UK’s First PM: Asian Britons welcome Rishi Taking The Top Slot

Ishtiaq Ahmed

London: Rishi Sunak is firmly installed at 10 Downing Street, the official residence and the working office of the British Prime Minister, after receiving the royal ascent from King Charles III. His rise to power is being described as “meteoric” considering that he was only elected to the British Parliament for the first time in 2015.

The appointment of the first Asian Prime Minister is being welcomed by the British Asians with some caution. His appointment should be a positive role model for young British Asians aspiring high. But we are being reminded not to get too carried away. Rishi’s appointment should not in any way go to suggest that the British society, all of a sudden, has become racism free. Racism throughout the rank and file of the British society will remain a major hindrance to achieving any semblance of racial equality for minority ethnic communities long after Rishi’s tenure.

Rishi comes from a very privileged social, educational, and economic background which is not a reality for the majority of British Asians and Blacks experiencing huge inequalities in all of these areas. With these cautious notes, let us congratulate Rishi for this momentous historical achievement.

Biography of Sunak

Sunak is the first non-white Asian Prime Minister of Indian descent. His paternal grandfather, Ramdas, left Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) in 1935 to work in Nairobi. Rishi’s grandmother Suhag Rani Sunak moved to Delhi before moving in 1937.

Ramdas was an accountant who later became an administrative officer with the colonial government in Kenya. Ramdas and Suhag Rani had six children, three sons and three daughters. Rishi’s father, Yashveer Sunak, was born in Nairobi in 1949. He came to UK in 1966 and went on to study medicine at the University of Liverpool.

Rishi’s maternal grandfather, Raghubir Berry, grew up in Punjab and moved to Tanganyika as a railway worker. He married Tanganyika born Sarksha.

Sarkashamoved to UK in 1966 with a one-way ticket. Her Husband Raghubirarrived soon after and worked in the Inland Revenue department. In 1988, he was awarded MBE (Member of the British Empire).

Rishi was born in 1980 in Southampton and attended the prestigious Winchester College. He went on to study for a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln College, Oxford and an MBA at Stanford University in California where he met his wife AshataMurtym, the daughter of N.R. Narayana Murthy, the Indian billionaire businessman who founded Infosys.

Rishi was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire in 1915. He supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum and was appointed as the Chancellor Exchequer under the premiership of Boris Johnson

Rishi at the age of 42 is the youngest Prime Minister for over 200 years. He is the first Asian and the non-white prime minister of UK, the world’s sixth most powerful economy. By his own admission, he is a practicing Hindu.

Rishi’s becoming of Britain’s first non-white Asian Prime Minister is of a great significance. It clearly shows how far the Asian and Black communities have travelled in British democracy over the 70-plus years.

Sunak becomes the 6^th prime minister in as many years and the third in this year alone, against the background of the last office holder, Liz Truss, being forced out just after 44 days.

Sir Keith Starmar, the Labour Party leader, justifiably described the situation as a “revolving doors” scenario.

The opposition parties are calling for the general election. They take the view that with all the chops and changes of the prime ministers, the governing party has lost the electoral mandate. Rishi Sunak has no electorate mandate.

Rishi Sunak was voted in by conservative MPs. This time around there was no vote by members. Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt, the two bidding contenders, withdrew their names leaving Rishi the only winner of the race and thus not requiring conservative membership to vote.

The government response is that it was elected in 2019 with an overwhelming majority for five years. It was the party that was given the electoral mandate and not the individual at the party’s helm. The electoral mandate is with the elected members who are in their right to remove and install the party leader and hence the prime minister as they see it appropriate.

The in-tray of challenges for the new prime minister is deep which would require some intense sifting through.

On the home front, the first challenge would be to rescue the national economy in crisis with a  rising national debt, spiraling costs of energy and basic everyday essentials, much troubled NHS, restoring of public confidence and trust which has been severely dented by the recent events, uniting of a divided conservative party embittered by internal factional strife. In politics, hatchets may be put aside for a short time but they are never totally discarded. His focus would further be distracted by demands for an independence referendum in Scotland, and the pending Stormont deal in Northern Ireland preventing elections there.

On the international front: the Ukraine war and the energy crisis will dominate the agenda for some time to come but equally important would be restoring the image of Britain following the recent economic and political mishaps at home.

In his inaugural statement outside 10 Downing Street, the new Prime Minister has pledged to put economic stability at the heart of his government. He also added that his government would be guided by values of professionalism, integrity and accountability.