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'Lesson to be learnt by India': Opposition leaders on Rishi Sunak becoming UK PM
PM Modi congratulated Rishi Sunak as he rose to the top post in the UK.
Rishi Sunak’s rise to the top post in the United Kingdom has prompted a deluge of responses in India. The 42-year-old Indian-origin UK leader has catapulted to the top post after the Conservative Party was embroiled in a new crisis within weeks amid deepening economic turmoil in the country. Sunak is the first-ever UK PM of South Asian heritage, and is the youngest premier the country has seen in about two centuries. For the UK to have a prime minister of colour is also being hailed as a key moment.
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defined Rishi Sunak - the son-in-law of tech giant Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy -as a “living bridge” in a tweet. Asserting that he looks forward to working with him, PM Modi emphasised the focus “on global issues, and implementing Roadmap 2030”.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders pointed out that a member of minority has been accepted. “First Kamala Harris, now Rishi Sunak . The people of the U.S. and the U.K have embraced the non-majority citizens of their countries and elected them to high office in government,” tweeted Congress’s P Chidambaram. “I think there is a lesson to learned by India and the parties that practise majoritarianism,” the former finance minister further stressed.
Mehbooba Mufti took a direct aim at the BJP and tweeted about the National Register of Citizens, and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which have drawn the opposition’s ire in the past for being anti-minority.
“Proud moment that the UK will have its first Indian origin PM. While all of India rightly celebrates, it would serve us well to remember that while UK has accepted an ethnic minority member as its PM, we are still shackled by divisive & discriminatory laws like NRC, (sic),” tweeted the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister. BJP leader and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad - in turn - questioned her by asking if she would be ok with a minority leader ruling J&K.
While Sunak is yet another UK leader who has not come to power by direct electoral mandate, him assuming charge of the top post in the UK is significant for Indians who compare it with times when the British ruled in India.
On Monday, while the clarity was yet to emerge on Sunak's leadership chances, Shashi Tharoor had also pointed out: "If this does happen, I think all of us will have to acknowledge that theBrits have done something very rare in the world,to place a member of a visible minority in the most powerful office. As we Indians celebrate the ascent of @RishiSunak, let's honestly ask: can it happen here? (sic)"
