In India, the development took on additional meaning, particularly among nationalists who celebrated the prospect of a politician of Indian origin — and a practicing Hindu — taking the reins of a former colonial power that once ruled their country.
Sunak, 42, cruised to victory in the Conservative Party’s leadership contest Monday on his way to the prime minister’s office — coinciding with Diwali, the most important festival of the year for Hindus.
In Britain, Sunak’s heritage was being celebrated as “going against the grain of deeply racial hierarchies of 21st-century Britain,” said Avinash Paliwal, a lecturer in diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies. But in India, he added, “it’ll be celebrated and feed into the popular narrative of rising Indian — even Hindu — global power.”
Anuj Dhar, a Delhi-based author who has written about Indian freedom fighters, hailed the “incredible feat” that a person of Indian descent would lead Britain. Rajdeep Sardesai, a well-known former news anchor, noted that Sunak’s victory took place exactly 75 years after Indian independence, adding in Hindi: “That’s the spirit!” And Priti Gandhi, a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said she cheered “with great joy” the rise of a “proud Hindu who publicly acknowledges and respects his culture and roots.”
Sunak secured the backing of Conservative Party lawmakers five days after Liz Truss resigned — his former boss Boris Johnson dropped out of the leadership race, and his other challenger, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, conceded that she did not have enough support from the party.
Sunak, the former finance minister whose parents emigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s, was born in Southampton, England. His father worked as a family doctor, and his mother ran a pharmacy. Sunak has spoken frequently of the sacrifices they made to ensure his success.
For years, Sunak has had a relatively low profile in a country where he was often referred to in news reports as the son-in-law to Narayan Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys and one of India’s most revered tech entrepreneurs. Sunak is married to Murthy’s daughter, Akshata Murty, a fashion designer and heiress with an estimated fortune of more than $1 billion.
Still, as his career soared, Sunak garnered attention in India not only for his ancestry, but also for his faith. He attracted discussion, particularly among India’s Hindu right, after calling himself a proud Hindu and speaking about his religious devotion. In 2019, Sunak took his oath of office holding the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book. And as he campaigned for Tory leadership earlier this year, he tweeted photos and videos of himself praying on Lord Krishna’s birthday and performing a cow worship, a ritual in Hinduism. Those clips went viral and were picked up by major television networks in India.
Sunak secured the backing of Conservative Party lawmakers five days after Liz Truss resigned — his former boss Boris Johnson dropped out of the leadership race, and his other challenger, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, conceded that she did not have enough support from the party.
Sunak, the former finance minister whose parents emigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s, was born in Southampton, England. His father worked as a family doctor, and his mother ran a pharmacy. Sunak has spoken frequently of the sacrifices they made to ensure his success.
For years, Sunak has had a relatively low profile in a country where he was often referred to in news reports as the son-in-law to Narayan Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys and one of India’s most revered tech entrepreneurs. Sunak is married to Murthy’s daughter, Akshata Murty, a fashion designer and heiress with an estimated fortune of more than $1 billion.
Still, as his career soared, Sunak garnered attention in India not only for his ancestry, but also for his faith. He attracted discussion, particularly among India’s Hindu right, after calling himself a proud Hindu and speaking about his religious devotion. In 2019, Sunak took his oath of office holding the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book. And as he campaigned for Tory leadership earlier this year, he tweeted photos and videos of himself praying on Lord Krishna’s birthday and performing a cow worship, a ritual in Hinduism. Those clips went viral and were picked up by major television networks in India.
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