panaji a little more than a decade after he migrated to the uk from goa imtiyaz shaikh has been elected as the borough councillor in eastcott swindonthe 37yearold father of two from vasco who contested on a labour party ticket received 46 of the voteshare and has become the first goan councilor to be elected in swindon home to roughly 20000 goans a borough council is a tier of local government responsible for services like rubbish collection recycling council tax collection housing and planning applications now that ive won my aim is to listen to issues local residents face and try to find solutions while maintaining an honest and open relationship with the council and fellow councilors shaikh told stoi shaikh studied at st josephs institute vasco and later worked at western union shipyard ltd he also ran the icj dance school with two friends and helped out with his family business i came to london in 2005 with a dream of making something out of my life with the opportunities the country offered he says my experiences during the last 13 years have been nothing but positive living in a country that embodies unity through diversityshaikh later moved from london to swindon and got involved in the goan swindon association as well as the vasco swindon association and began interacting and supporting the communitythe opportunity to join politics came knocking in 2013 i didnt hesitate in putting a foot forward as i believed this could be a more effective platform to help and represent residents he says in the years leading up to this i realised that our goan diaspora living in swindon needed a representative to raise their grievances and address their issues even though i dont come from a political background my policy has always been one of humility and service to those that need itshaikh headed a project in which english lessons were imparted to senior citizens and got the council to agree to the grant the classes were taught by goans some of whom are teachers in swindon and others from different professional backgroundshe also started an evening teatime talk to encourage senior citizens from all communities to socialisewhen asked whether it has been a tough political fight because of his asian background shaikh says the fact that i have won the borough elections reaffirms that people here have been very open in welcoming me anyone who thinks otherwise in todays society will struggle and wont progress with changehe contested on a liberal democrat ticket in 2014 and on a labour ticket in 2017 for the parliamentary elections in devizes wiltshire i contested again because i believe the labour manifesto can bring about a change he says i trust their ethos and post brexit labour is the only way forward he adds that the party has always stood by and supported immigrants and worked towards a fair and open policy for allshaikh said that apart from the initial struggles of firstgeneration immigrants goans have made