Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh; Mallard TrevorKANWALJIT SINGH BAKSHI (National): Thank you Mr Speaker for the opportunity to speak to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji founder of the Sikh religion. The Sikh religion was founded in 1469. It is the fifth-largest religion in the world and the youngest. Today we have about 27 million followers all over the globe. Guru Nanak Dev Ji's teachings were simple: be kind work hard do good and treat everyone equally no matter what their religion caste skin colour or gender. In medieval India women had to face very significant hardship and discrimination due to their gender. They were treated as slaves. At times they were also sold into child marriage condemned to miserable widowhood if they escaped suttee immolation and were regarded unfit for religious instruction. But Guru Nanak Dev Ji had the rare courage to stand up to clear the divide and discriminatory behaviour to equate women and men. So kyon mandaa aakhiaijit jameh raajaanm. Guru Ji said Why call them inferior when they gave birth to all human beings including the kings?" It fills me with great pride that our beloved country New Zealand gave the right to women to vote first in the world. There are three main tenets of Sikhism which Guru Nanak Dev Ji gave to us and Sikhism is based on: Naam Japu which is meditating on God's name with the purpose to eliminate evil greed attachment anger and lust for our personality; Kirit Karo refers to earning an honest pure and dedicated living by exercising one's skill ability and talent; Wand Chakou share what you have and to consume together as a community—this could be wealth food or anything that we are able to share. I will not dwell further on biological details of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Rather I will share the learnings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji that remain as relevant today as they were when he first manifested them. The first words Guru Nanak Dev Ji uttered after his enlightenment were: "Ik-Onkar Sat Naam Karta Purakh Nirbhau Nirvair Akaal Murat Ajuni Saibhan Gur Prasaadh." The concept of God is reflected in the prologue of Guru Granth Sahib which in English could be described: one universe creator God the name is the truth creator being personified no fear no hatred an image of undying beyond birth and self-existent. Guru Nanak Dev Ji further said that God is universal; he does not belong to any race or any nation. Why search for God outside when he is within all of us? The eight words along with the ninth "Gur Prasaadh" are the blessings of true teacher from the essence of Sikhism. Anyone who understands and follows these founding hymns of Sikhism in their very basic forms will not be able to or cannot discriminate against anyone on this earth. I would like to reiterate that what the Hon Shane Jones is trying to do is the opposite of the message of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and I think that he needs to understand that Indians have gained their mana by the hard work of our ancestors as well as with the education we have gained. Also we have got the Prime Minister who is advocating against racism and hate speech whereas we have a Cabinet Minister who is doing the opposite of that and making derogatory remarks against the Indian community. I think that that is totally—SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired. The debate having concluded the motion lapsed."