AFP
News from the NOS•
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Fleur Launspach
UK and Ireland correspondent
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Fleur Launspach
UK and Ireland correspondent
The London borough of Southall, home to Britain’s largest Indian community, has been celebrating for two days. Not only was Diwali, the most important holiday for Hindus, celebrated yesterday, but suddenly there was another reason to celebrate: the news that Rishi Sunak, the son of migrants from India, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The appointment makes many people with Indian roots proud, even outside the UK.
“I’m so happy,” says Kajal as he fries Indian delicacies at a market stall on the corner. The Southall neighborhood is nicknamed Little India. “When we heard that he had become Sunak, it felt like a double celebration for us. It was two great moments, Diwali and Sunak as Prime Minister, that met.”
More than 1.5 million people of Indian descent live in Britain, the second largest ethnic group after British natives. According to Kajal, Sunak is “an example for all of us”, especially for the younger generation. “We can learn from him, be inspired by his work and his successes.”
EPA
The British moment Barack Obama, Janpal Basran calls the appointment of Sunak. He runs a charitable foundation in Southall. “If you can see that someone of your skin color, your background, can get the highest job in the country, that’s just great.”
It is a great time not only for the Anglo-Indian community in the UK but also for India, he said, “given its colonial past”. The newspapers in India were full of them today. “The former colony reacts,” The Shillong joked in terms of Star Wars. This year marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence from the UK.
Sunak, born in Southampton in 1980, has African as well as Indian origins: his parents were born in the former British colonies of Kenya and Tanganyika (part of present-day Tanzania). Again, the fact that Rishi Sunak has now become prime minister has not gone unnoticed.
Sunak’s father was a general practitioner and his mother worked in a pharmacy. With the money they earned, they could have sent their son to a prestigious British boarding school and then to Oxford. Sunak worked for Goldman Sachs bank and later for hedge funds.
He owes his whopping $ 850 million fortune primarily to his marriage to Akshata Murty, the only daughter of Indian tech giant and billionaire Narayana Murthy.
Judged by the facts
However, Sunak will be judged primarily on how he drives the country through the economic storm, says Janpal Basran. “Rising inflation, high energy prices and the emerging recession are affecting everyone in this country.” The radical tax plan of Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, led to a crisis on top of a crisis; something that Sunak now has to solve.
