RISHI SUNAK MAY NOT BE AN EXCITING NEWS FOR INDIA
Rhiddhis Chakravorty: Rishi Sunak becoming the Prime Minister of the UK has sent a large section of Indians into the celebration mode. While some are calling it the ‘victory of an Indian’ some are hoping that from now onwards the UK would be acting in favour of India. It is not just a bunch of lame YouTubers and dumb social media users selling ‘the UK will now return the Kohinoor diamond’ kind of naive statements, but also a large number of educated journalists from mainstream national media houses that are gripped by the Sunak fever. Some national TV channels are even coming up with ridiculous headlines calling it a reverse of the British Raj in India.
This celebration is based on the blissful overlooking of the fact that Rishi Sunak, despite calling himself a ‘Proud Hindu’, is a British national who was neither born nor grew up in India. If we call him Indian it will be like describing every white American as European.
Even if we ignore the facts and decide to revel in the misinformed frenzy of ‘celebrating the victory of India’ in the victory of Rishi Sunak, expecting him to work in India’s favour is still an embarrassing delusion as a nation. Rishi Sunak is a brown politician in a country that still believes British colonial oppression was a favour on the colonised because it helped ‘the inferior natives to be exposed to the ways of the racially superior whites’. In this kind of a racist and subtle white supremacist environment he will be constantly under the pressure to prove his Britishness and a lack of emotional attachment towards his Indian roots. It is the same kind of pressure that prompted another British politician sharing Indian DNA, Suella Braverman to indulge in Indian bashing. ( It is the similar pressure that prompted Indian American Prosecutor Preet Bharara to go out of the way to humiliate Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade.)
Many Indians are surprised that Rishi Sunak has reappointed Suella Braverman as the Home Secretary of the UK. It is because Rishi Sunak does not need to impress Indians back home to stay in power but he needs the support of the white skinned Brits more. Bogus stories circulating in certain media platforms in India claim that Suella had to resign because of badmouthing Indians. The fact is she had found herself in a soup because of a leaked email. Yet, Rishi’s appointing her as the Home Secretary should act as an eye opener for all the Indians who are going gaga over him. One thing is evident that he is not here to nurture Indian sentiments and that is pretty obvious and commonsensical.
Rishi Sunak has landed on the position of the Prime Minister because of Complex political equations and a chaotic situation in the Tory party. Liz Truss had to resign, Boris Johnson would be too controversial a choice and Penny Mordaunt did not have enough numbers. But the fact remains that the British society in general will be harsher in judging Rishi Sunak than a white man or woman in his position. The backlash against his appointment as the Prime Minster has a strong tone of racism and it will never go away.
Under these circumstances Rishi Sunak would be under political compulsion to be cold if not antagonistic towards India to keep himself relevant in UK politics. It is highly unlikely that a shrewd politician like Rishi Sunak will jeopardise his career by ignoring these aspects.
