Rishi Sunak. Photo courtesy his Facebook page
By Venkatesh Raghavan*
Will Rishi be able to rein in UK’s economic collapse?
Rishi Sunak, 42, who had lost to Elizabeth (Liz) Truss just under seven weeks ago in the contest to lead Britain, becomes the first ‘coloured’ Prime Minister of the United Kingdom today after Liz, on October 20, 2022, quit within 44 days of taking charge when she failed with her tax-cutting budget that rocked financial markets.
Rishi prevailed in a chaotic Conservative Party leadership race yesterday after his rival Penny Mordaunt withdrew. Acknowledging the “profound economic crisis” that the United Kingdom is facing now, Rishi says he wants to fix the economy, unite his Party and deliver for the country.
Rishi has a strong India connection since his wife Akshata Murty is the daughter of Infosys founder and Indian billionaire businessman Narayana Murthy and his philanthropist wife Sudha Murty. Incidentally, Akshata’s non-domiciled status in England earlier this year, which meant she was not paying taxes on her earnings from outside the United Kingdom, was much under the spotlight when Rishi was a leading contender for the PM’s post earlier this year, the coveted post that was finally clinched by Elizabeth (Liz) Truss. He had come under attack from the Opposition and Labour party leader Keir Starmer accused him of “taxation ‘hypocrisy’ since he was “putting up taxes for ordinary Britons while his family has been reducing its own tax liabilities”.
Considering her husband’s political fortunes were at a stake because of this, Akshata later agreed to pay the UK taxes on her global income.
His wife notwithstanding, and besides being a devout Hindu that propelled him to take oath on the Bhagwat Gita when he was first elected a Member of the British Parliament in 2015, Rishi is as English as the rest of his countrymen and is sans any further link with India other than his ethnic origin. He was born in Southampton on May 12, 1980. His grandfather was from Gujranwala in then British India. Gujranwala is now a part of Pakistan. He migrated to Nairobi in Kenya in 1935 and worked as a clerk in a British company before the family firmly entrenched itself in their acquired nativity of Britain.
Talking about Indian roots is also a bit of a misnomer as Rishi’s grandfather was from Gujranwala which is now a part of Pakistan. Rishi’s father Yashvir is a retired doctor and pharmacist. He and his wife Usha Sunak, both of Indian descent, migrated to the UK from Kenya along with Rishi’s grandparents in the 1960s.
Rishi being the first coloured Prime Minister of Britain also draws parallel comparisons with which Barack Obama becoming the first African-American President of the United States way back in 2008. However, while Obama getting elected to office was somewhat euphoric to the US in particular and nations of the World watching the race towards a coloured man getting to play the CEO of the globe, Rishi getting ushered in evoked mixed reactions from within the Conservative Party he was bidding to head.
While the returning officer for the British Premier’s election announced the results amidst much cheering, there was also talk about the 42-year-old Rishi being the youngest Prime Minister of Britain since William Pitt the Younger who became the PM at the age of 24 in 1783. However, the racial slant that has over the decades ebbed in the West, with young people being particular about sounding politically correct in their statements and utterances, proved to be a major reason for Rishi’s triumph in his race to Britain’s top job. The majority of the younger lot voters in the Conservative Party favoured Sunak while those Tories from the elderly genre were averse to ushering in a coloured person for the country’s top job.
However, there was also much talk about India’s influence in the Western world, centred on Kamala Harris of Indian origin being the US Vice-President and Rishi Sunak replacing Liz Truss as Britain’s Prime Minister. There are also talks doing the rounds that Liz Truss alighted from high office due to citing the dire economic straits that Britain is likely to encounter in the face of a mounting energy crisis. Local voices sounded the alert asking, “Will Sunak too, step down before the ship’s imminent collision with the iceberg.” Already there are reports of growing demand for fresh elections in the country.
On the face of mounting recession and steep rise in interest rates, with the Bank of England attempting to intervene to put in check double-digit inflation figures, Liz Truss’ bid to reduce taxation and manage spiralling energy expenses turned out to be a disaster, prompting her to step down from her high office. Incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to spell out a detailed plan charted to tackle the impending economic crisis Britain is faced with by October end.
