NAVNIT Dholakia, who has been Lib Dem deputy leader in the Lords for 15 years, could be called upon to play a crucial role if his party does well in the forthcoming general election.With its clear policy of staying in the EU, it is possible that the Lib Dems, under Jo Swinson, could be left holding the balance of power.
But in a quiet way Dholakia has been an influential and much respected figure, especially in the Asian community, for a very long time. He has taken an interest in vitally important issues, such as prison reform, which attract little media attention.Dholakia, who is now 82, recalls: “In the early 1970s, I was appointed a member of the board of visitors for a prison in Sussex. With our massive influx of prisoners, now estimated at over 83,000 in our jails, rehabilitation is almost impossible.
We lock them up for nearly 23 hours a day with no purposeful activity. Over 60 per cent reoffend within two years of being released. The prison model is wrong. It is all about control and discipline and very little about reforming lives. Building more prisons will attract more inmates. Surely it is time we re-examined what prisons are for.”
This may not be very glamorous but Dholakia, a member of the EU justice sub-committee, has taken the trouble to visit prisons all over the world.In America, he has been to prisons in Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta and “death row in St John’s in Texas which still carries out capital punishment”.
He has also visited prisons in Kyrgyzstan in central Asia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania, where he himself was born on March 4, 1937, and where he lived before coming to the UK in 1956 as a student.
He says: “Earlier this summer, I was in Malaysia and Singapore to discuss the abolition of capital punishments there. Two years ago I visited Guyana to address the Caribbean conference for the same purpose.”He is the patron of nearly a hundred charities covering not only prison reform but also street children, refugees and equality. He is “happy to act as a catalyst to advance the causes of organisations working in these fields”.
He is also concerned about the age of criminal responsibility. “This year has seen the passing of my Private Members Bill on Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility from 10 to 12 years. Since lowering the Age of Criminal Responsibility to 10 years some 50 years ago, no effort has been made to analyse the impact it has made in our criminal justice system. At 10 years, children do not have sufficient maturity to understand the seriousness of their offences. Some of them do commit heinous crimes but there is no need to ratchet up the system.“It is not to absolve them of their action, but we should understand they will come out of prison one day and a long term process of rehabilitation may be more productive. Britain has the lowest age of criminal responsibility in the west. Why do we need this tag? I have received all party support for my bill.”He wants the ethnic minorities to engage, above all, in politics.
“We must never underestimate the importance of contributing in the political process that shapes our lives,” he argues. “One thing I learnt early in life is that in pursuit of our economic advancement we have ignored the political contribution we could all make. The plight of Indian communities in Fiji, Kenya, Uganda Tanzania, and some islands of the Caribbean has clearly demonstrated the impact we could have made but failed to achieve. It is only now that many of our communities have demonstrated the importance of being part of the political process – and what a refreshing change it has been!”
As Lib Dem leader, Sir Vince Cable gave Dholakia “responsibility to build the party’s links with the Indian diaspora in Britain and countries in Asia”. He has joined delegations to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman, and Taiwan. He has also attended Commonwealth conferences in Geneva and Qatar. Parliamentary business has taken him to Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Russia.In 1997, Paddy Ashdown nominated Dholakia for a peerage. His political life, Dholakia says, began almost by accident. “In my student days in Brighton I made a pub visit where a small group of young Liberals were struggling
to get a quorum to start a meeting.
I stood there as a sacrificial lamb, paid my half a crown and became a member. Little did I realise that politics would take over my entire life.“I recall walking in Park Street in Brighton when I came across a couple with two small children huddled in the doorway of a house and being denied entry to their rented slum property.
I immediately went to the housing manager, and he instigated action to rehouse the couple in a habitable property. This made me realise the action we could undertake to alleviate hardship. The seeds were sown.”Dholakia’s diary shows he is in his office in the Lords by 9.30am. On a typical day, packed with political meetings, parliamentary business, networking receptions, lunches and dinners, he goes home at 11 pm, to restart the process the following morning.
He says: “I am fairly disciplined in my work.”It helps his wife, Ann, is always by his side.He remembers fondly: “We have now been married for 52 years of blissful life with two daughters and three grandchildren. It all started when as a newly elected councillor for the County Borough of Brighton I was invited to the Mayor’s Ball.
I worked at the Southlands Hospital in Shoreham. Walking across the hospital lawn I came across this stunning nurse. I asked her if she wanted to partner me to the Ball. She refused. Feeling dejected two days later I was walking in the same place and saw her again. This time she came to me and said she would be happy to join me. The rest is history.”
