Ram Parkash Lakha

Ram Parkash Lakha OBE was Lord Mayor of Coventry for 2005 to 2006. He was first elected in May 1989 in Upper Stoke Ward. Then after with one years’ absence, he was elected in May 1991 to represent Binley and Willenhall Ward and has been serving this ward as Labour Councillor since then.

Early life Lakha was born into a Ravidasia Sikh family in a small village (Nawan Pind Naicha) in the Indian Punjab in 1949. Lakha gained a degree in economics, politics, and English from Panjab University, later working as a civil servant before coming to Coventry in 1977.

Opposition to caste discrimination He was a victim of political caste discrimination during the initial days of his political life. He faced caste discrimination from the Indian Brahmin and Jatt communities in Coventry because they could not tolerate him on the front lines of politics. Hence, they organised his deselection as a Labour Party candidate at the end of his one-year term in 1990. Because of his work within the Labour Party, he was selected from Binley and Willenhall Wards by all "white" members of the Labour Party in 1991. With their support, he won the election, and since then, he has carried on being selected as a Labour candidate and winning to continue as a Labour councillor.