Ranjit Sondhi

Ranjit Sondhi was born in Punjab in 1950 and was a member of the Indian elite. He migrated to Britain in 1965, aged 15, to attend Bedford School, an independent boarding school for boys, where he obtained a scholarship.

In 1968 Sondhi began studying theoretical and mathematical physics at the University of Birmingham. It was here that he developed a political consciousness which would shape his community activism. As a student, Sondhi gravitated to areas such as Handsworth where there were large Indian communities. He would spend his evenings with Punjabi factory and foundry workers who taught him how to speak colloquial Punjabi, and often visited the home of Jagmohan Joshi, the Secretary General of the Indian Workers’ Association. As a member of the University of Birmingham’s International Society, Sondhi helped organize anti-racist protests, such as a demonstration in 1969 against Enoch Powell, who had been invited by a school to deliver a keynote speech.

In 1977 Sondhi founded and directed the Asian Resource Centre in Handsworth. The founding aims of the centre were to understand the challenges that local South Asians were facing and, in turn, create projects that protected their rights and instilled confidence. A documentary produced by Anglia TV in 1978, titled ‘Here to Stay’, highlighted some of Sondhi’s community engagement, including liaising with local officials on behalf of older South Asians in the community, creating links with local schools and leading the construction of a hostel for vulnerable South Asian women.

Sondhi continued to develop strong links with the University of Birmingham. He was a researcher for the Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies project ‘Race in the Provisional Press’, with Chas Critcher and Margaret Parker, who worked for the Handsworth-based community activist collective '40 Hall Road'. In 1985, he became Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, Westhill, where he taught until 2007. Between 1985 and 1989, he was Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality and, in 1998, became a governor of the BBC. In 1999 he received a CBE. Sondhi continues to engage in community activism and is currently the Chair of the arts organization Sampad.