Kanwaljit Singh
Bakshi


Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi was born on 20th February 1964 in Delhi. His father Bakshi Jagdev Singh was a
prominent Sikh leader of his times. Thus, S. Kanwaljit Singh was brought up in a Sikh religious environment.
He studied in Guru Harkrishan Public School and acquired a degree in Commerce from the University
of Delhi in 1989. His first job after graduation was in the family’s freight business where he eventually
became a marketing manager. Bakshi married Irvinder Kaur in 1989 and moved to New Zealand in 2001. In
New Zealand, he tried luck in politics and was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 2008. He was not
only the first Sikh but also the first Indian Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He accompanied New
Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key on his visit to India in June 2011. He has been recognized for fostering
ties between New Zealand and India. Bakshi has also assisted the New Zealand Government in publishing
their policies in Indian languages such as Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi for the benefit of Indian Community.

He also received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award at a ceremony in India in January 2015 for building
a positive profile of people of Indian Origin in New Zealand and South Pacific. S. Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
is a Sikh role-model as being the only Indian in the New Zealand Parliament, he has made all the Indians,
and particularly Sikhs proud. Further, being a true Sikh, he is always there to help the Indian people in
any situation. He is polite, humble, soft spoken and helpful by nature. Even in Parliament, he projects the
best image of an Indian Sikh. That is why; he had taken stand against same sex marriage bill in 2011. As
according to him “God made us all and we are firm believers that marriage is between a man and a woman.
It is a separate matter that this bill was later on passed because of majority favouring. S. Bakshi believes in
Indian values “Particularly Sikhi way of living” and by following the same, he emerges as a notable source of
inspirations for all the Indians.