A 32-year-old erstwhile royal and filmmaker musician Ankit Love has created history by becoming the first person from terror-plagued Jammu and Kashmir to stand for elections as Mayor of London.
Son of noted Supreme Court lawyer and patron of National Panthers Party (NPP) Prof Bhim Singh, Ankit who heads One Love Party is among the 12 candidates in the fray for the mayoral polls scheduled to be held on May 5.
Born in New Delhi in 1983 to the advocate couple -- Bhim Singh and Jai Mala – Ankit initially schooled at the Bishop Cotton school, Shimla before he moved to London in 1989 and joined the American Community International School in Cobham, Surrey.
Ankit later moved to the US and trained at the California Institute of the Arts. Later he joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and earned a certificate in their advanced Shakespearean acting program. Owing his origin to the royal Dogra dynasty, Ankit's ancestors of Thakkar clan were killed and buried in the fort at Ramnagar in Udhampur district of Jammu division some 200 years ago.
"My movies have screened at the Cannes film festival. My music videos have been on MTV. I have worked on fashion labels in Knightsbridge. I walked away from a stable life in Belgravia working for a luxury publication. I did this to enter the world of politics in order to fight for causes." Ankit Love said in his post on his personal web portal.
From musician to filmmaker to fashion icon to journalist, Ankit wore many different hats before jumping into the world of politics in London. Under the banner of Ankit Love Productions, he has produced more than 11 short films and documentaries. Of which the short film 'Whale' and the documentary 'Runners' were premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2012. He has produced over five musical videos, films and albums among which 'Beethoven Burst' topped the charts on MTV.
"There are six lakh voters of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi origin in London. Plus there are other voters from Africa and Latin America. He wants to convert London into a peace zone and that is why Ankit is contesting the polls," Bhim Singh, Ankit's father told dna.
Singh said Ankit's concept of a confederation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is the best solution to 69 years of ongoing armed conflict between India and Pakistan vis-à-vis Jammu and Kashmir. "This confederation of the South Asian states would include a single currency, freedom of movement of goods, services and labour. As well as a unified foreign policy and defence, there by ending the potential of an apocalyptic nuclear war in the region," he said.
In fact Singh was the first Indian to get elected as Secretary of the London University Students Union in 1971. He crossed the Sahara Desert (from Tan Tan, Morocco to Senegal in 1971) becoming the first person in the world to cross the 2,200 km Sahara Desert in about 21 days with the banner of peace, human love and mutual co-existence. "All human beings on earth are the creation of one God. Peace and love are the essential elements to promote goodwill for welfare of mankind from East to the West and North to the South," Singh said.
