{{Short description|British Liberal Democrat politician (born 1937)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Use British English|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Lord Dholakia | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|PC|JP|DL}} | image = Official portrait of Lord Dholakia crop 2.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2018 | office = Co-Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the [[House of Lords]] | term_start = 24 November 2004 | term_end = 7 October 2024 | alongside = {{plainlist| * [[William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire|The Lord Wallace of Saltaire]] (2004–2010) * [[Joan Walmsley, Baroness Walmsley|The Baroness Walmsley]] (2017–2024) }} | leader = {{plainlist| * [[Tom McNally, Baron McNally|The Lord McNally]] * [[Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness|The Lord Wallace of Tankerness]] * [[Richard Newby, Baron Newby|The Lord Newby]] }} | office1 = [[President of the Liberal Democrats]] | term_start2 = 1 January 2001 | term_end2 = 31 December 2004 | leader2 = [[Charles Kennedy]] | preceded2 = [[Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock|Diana Maddock]] | succeeded2 = [[Simon Hughes]] | constituency = | office3 = [[Member of the House of Lords]] | status3 = [[Lord Temporal]] | term_label3 = [[Life peer]]age | term_start3 = 24 October 1997 | term_end3 = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1937|03|04}} | birth_place = Tanzania | death_date = | death_place = | birth_name = | party = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] | other_party = | spouse = {{marriage|Ann McLuskie|1967}} | partner = | relations = | children = 2 }}
'''Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|OBE|PC|JP|DL}} (born 4 March 1937), is a British [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician and was a deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the [[House of Lords]] between 2004 and 2024.
==Education== Navnit Dholakia was born in Tanzania<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lord-dholakia-visits-uganda-to-examine-death-penalty-issues|title=Lord Dholakia visits Uganda to examine death penalty issues|date=18 February 2015|website=GOV.UK|access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref> on 4 March 1937 to Permananddas Mulji Dholakia and Shantabai Permananddas Dholakia. He was educated in Tanzania and India, studying at the Home School and Institute of Science in [[Bhavnagar]], Gujarat.<ref>{{Who's Who|title=Dholakia|id=U13642|year=2019|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U13642}}</ref> Dholakia came to Britain to study at [[City College Brighton & Hove|Brighton Technical College]], taking his first job as a [[medical laboratory]] technician at [[Southlands Hospital]] in [[Shoreham-by-Sea]].{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}
==Political career== {{BLP sources section|date=June 2023}} He became active in the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal party]] and was elected to [[Brighton Borough Council]] between 1961 and 1964.
From 1976 he served as member of the [[Commission for Racial Equality]] and has been involved in the [[Sussex]] Police Authority, [[Police Complaints Authority (United Kingdom)|Police Complaints Authority]] and [[Howard League for Penal Reform]]. He is the current chair of [[Nacro]], and also chairs its Race Issues Advisory Committee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://policeauthority.org/metropolitan/scrutinies/gvirdi/members/dholakia/index.html|title=Expert Advisor: Lord Navnit Dholakia|publisher=Metropolitan Police Authority|access-date=5 April 2013}}</ref>
Dholakia was created a [[life peer]] as ''Baron Dholakia, of [[Waltham Brooks]] in the County of [[West Sussex]]'', on 24 October 1997,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=54933|date=29 October 1997|page=12149}}</ref> and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches in the [[House of Lords]].
From 1997 to 2002 he served as a Liberal Democrat [[whip (politics)|whip]] in the House, and from 2002 to 2004 he was the Home Affairs Spokesman.
