British-born of Sikh origin, Parmjit Dhanda made the following comments in his maiden speech in Parliament:
After my selection, but before it realised what a splendid fellow I am, my new found friend the Citizen said: 'Labour can kiss goodbye to this seat. | | Parmjit Dhanda MP |
"I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the people of Gloucester who, in the election campaign, sometimes had to read some quite painful comments about me. "After my selection, but before it realised what a splendid fellow I am, my new found friend the Citizen said: 'Labour can kiss goodbye to this seat. 'It has made the same mistake as the Tories in Cheltenham when they chose a black barrister as candidate and handed the seat to the Liberal Democrats. 'Sad to say many of the voters have yet to reach the advanced state of consciousness to accept a foreigner as their local MP.' "The people of Gloucester proved that they are better than that and I stand here as the very proud MP for Gloucester." » See 'The Sikh Punjabi Community' | 
