He is Member of Parliament for Hamilton West in New Zealand. The 33 year old Dr Gaurav Sharma won the election as a Labour Party candidate.

Dr Sharma first took oath in the Maori language- the indigenous language of New Zealand- and followed by taking oath in the Sanskrit language.

The decision to take oath in Sanskrit surprised many, while others appreciated him for showing deep respect for cultural traditions of both India and New Zealand.

“To be honest I did think of that, but then there was the question of doing it in Pahari (my first language) or Punjabi. Hard to keep everyone happy. Sanskrit made sense as it pays homage to all the Indian languages (including the many I can’t speak),” he tweeted.

To be honest I did think of that, but then there was the question of doing it in Pahari (my first language) or Punjabi. Hard to keep everyone happy. Sanskrit made sense as it pays homage to all the Indian languages (including the many I can’t speak) https://t.co/q1A3eb27z3

— Dr Gaurav Sharma (@gmsharmanz) November 25, 2020

Mr Sharma defeated Tim Macindoe of the National Party by over 4,386 votes. This was his second attempt- he had earlier, fought the elections in 2017.

Kiwi-Indian Labour Party MP @gmsharmanz is the second Indian-origin leader (outside India) to take oath in Sanskrit. 
The first was Suriname President Chandrikapersad Santokhi who took oath of office in July this year. @WIONews @sidhant pic.twitter.com/yhfzvBZFHS

— Palki Sharma (@palkisu) November 25, 2020

Dr Gaurav Sharma is the second political leader in the world to take an oath in Sanskrit on foreign land. The first Parliamentarian of Indian origin was Suriname President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi when he took the oath of office in Sanskrit while holding Vedas during the inauguration ceremony on July 16 2020.

The post Watch: Indian-origin MP of NZ takes the oath in Sanskrit appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Dr Gaurav Sharma immigrated to New Zealand around twenty years ago. A native of Himachal Pradesh’s Hamripur district, Sharma has a bachelor in medicine and surgery and works as a general practitioner in Nawton, Hamilton. He also completed his master’s in business administration from George Washington University in the United States.

According to the Labour Party, Sharma has been involved in public health, policy and consulting in several countries and also advocated rights for refugees and helped rebuild villages in Nepal after a massive earth quake hit the hill nation in 2015.

Sharma was studying in class nine when his father, who was an executive engineer in the electricity board of Himachal, migrated to New Zealand with his family. His dad took the leap, left his government job and decided to shift to a new country. However, his family struggled during the initial years in the country. Sharma’s father took six years to find a new job and the family has experienced homelessness- sleeping on parks and benches and used the Auckland City mission for arranging food.

Even if Dr Gaurav Sharma spend majority of his life in NZ, he had not lost touch with the place where he was born. He cherishes eating native Himachal food and liked to speak the native language Pahari in Himachal.

Congratulating him on his victory, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the people of the state were proud of him.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered a huge victory for the Labout Party and is all set for her second term in office.

The post Himachal native who was once homeless in NZ, gets elected as MP in Jacinda Ardern’s cabinet appeared first on The Gulf Indians.