People all throughout the former British colony enthusiastically celebrated Rishi Sunak’s victory today because he has embraced his Indian and Hindu background. Rishi Sunak will be the new prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Sunak, 42, who is expected to become the first person of colour to govern Britain, received a flood of congratulations on social media and TV channels in India.
A ruling Conservative Party eager for a reliable pair of hands to steer the nation through economic and political upheaval chose the former Treasury Secretary.
He is one of our own, many Indians who are celebrating Diwali, one of the most significant Hindu holidays, were able to declare.
A businessman from New Delhi named Manoj Garg stated, “India should be proud that the nation that dominated us for so long now has a prime minister of Indian descent.”
Before the Indian subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan in 1947, Sunak’s grandparents were natives of the Punjab state. Before living in the UK in the 1960s, they first relocated to East Africa in the late 1930s. On the south coast of England, in Southampton, Sunak was born in 1980.
His ties to India are not limited to his ancestry. He is married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys founder and Indian billionaire NR Narayana Murthy.
It was discovered in April 2022 that Murty, who holds somewhat less than 1% of Infosys, had not paid UK taxes on her foreign earnings. Even while the method was lawful, it was unethical at a time when Sunak was chancellor of the Exchequer and increasing taxes for millions of Britons.
Sunak’s triumph appeared to have Indian TV stations star-struck. Across the bottom of the screen on New Delhi Television ran the words: “Indian son rises over the empire.
The Hindi term for someone with Indian ancestry was used by the India Today news station to poke fun at the UK’s economic and political unrest: “Battered Britain gets ‘desi’ big boss.
When Kamala Harris was elected as the US vice president last year, Indians celebrated her Indian background.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sunak on Twitter and said he is looking forward to “working closely together on global issues”.
Modi wished the “living bridge” of UK Indians a happy Diwali as they “convert historic ties into new partnership.”
Some others claimed that Sunak’s choice was especially significant for the nation given its recent commemoration of 75 years of independence from British colonial rule.
“Today, as India celebrates Diwali in its 75th year as an independent nation, the UK gets an Indian-origin Prime Minister. History completes its circle, tweeted legislator Raghav Chadha.
Others praised Sunak, calling him a “proud Hindu” who did not hesitate to embrace his religion and Indian culture. On Twitter, they posted recordings of Sunak taking the Bhagavad Gita as his pledge of devotion when he became a legislator in 2020.
Other videos shared on Twitter showed Sunak praying to a cow, considered holy by Hindus, when he was running for Britain’s top job for the first time in August.
Sunak caressed the cow’s feet in a Hindu ritual performed in London as his wife gave the animal carrots. In front of the cow, Sunak also engaged in “aarti,” a Hindu ceremony involving the waving of oil lamps.
Sunak has made no secret of his Indian ancestry or his passion for cricket. He has also discussed his religious reasons for avoiding beef.
“I am thoroughly British, this is my home and my country, but my cultural heritage is Indian,” he told reporters in 2020..
India accepts Rishi Sunak as the next prime minister of the United Kingdom.
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