In India too!
One, it was on Diwali, and coincidence was instantly picked up.
Two, he got married in Bengaluru in 2009, a celebrity event.
Not surprisingly, one of the jokes doing the rounds was that parents here have a new career goal and benchmark for the children! (See, what Rishi has become ...!")
On Oct. 24, soon after it was known who the next British PM will be, Vidyarthi Bhavan, the iconic restaurant here tweeted a photo of him at the restaurant.
#RishiSunak is going to become the next PM of UK.
— Vidyarthi Bhavan (@VidyarthiBhavan) October 24, 2022
Happy to know that he will be the first Indian-origin & the youngest British Prime Minister.
We wish him good luck & may he become the most successful PM of UK by sailing through all the turbulence pic.twitter.com/JhWLtcVTu2
(By the way, I had written about Vidyarthi Bhavan in an A to Z Challenge post last year.)
All this excitement in India will die down soon.
Hinduism and India are the last things on the new British PM's mind.
He'll be extremely careful and not do anything that might be seen as being partial to the country his wife, Akshata, is a citizen of. Not to mention the controversies linked to her, which he seems to have survived for now.
There is much I could say and some would be negative. But at the end of the day Indian people around the world should feel pretty good that one of their own heritage has been elected Prime Minister of one of the most important countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew, Absolutely.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteI long for the day that one's origins matter not, but where lies one's allegiance does. I long for competence in government; something severely lacking the past three years here. While I deplore the Conservative party, if RS can demonstrate the skills to at least bring all its inner factions together and show more unity, that alone will earn him some kudos. His talent for the task is what must do the talking now... YAM xx
Hi Yamini - "I long for the day that one's origins matter not, but where lies one's allegiance does." Very well said! And I couldn't agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteAs they say, success has many fathers. Indians call Mr. Sunak as Indian origin because he is a Hindu-Punjabi. Pakistanis take credit because his grand father was from Gujranwala. Kenyans take credit because his father was born in Kenya. Tanzanians take credit because his mother was born in Tanzania.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how interconnected India and the UK are, it's about time they had a PM of Indian descent. Presumably he'll be in office longer than the last one was.
ReplyDeleteI wish him luck. He's going to need it. (From what I've seen in the news, things are kind of weird right now in the UK.)
ReplyDeleteI laughed at your comment "See, what Rishi has become ...!" - I could hear every Indian mother in my head saying that! I don't envy him his new job - it's going to be a massive undertaking to regain the UK people's confidence and get the country back up to speed....hopefully he'll be the man for the job.
ReplyDeleteHi Leanne - Yes, indeed. Sunak has a really tough job on his hands!
DeleteWhen an Italian origin person was to become the PM of India, there was such a huge uproar.
ReplyDeleteNow, i wonder, why there is no uproar in the UK?
Hi Rajesh - Yes, it's indeed paradoxical. For them, their emphasis is more on origins than allegiance!
DeleteYou have surprised me this morning with this news. It is obvious I have quite given up mainstream "news" with my having said that. I will start to Google the happening and get up to speed.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie - You must, if not for his remote Indian connection, for his role as a PM of the UK during such tumultuous times.
DeleteHi Pradeep - I'm pleased ... he's obviously bright, appears to be diplomatic having got to where he is right now ... so we hope - at least it's quieter on the political front. Cheers and thanks for the updates to his life ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHi Hilary - He will need to summon all his diplomatic craftsmanship to steady the UK during these times as well as save this party.
DeleteAn interesting post, Pradeep. We'll have to wait and see how things pan out, won't we? I hope the UK is in for a bit more stability now.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting... but honestly for some1 who hasn't been following biz/ global politics keenly - a lot of info came as a surprise. Akshata's part came a surprise to me! On home front- more than IT side.- my sections of interest were always Sudha Murthy & her books ... The visuals i had of Gently falls the Bakula still linger fresh...though i read the book long back..
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a storied family!
ReplyDelete