The new Prime Minister Sunak and the pride of the Indian BJP

Modi hails the arrival in Downing Street of a politician of Indian origin as a “living bridge” that will transform “our historical ties into a modern partnership”. The spokesman for the Hindu nationalists points out the coincidence with the Diwali festival and alludes to the investment of the colonial Raj. But the opposition recalls the difference between Britain accepting a minority prime minister and India’s citizenship law reform imposed by the BJP.

New Delhi () – The appointment of Rishi Sunak, a politician of Indian origin, as head of the UK government has sparked a debate in New Delhi between national pride and questions about respect for minorities in India. At 42, Sunak, the son-in-law of Narayana Murthy, co-founder of the tech giant Infosys, is Britain’s first Asian Prime Minister and the youngest in almost two centuries. Born in Southampton, the new Conservative leader is the grandson of immigrants who in the 1930s left for Africa from Gujranwala, which was then part of the Punjab province of British India and is now Pakistani territory. Rishi’s parents were born in Kenya and Tanzania respectively, and it was not until the 1960s that his families emigrated to the UK. However, the Indian roots of the new prime minister in London at this time have sparked a discussion in New Delhi.

The same head of government Narendra Modi -in a congratulatory tweet- sent his best wishes for the Diwali party (which falls precisely on today) “to the ‘living bridge’ of the Indians of the United Kingdom” and predicted the transformation “of our historical ties in a modern association”.

The spokesman for the BJP – the Hindu nationalist party – Sudhanshu Trivedi, went even further. After recalling that India has recently become “the fifth largest economy, surpassing Great Britain” (in absolute value of GDP, not in per capita income, ndr), he wonders if “it is just a coincidence or a sign of providence that the fact that on Diwali night the Kaal Chakra (the cycle of time) is showing a new design”, with a prime minister of Indian origin called to “have the ‘Raj’ over Britain 75 years after colonial rule ended.

The reactions of the Indian opposition are totally opposite. Already on Monday Shashi Tharoor -the candidate of the Congress Party defeated a few days ago by Mallikarjun Kharge in the leadership of the political party dominated by the Gandhi family- had affirmed that “the British have done something very rare in the world, place a member of a minority in office with more powers. Let’s honestly ask ourselves – he added referring to India – can it happen here too?” Words to which the site close to the Hindu nationalist right OpIndia responded, recalling the case of Manmohan Singh, a Sikh (of the Congress Party, ndr) who was the prime minister of India and of the three presidents that India has had coming from the ranks of the Muslim community.

For his part, Mehbooba Mufti, the former head of the local government of Jammu and Kashmir – the Islamic-majority Indian state whose autonomy was canceled in 2019 by Hindu nationalists – took direct aim at the BJP and again raised the issue of law reform. of citizenship that has severely penalized minorities. “It is a matter of national pride that the UK has elected the first Prime Minister of Indian origin,” he said in a tweet. But while all of India rightly celebrates it, it would be well to remember that while London accepts a descendant of an ethnic minority as prime minister, we are still shackled by laws that divide and discriminate.”