By Raj Natarajan
They say that politics is an unforgiving game. How true it is in the case of Sameer Pandey, recently ousted Mayor of Parramatta City, in western Sydney. As first generation Indian migrant to Australia, Sameer Pandey achieved what many migrants don’t even dare to think, a career in politics. The Indian community was very pleased to see a person of Indian origin rise to the rank of mayor of a major city council. Many in Indian community, I talked to, felt that he deserves the success because he has gone out of the way to help the community in getting the council services and facilities for their events.
If you want to thrive in politics, you have to be a street fighter because the vultures are hovering around you and wolves will be howling at your door to unseat you and grab the opportunity away from you. That’s what exactly happened in the case of Sameer Pandey as he had to depend on the support of councillors in the chamber to keep his Mayor’s position. Unfortunately ethnicity, race, color of skin all play a role in Australian politics like how caste plays a huge role in Indian Politics. Although Parramatta is called the Indian Suburb of Sydney and is the home of “Little India”, many other migrant groups like the Greek, Lebanese, Asians also form a big percentage of the population which means that there are many councillors representing these migrant groups. It seemed that in spite of all these differences, the Labor Party Councillors selected Sameer Pandey for his hardwork and active community participation as Councillor since 2017. He was elected as Lord Mayor, City of Parramatta, on 22nd May, 2023. This also coincided with the visit of Prime Minister Modi.
Most of the first generation Indian migrants to Australia spend their initial productive years finding the right job, educating the children and building the house of their dreams. They have little time to think of doing community work, understanding the aspirations of the local population and promote themselves as community leaders which are necessary for entering politics. May be the children of these Indian migrants, the second generation, may find it easier to think of politics as a career.
If you are a public figure, you must be thick skinned and you have to learn to accept both accolades and accusations in the same spirit. Hence what Sameer Pandey achieved is very creditable and I will not be surprised if Sameer Pandey raises again from this setback and occupies high positions in the political institutions of NSW and Australia and we wish him good luck.
Sameer Pandey Achieved What Many Migrants Don’t Even Dare To Think! added by Indian newspaper Sydney on
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