Walk round the German city of Bonn and you are likely to see the bespectacled face of Ashok Sridharan looking at you from a poster. Mr. Sridharan, a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, has been the city’s mayor since last year.
While a South Asian-origin mayor in Europe is nothing unusual (earlier this year Sadiq Khan was elected as London’s), what makes Mr. Sridharan’s election striking is that he is the first Asian mayor of a German city, and that too of a city with a tiny Indian population. There are just over a thousand people with Indian citizenship and another 144 of Indian-origin in the city of 3,20,000 inhabitants. Just under a third of the entire population is of a migrant background, though mainly Turkish and Polish.
His father is from Chennai
Mr. Sridharan’s father is from Chennai (contrary to many media reports at the time of his election which claimed he had Keralite heritage) but moved to Bonn to work with the Indian embassy, in the days it was the capital. There he remained, marrying into Bonn society — the family of Mr. Sridharan’s mother has been in Bonn since the 16th century.
Meeting in the grand Town Hall in the heart of the city, Mr. Sridharan insists that his foreign background has never been much of an issue, in contrast to electoral races such as London’s (Mr. Khan’s Conservative opponent faced criticism for the tone of his campaign).
“Only brown-skinned person”
“My background was used negatively only by a handful of people. It’s really not worth mentioning. It was more of an advantage being multicultural than a disadvantage because I am already easily recognizable,” he jokes. Even while growing up, his background was never an issue, despite often being the “only brown-skinned person,” whether at school, university or in the army.
Mr. Sridharan believes that the positive experiences that he and his family have had — in contrast to the experience of many who moved to Europe in the middle of the 20th century — reflected the wider experience of new migrants in post-war Germany.
“Many former foreigners who came here came because they were invited to Germany after the Second World War — we didn’t have enough employees needed to rebuild the country. So they came from Spain, Portugal, Greece, they came from all over Europe and, of course, from other continents. We got used to foreigners coming here very early — decades ago — and especially here in Bonn we are familiar with people from abroad. We do appreciate they are here and it gives us the opportunity to learn more about other cultures.”
Lessons from history
Mr. Sridharan also believes lessons from history continue to resonate with the nation’s population, and is one reason why the far-right The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has less of a stranglehold particularly to the west of the country, than many other parts of Europe where the far right is gaining ground at a rapid rate. “We learnt our lesson. We are very cautious concerning the right and extreme left wing, plus we have a very high rate of employment and a very stable Constitution. It’s really rather calm here in Germany.”
Mr. Sridharan’s mayorship has coincided with one of the more challenging times for Germany and its cities with the federal government’s decision to open the nations borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees. More than a million refugees entered Germany last year, while an estimated 3,00,000 are expected to arrive in 2016. The spring of 2016 was a particularly challenging time for Bonn where its refugee population nearly doubled to around 7,000, leaving the government no choice but to temporarily house people in sports facilities until other arrangements could be made.
Helping refugees
Though the loss of public facilities was not entirely popular, Mr. Sridharan says he was heartened by the response of the majority of residents, many of whom were volunteering in all sorts of capacities to help refugees, whether teaching them English, collecting clothing for the winter or helping them with administration and schooling. “When the refugees arrived in the buildings, they were to stay in, there were crowds of people with banners saying welcome; there were presents for children, toys and such things. It was really overwhelming.”
Like many politicians across Germany and beyond, Mr. Sridharan was disappointed with the U.K. referendum result though he recognised it was something the European Union would have had to deal with sooner or later. “I think Brexit is a ghost that has been over Europe for the past years. We all wanted another decision but we have to face facts and that is that in Britain, a majority has voted for Brexit and we have to handle it in the best way possible.” He also recognises the potential opportunities that the Brexit-related uncertainty could offer to the city in attracting investment from overseas, including India.
His family is in Chennai
While the city’s links to India are somewhat limited, the mayor is hopeful that his strong connections to the country and to Chennai (he still has his family in Chennai and he has visited India over 35 times) could help forge relations in the future.
While he thinks there are likely to be opportunities in areas such as medicine and IT where Bonn has a strong footprint, he is particularly eager to forge connections around sustainability. Bonn is home to around 19 U.N. organisations mostly focused on climate change, and other NGOs in the area, including between Bonn and Chennai via the city’s annual Resilient Cities Forum designed to help cities discuss the challenges of adapting to climate change.