He was elected [[President of the Liberal Democrats]] at the end of 1999 and served in the post from 2000 to 2004. In November 2004 he was elected a joint deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and became the party's sole deputy leader in the Lords in 2010, before serving as join deputy leader again between 2017 and 2024.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Liberal_Democrat_Peers_re-elect_Lord_Dholakia_as_Deputy_Leader&pPK=d6542a83-7ae1-407b-b39e-2f33e953930e |title=Liberal Democrat Peers re-elect Lord Dholakia as Deputy Leader | the Liberal Democrats: News Detail |access-date=2011-03-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520074211/http://libdems.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?title=Liberal_Democrat_Peers_re-elect_Lord_Dholakia_as_Deputy_Leader&pPK=d6542a83-7ae1-407b-b39e-2f33e953930e |archive-date=20 May 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
Dholakia is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of the British branch of [[Child In Need Institute (CINI)|Child In Need India]] (CINI UK).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cini.org.uk/about.html |title=About Us | Child in Need India | CINI |access-date=2012-01-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120104023/http://www.cini.org.uk/about.html |archive-date=20 January 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
== Honours == In the [[1994 New Year Honours]], Dholakia was made an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) for services to race relations.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=53527|date=31 December 1993|page=11}}</ref> In 2000 he was named "Asian of the Year", and won the Pride of India Award in 2005. In November 2009 he was given an honorary doctorate from the [[University of Hertfordshire]]. He was a [[deputy lieutenant]] (DL) in the county of [[West Sussex]] from 1999 to 2012.
Dholakia was appointed to the [[Privy Council]] (PC) in December 2010.
[[Government of India]] conferred [[Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]] Dholakia in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Navnit Dholakia |url=https://www.migrationmuseum.org/distinguished-friends/lord-dholakia/ |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=Migration Museum}}</ref>
{{Infobox COA wide |image=[[File:Coronet of a British Baron.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Escutcheon of Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia.svg|centre|200px]] |escutcheon = Per fess wavy Or and Sable two heraldic dolphins naiant counterchanged that in base contourny a border Sable in chief and Argent in base nine martlets counterchanged. |crest = Sejant affronty upon a cushion Argent a representation of Ganesh Argent tusked vested bejewelled and crowned with a Hindu crown holding in each of the upper hands a baton and in the lower sinister a sweetmeat Or charged on the abdomen with a Hindu symbol and the sinister leg fesswise above a rat couchant Sable.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2015 |page=356}}</ref> |supporters = Two blackbuck reguardant Proper gorged with a plain collar armed and unguled Or. |motto = Carpe Diem}}
==Personal life== He has been married to Lady Dholakia, [[née]] Ann McLuskie, since 1967. They have two daughters and live in [[West Sussex]]. He is a [[Hindu]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/91630367.cms|title=UK Hindu youths' quest to find roots|first=Rashmi Z|last=Ahmed|publisher=[[The Times of India]]|date=26 July 2001|access-date=2026-01-03}}</ref> of [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] origin.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1140826/jsp/nation/story_18761935.jsp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827112456/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140826/jsp/nation/story_18761935.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 August 2014|title=UK plays Gujarati card in wooing game|last=Kasturi|first=Charu Sudan|publisher=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]]|date=25 August 2014}}</ref>
==Sources== *[http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers_detail.aspx?name=Lord_Dholakia&pPK=ace20ec3-df7e-460a-b2b2-de278d72a32a Lord Dholakia] biography at the site of Liberal Democrats
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box | title=President of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] | before=[[Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock|Diana Maddock]] | after=[[Simon Hughes]] | years=2000–2004}} {{s-prec|uk}} {{s-bef|before=[[Baron Brooke of Alverthorpe|The Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom|Gentlemen]]'''<br />''Baron Dholakia'' '''}} {{s-fol|after=[[Baron Puttnam|The Lord Puttnam]]}} {{s-end}}
{{UK Liberal Democrats}} {{Current Liberal Democrat Peers}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dholakia, Navnit}} [[Category:1937 births]] [[Category:Commissioners for Racial Equality]] [[Category:Deputy lieutenants of West Sussex]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers|Dholakia, Navnit Dholakia, Baron]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Liberal Party (UK) councillors]] [[Category:Councillors in East Sussex]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Presidents of the Liberal Democrats (UK)]] [[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]] [[Category:English justices of the peace]] [[Category:British Hindus]] [[Category:Tanzanian people of Indian descent]] [[Category:British people of Gujarati descent]] [[Category:Tanzanian emigrants to the United Kingdom]]