Indian-origin MP Dr Gaurav Sharma is a newly elected MP in New Zealand. On Wednesday, one of the youngest MPs in the country took oath in Parliament in Sanskrit.
India's High Commissioner to New Zealand and Samoa, Muktesh Pardeshi posted on Twitter that Sharma took oath first in "New Zealand's indigenous Maori language, followed by India's classical language – Sanskrit, showing deep respect for cultural traditions of both India and New Zealand."
Hailing from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Sharma was elected as an MP from the Labour Party for Hamilton West in the recent elections.
After taking oath, Sharma was questioned by someone on Twitter as to why he didn’t do so in Hindi. Sharma’s reply was, “To be honest I did think of that, but then there was the question of doing it in Pahari (my first language) or Punjabi. Hard to keep everyone happy. Sanskrit made sense as it pays homage to all the Indian languages (including the many I can't speak)".
The 33-year-old did his MBBS from Auckland and MBA from Washington and works as a General Practitioner in Nawton, Hamilton. He unsuccessfully fought the elections in 2017 but this year managed to defeat Tim Macindoe of the National Party.