The elevation of the former hedge manager and ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak to the top job of UK Prime Minister is certainly a cause for celebration in India which was once the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. For some, history comes full circle as the UK will now be ruled by a descendent of Indians once exploited and ruthlessly subjugated by their British colonial masters. Some others even recall the infamous saying of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who described Indians as “a beastly people with a beastly religion.” The table seems to have finally been turned on Churchill as a migrant from India steps into his shoes.
However, these are nothing but emotional froth. The reality is indeed stark as Sunak is faced with an uphill task of lifting the UK from the quagmire of its worst economic crisis in decades. It would be ridiculous if he is expected to right the wrongs the British colonialists inflicted on India – for instance, returning the Kohinoor diamond that was taken away by the British from India or tendering apology for the killings of people at Jallianwala Bagh. In a sense Sunak is a creature of the British upper-class establishment owning assets worth about 730 million pounds which is supposedly greater than the recorded wealth of Queen Elizabeth II who passed away recently. He has risen to the position of PM not via the votes of the British public, but the support of his peers in the Tory party.
It is known that his grandmother and grandfather lived in Africa. Their parents had migrated to Kenya-Tanzania as clerks to the British. His grandfather, it is being claimed, hailed from Gujranwala, now in Pakistan. Strictly speaking, migrants always go overboard to prove their loyalties to their new land. It is something one should not only accept but approve. Rishi Sunak’s only connection to India could be through his wife who is the daughter of Sudha and Narayan Murty, the founders of Infosys, a multi-billion dollar Indian IT company. Therefore, the current craze visible in India and its media after Sunak took over 10 Downing is clearly proving the imbecile nature of some people.
Sunak is confronted with the same political and economic crises that plagued Liz Truss whom he replaces and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. What can be said in his favour is that he is a moderate among liberals. He correctly predicted Truss’ prescriptions cutting taxes for the super-rich and relying on borrowings to mitigate the hardships of the people were but a recipe for disaster. This is exactly what happened when investors and businessmen panicked at the mini Budget of Truss’ finance minister effecting tax cuts for the rich, while the common people reeled under cost of living crisis and feared even losing their homes mortgaged to banks due to sharp rise in loan interests. Sunak has promised a more sober and less ideological approach to governance which seems to have brought a degree of calm to both the market forces and his own party. But, he will likely face the same criticism his two immediate predecessors did.
As for the expectations that Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister will look after the interests of the people from Asia may be belied as Opposition Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who is also of Indian origin, rightly remarked. What she said is not far from the truth. “He is a multi-millionaire who, as Chancellor, cut taxes on bank profits while overseeing the biggest drop in living standards since 1956. Black, white or Asian: if you work for a living, he is not on your side,” she said.
In fact, Sunak is the third politician of Asian origin to have risen to the top position in Europe. Portugal can boast of two premiers of Goan ancestry, including current Prime Minister António Costa. Leo Varadkar, whose father is from Mumbai, served as Ireland’s Prime Minister from 2017 to 2020. He is poised to return to power in December.
Realising the tough challenges, Sunak told his lawmakers in Parliament October 24 that they faced an “existential crisis” and must “unite or die”. His party MPs have backed him as they know they had hardly any chance of retaining power in the election under Liz Truss. Besides, he has to tackle the problems arising out of discontent in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the impact of the oil and gas crisis due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
This is the inescapable truth that cannot be glossed over by the euphoria over a non-white being given the reins of power in the UK. Sunak seems to be the last man that his hopeless and helpless party could fall back upon.