Kol boy 1st Bengali to become 1st citizen of London borough
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Kolkata: The London Borough of Newham on Thursday elected councillor Rohit K Dasgupta as its chair and first citizen, the top civic official representing the council.
Dasgupta, who became the first ever chair of Bengali Indian origin in the borough, will preside over citizenship ceremonies, host dignitaries and chair civic events.
He was first elected to the council as a Labour Party candidate in 2018 and re-elected in May 2022 for the Canning Town South Ward.
An alumnus of St James' School and JU, Dasgupta had moved to London in 2009. Dasgupta told TOI it was "deeply meaningful" for him that someone of Indian Bengali origin, born in Kolkata, was elected to this role. "My vice-chair, councillor Imam Haque, also shares these roots. For the first time, two Bengalis have been elected to the top two civic roles in a UK borough.
We are passionate about our shared heritage. We are working with organisations, such as London Bengal Heritage Foundation, as well as businesses and civic groups for cultural and civic ties between Newham and Kolkata.
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Newham, Dasgupta said, was home to a vibrant South Asian community, including a significant Bengali population. "Strengthening these connections is both personally meaningful and politically important.
During my acceptance speech, I quoted Tagore to reflect on our shared cultural values and his vision of universalism..." he added.
An associate professor in gender studies at London School of Economics and Political Science, Dasgupta has been a trade unionist, anti-racist campaigner and an LGBTQ+ rights activist. "We are living in a time, when anti-migrant and anti-queer rhetoric is on the rise. Across many societies, trans-people, migrants and other vulnerable groups are being scapegoated and marginalised. As Chair, I will continue to be a proud ally and a voice of solidarity.
I want our communities to know that Newham stands with them," he said.
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