Luxon attended the event's opening ceremony accompanied by local MP Rima Nakhle.

New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon Wins Hearts Making Jalebis at Sikh Games in Auckland


Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, grabbed headlines when he attempted to make traditional Indian jalebis at a food stall during the recent New Zealand Sikh Games in Auckland.

Luxon attended the event’s opening ceremony accompanied by local MP Rima Nakhle. He met athletes and volunteers and later took a piping bag filled with jalebi batter. As he poured the batter into a large wok of hot oil, people around him cheered and recorded the moment.

Luxon shared a video of the episode with a light-hearted caption on his social media: “Good luck to all those competing and to those who end up eating my attempt at making jalebi!”

The video quickly went viral, and many social-media users from the diaspora called him the “coolest Prime Minister ever”. Others cracked jokes, asking for jalebi or praising his cooking attempt.

For the diaspora community, especially Sikhs and Punjabis living abroad, the gesture carried more than humour. It resonated as a genuine act of respect: a foreign head of government embracing a part of Indian (and Punjabi/Sikh) culture at a major diaspora event.

This isn’t heavy political news, but it is a cultural-community piece: light and shareable, with its meaningful attempt for identity, belonging and cross-cultural warmth.