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Keith Vaz, the Indian-origin Labour member of Parliament, has emerged as Britain's most influential Asian in a list of 101 powerful people from the region, which includes the likes of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, the billionaire Hinduja Brothers and leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul.
According to the GG2 Power 101, brought out by the Garavi Gujarat Publications in London listing the 101 most influential Asians in the United Kingdom, has 56-year-old Vaz, Labour MP from Leicester East and chairman of the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee, placed at No 1.
Vaz has been a parliamentarian for over 25 years and was among the original modern gang of four ethnic path-breaking politicians, including the late Bernie Grant, Paul Boateng and Dianne Abbott, who made it into the House of Commons in 1987.
He has been put in the category of 'politics'. Indian-origin steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal takes the second position, he is in the category of 'industry'.
The Billionaire Hinduja Brothers , S P Hinduja and Gopi Hinduja, Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Hinduja Group, come third on the list, while leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul is listed at the 22nd position, included in the category of 'business'.
Reputed author Salman Rushdie is 24th (writing) and Dr Kartar Lalvani, founder of Vitabiotics, the market leader in the UK is 30th (Pharmacy) on the list. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, minister of state in the foreign office, looking after faith communities within the department for communities and local government is 4th on the list (politics).
Anshu Jain, Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank is 5th (banking) on the list while Indian-origin artist Anish Kapoor CBE is 6th (art).
Sadiq Khan, shadow justice minister is 7th (politics) while Lord Navnit Dholakia, deputy leader of the liberal Democrats in the House of Lords is 8th (Politics) on the list. Suma Chakrabarthi, head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is 9th (public service) on the list, while Rabinder Singh, the first Sikh high court judge in Britain is 10th (law).
Christopher Grayling, MP, secretary of state for justice and Lord Chancellor, cabinet office, who was the chief guest, released the GG2 Power 101 and presented the GG2 Leadership Awards, 2012, at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, on Wednesday night.
Ramniklal Solanki, editor in chief of GG2 said, "The 101 personalities chosen are high achievers in every sense. I am immensely proud of the Asian community's contribution to
British life and this is proof of the amazing strides that our community has made over the years."