Sewa Singh Kohli

BY Harpreet S Kohli

Sewa Singh Kohli settled in Glasgow in the early 1960s and

set up a business importing Indian foods. He then went on to

own a restaurant and establish Kohli Travel

 My father, Sewa Singh Kohli, who has died aged 92, was a well-known Indian community leader and businessman in Scotland.

Born in Ambala, northern India, he was the fourth of nine children. After school and college, he graduated in oriental languages in 1941 from Punjab University Lahore. His passion for justice was expressed in his Communist Party of India (CPI) activity. From 1941 to 1948, he worked for NW Railways and was a trade union and CPI activist; he was then a full-time union official and CPI leader until 1959. In 1948, the CPI was temporarily declared illegal and he went underground. The partition in 1947 brought great challenges: for him it involved saving the life of a Muslim man from a mob and helping refugees settle in Delhi.

Sewa Singh's broad outlook took him to Liberia in 1959 to work in an import-export business. In April 1962 he went to Glasgow for medical treatment and stayed on. The rest of the family joined him from Delhi later that year so his children could have better educational opportunities. His degree was not recognised in Britain, so he went into business and started BK Trading Company, which imported Indian foods. In later years he owned a restaurant and then started Kohli Travel.

He never forgot his responsibility towards the community. He campaigned to ensure Sikh, Hindu and Muslim religious marriages were legally recognised. His love of the arts, including writing Urdu and Punjabi poetry, led him to encourage others to take up Punjabi folk dance and drama. His oldest brother was killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following Indira Gandhi's assassination, but he was not consumed with hatred. Rather, he sought the truth about the riots and justice for those affected.

He organised Sikh pilgrimages to India and Pakistan, a feat recognised by the president of Pakistan; compiled a translation of Urdu literature into Punjabi; organised photographic exhibitions of the Sikh contribution to Glasgow and of Sikhs in the second world war; and worked tirelessly to create the Mel Milaap – a south Asian community centre in Glasgow for older people.

He was a longstanding Labour party member and was actively involved in, and represented the community on, many organisations. Of his numerous awards he was particularly proud of his MBE [Member of the British Empire], presented in 1998.

He is survived by his wife, Harinder, whom he married in 1946; his children, Pushpinder, Aman and me; 10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

[Courtesy: guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 April 2012]