London, Nov 06: His mother worked as a cleaner in a local hospital and his father was a lorry driver. Like many Indians looking for greener pastures abroad, the couple from Jalandhar came to the UK in the 60s. The struggle in the formative years of his life left a deep impact on their son Parmjit Dhanda. Most of what they earned went towards education of their three children.
Parmjit passed out of the Mellow Lane School before going on to study engineering at Nottingham University and later completed his MSC in information technology.
A year after leaving university, he was appointed as one of the Labour Party's organisers. At 29, he became the youngest-ever MP of Asian origin to enter the House of Commons.
"My mum was a cleaner in a hospital, a job many were reluctant to do," he says with pride about his mother's working class background.
Fighting for her rights, his mother got involved in trade union activity. And this led to his interest in the trade union affairs.
"I too worked in the trade union movement," Parmjit, now 32, told a group of visiting Indian journalists.
Confident and articulate, the Labour MP said after spending seven years volunteering and campaigning for the local Labour Party branch, he led a successful campaign in the London Borough of Ealing in 1998. Bureau Report