UK Mayor Sadiq Khan most influential Asian in Britain

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, son of a bus driver from Pakistan, is the most influential Asian in the UK, according to a list featuring Britain’s 101 prominent Asians, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, the Hinduja brothers, Laxmi Mittal and musician Zayn Malik.

According to GG2 Power List brought out by the leading bi-lingual weekly Garavi Gujarat, 46-year-old Khan “smashed one of the biggest glass ceilings in the country” by becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital.

Launched by Indian Acting High Commissioner to the UK Dinesh Patnaik at the GG2 Leadership Awards at Park Plaza hotel on Thursday, the list ranks Sajid Javid – business, innovation and skills minister in the former prime minister David Cameron’s government, at second place followed by new international development minister and Indian-origin Priti Patel.

Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is the fourth most powerful Asian in the country while Hinduja family led by S P Hinduja is ranked sixth on the list.

“The UK has the best relations with the Commonwealth countries. So I am sure that the UK will negotiate and try to work more with Commonwealth countries where they have an edge on the EU. With India, the UK has a long historical and trade relations,” Gopi Hinduja, said Co-Chairman of the Hinduja Group.

The list compiled by the Asian Media and Marketing Group (AMG) also includes NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal at seventh position while Pakistani-origin activist and Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai features tenth on the list.