The Right Honourable The Lord Dholakia OBE PC DL
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 November 2004 Serving with The Lord Wallace of Saltaire (2004–2010)
Personal details
Born	(1937-03-04) 4 March 1937 (age 75)
Political party	Liberal Democrats

Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia OBE PC DL (born 4 March 1937) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. Lord Dholakia is one of the most senior Asian politicians in Britain.

Education[link]

Educated in India and Tanzania, Dholakia came to Britain to study at Brighton Technical College. His first job as Medical Laboratory Technician at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham-by-Sea.

Political career[link]

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.

Dholakia was made a life peer as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the County of West Sussex, in 1997, and sat 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 joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. In 2010 he became the sole Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.^[1]

Dholakia is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of the British branch of Child In Need India (CINI UK).^[2]

In 1994 he made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). 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 has been a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) in the county of West Sussex since 1999.

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

Personal life[link]

He has been married to Lady Dholakia, née Ann McLuskie, since 1967. They have two daughters and live in West Sussex.

Sources[link]

• Lord Dholakia biography at the site of Liberal Democrats
• UK Hindu youths' quest to find roots Times of India - 26 July 2001

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Liberal_Democrat_Peers_re-elect_Lord_Dholakia_as_Deputy_Leader&pPK=d6542a83-7ae1-407b-b39e-2f33e953930e
2. ^ http://www.cini.org.uk/about.html

Shakeel Siddiqui (Urdu: شکیل صدیقی) is a Pakistani stage comedian better known as 'Teeli' in Pakistan. He rose to prominence in India after appearing as a contestant in first season of Comedy Circus.^[1] Although he didn't win, he became so popular that he was hired as a co-host in the second season of the show. He was paired to actress Urvashi Dholakia in reality show, Ustaadon Ka Ustaad (2008).

Shakeel Siddique also appeared as a celebrity guest in Salman Khan's reality game show, Dus Ka Dum (2008)^[2] and as a guest judge in Boogie Woogie dance competition. He was also a participant in the third season of Comedy Circus, dubbed Kaante Ki Takkar.

Today Shakeel appears on all major channels of Pakistan for his performances.

Earlier career[link]

Before appearing on Comedy Circus, he had worked side by side with comedian Umer Sharif in Pakistani stage plays like "Bakra Qistoon Pay" (Goat on installments), "Yeh to Housefull Hogaya" (Full House), "Nayee Ammi Purana Abba" (New Mother Old Father) and many more.

Departure from Indian Television[link]

After the 2008 Mumbai Attacks some news channels and blogs reported that Shakeel was beaten and forced to leave India by Hindu religious extremists.^[3][4][5] However, he later denied being beaten or abused and claimed that the producers of Sony were threatened by the members of MNS of "dire consequences" if they continue to allow Pakistanis to perform on their shows. As a safety precaution, the producers and the artist agreed to have him depart from the country. This claim coincides with later reports.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shakeel Siddiqui at the Internet Movie Database
• Shakeel Siddiqui Comedy Circus

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