The Right Honourable
The Lord Dholakia
OBE PC JP DL
Official portrait, 2018
Co-Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords
Assumed office
24 November 2004
Serving with
Leader
President of the Liberal Democrats
In office
1 January 2001 – 31 December 2004
LeaderCharles Kennedy
Preceded byDiana Maddock
Succeeded bySimon Hughes
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
24 October 1997
Life peerage
Personal details
Born (1937-03-04) 4 March 1937
Tanzania
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Spouse
Ann McLuskie
​
(m. 1967)​
Children2

Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia, OBE, PC, JP, DL (born 4 March 1937), is a British Liberal Democrat politician and a deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

Education

Navnit Dholakia was born in Tanzania[1] on 4 March 1937 to Permananddas Mulji Dholakia and Shantabai Permananddas Dholakia. He was educated in Tanzania and India, studying at the Home School and Institute of Science in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.[2] Dholakia came to Britain to study at Brighton Technical College, taking his first job as a medical laboratory technician at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham-by-Sea.

Political career

He became active in the Liberal party and was elected to Brighton Borough Council between 1961 and 1964.

From 1976 he served as member of the Commission for Racial Equality and has been involved in the Sussex Police Authority, Police Complaints Authority and Howard League for Penal Reform. He is the current chair of Nacro, and also chairs its Race Issues Advisory Committee.[3]

Dholakia was created a life peer as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the County of West Sussex, on 24 October 1997,[4] and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.

From 1997 to 2002 he served as a Liberal Democrat whip in the House, and from 2002 to 2004 he was the Home Affairs Spokesman.

He was elected President of the Liberal Democrats at the end of 1999 and served in the post from 2000 to 2004. In November 2004 he was elected a joint deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and became the party's sole deputy leader in the Lords in 2010.[5]

Dholakia is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of the British branch of Child In Need India (CINI UK).[6]

Honours

In the 1994 New Year Honours, Dholakia was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to race relations.[7] In 2000 he was named "Asian of the Year", and won the Pride of India Award in 2005. In November 2009 he was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire. He was a deputy lieutenant (DL) in the county of West Sussex from 1999 to 2012.

Dholakia was appointed to the Privy Council (PC) in December 2010.

Government of India conferred Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Dholakia in 2003.[8]

Coat of arms of Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia
Crest
Sejant affronty upon a cushion Argent a representation of Ganesh Argent tusked vested bejewelled and crowned with a Hindu crown holding in each of the upper hands a baton and in the lower sinister a sweetmeat Or charged on the abdomen with a Hindu symbol and the sinister leg fesswise above a rat couchant Sable.[9]
Escutcheon
Per fess wavy Or and Sable two heraldic dolphins naiant counterchanged that in base contourny a border Sable in chief and Argent in base nine martlets counterchanged.
Supporters
Two blackbuck reguardant Proper gorged with a plain collar armed and unguled Or.
Motto
Carpe Diem

Personal life

He has been married to Lady Dholakia, née Ann McLuskie, since 1967. They have two daughters and live in West Sussex. He is a Hindu of Gujarati origin.[10]

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "Lord Dholakia visits Uganda to examine death penalty issues". GOV.UK. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. ↑ "Dholakia". Who's Who. A & C Black. 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U13642. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ↑ "Expert Advisor: Lord Navnit Dholakia". Metropolitan Police Authority. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "No. 54933". The London Gazette. 29 October 1997. p. 12149.
  5. ↑ "Liberal Democrat Peers re-elect Lord Dholakia as Deputy Leader | the Liberal Democrats: News Detail". Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  6. ↑ "About Us | Child in Need India | CINI". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "No. 53527". The London Gazette. 31 December 1993. p. 11.
  8. ↑ "Navnit Dholakia". Migration Museum. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Debrett's Peerage. 2015. p. 356.
  10. ↑ Kasturi, Charu Sudan (25 August 2014). "UK plays Gujarati card in wooing game". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014.
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