand diversity as powerful references, a need has arisen forgreater acknowledgement across all sectors of society.

The Asian Voice Political and Public Life awards hasreinstated the significance of the multicultural communityby providing a platform to highlight the achievements,drive and determination of both Asian men and women,who have made a lasting difference and contribution to oursociety.

Peer of the Year Award‘I am honoured and delighted to receive this award. Toooften the achievements of men and women from ourcommunities are not celebrated and I feel that theAsian Voice Political and Public Life Awards help enor-mously in acknowledging their efforts.

As the first woman Muslim Peer in the UK, I takeit upon myself to inspire other women to get involvedin public life.

At the moment women are shockingly under rep-resented in local Government and the presence ofminority women are unacceptably low. I am thereforedelighted that since May 2008 I have had the privilegeof chairing the cross-party set up by Harriet Harman,Minister for Women and Equality, to encourage moreBlack, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women tobecome local councillors.

I am confident that this and other similar initia-tives encourage BAME women to come forward andtake their rightful place in both local and central govern-ment.’

Asian Broadcaster of the year It gives all of us at Sony Entertainment Television Asiaenormous pride and honour to be the recipient of theAsian Broadcaster of the Year accolade at the AsianVoice Political & Public Life Award ceremony.

Our prime motto at Sony Entertainment TelevisionAsia has always been to provide the ultimate homeentertainment to our audiences the world over with tra-ditional values and customs of back home so that ourviewers can experience ‘home away from home’ feel-ing when they watch our channels. And to be con-ferred with this prestigious award is laying testimony tothe fact that our audiences not just love our pro-gramme offering promoting UK based talent like ‘IndianIdol’, ‘Boogie Woogie’, but also fully encourage andsupport our community initiatives like the British AsianSports Awards that encourages the youth to be social-ly active and physically fit in today’s sedentary lifestyledominated society.

Rajesh Rupani

Ms Teji Singh

Baroness Uddin

6-b Hawthorn Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 1AA,England, U.K.

Tel:+44 [O] 1625 548 100 / Fax:+44 [O] 1625 548 200Email: [email protected]

Congratulations to all the winners of the Asian Voice Political & Public

Life Award

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Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards

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