Being an international citizen in Germany is beneficial, Says Mayor of Bonn

Ashok Sridharan is the Mayor of Bonn city from last year and is the member of the Christian Democratic Union headed by Angela Merkel. Being a Mayor in Europe from a nation in South Asia is not uncommon now.

The special aspect of Ashok Sridharan being the Mayor is that Bonn city has just little more than thousand Indian immigrants whose total population is 3, 20,000. In fact, the total migrant population of Bonn is even less than one-third and even they are dominated by immigrants from Poland and Turkey.

Mr. Sridharan has said that Germany as a nation has gained a lot from its past and is quite careful about its choices when it comes ideologies of extreme left and right. He also firmly said that his overseas origin was never a significant issue when compared to the election campaign in London.

The Mayor of Bonn shared his experience of being a non-white skinned person in Germany by recalling that his origin was made an issue by a meager number of people. This was not a significant thing and it is more beneficial than a harm being a person of non-native ethnicity in Germany.

On the other hand, it has helped him to become quickly recognized. In fact, this was not an issue even during his days of growing up though he was the only non-white skin person be it the army, university or the school.

Mr. Sridharan recollected how he and his family had affirmative experiences in Germany which was similar to the broad experience shared by new immigrants to the nation after the war. This was also in divergence to the other immigrants who migrated to Europe in the second half of the 20th century period.

Elaborating on the scenario in Germany after the war, Sridharan said that overseas immigrants were invited to the nation as there was the scarcity of worker who could re-erect the country. People from nations all over the globe migrated to germane that included Greeks, Portuguese, Spanish citizens and rest of the continents too.

Germany had started the process of assimilating and accepting immigrants many years ago. Particularly the city of Bonn has a multicultural society. This gives a chance to learn from diverse cultures and is also appreciated, added Sridharan.

The Bonn City Mayor gave a glimpse of the history of Germany by referring to the past as the natives of this land have learned lessons from the history as the extreme right group Alternative for Germany has a lesser foothold. On the other hand, the ideology of extreme right is becoming stronger in other parts of Europe.

Germany also has a good employment market and a stable political scenario with a steady Constitution. The society is quite peaceful in this nation.

The tenure of Bonn Mayor will be quite challenging as Germany has decided to accept thousands of refugees as more than a million had arrived at the nation in the previous year. It is estimated that the number of asylum seekers will go up to three million in 2016.

Chennai the hometown of Sridharan has limited intra-city links with Bonn, the city which he heads now as the Mayor. But Mr. Sridharan is quite optimistic that he being related to both the cities in various capacities will assist to develop stronger relations between the two cities in the future.

The most preferred areas for mutual collaboration between Chennai and Bonn for Mr. Sridharan are IT and medicine. Bonn is also the destination that has offices of more than nineteen UN organizations largely centered on climate change and allied areas.