Over the last few months, Rishi Sunak’s public appearances in his homeland the UK have struck a distinct chord with millions of people, thousands of miles away, in India.
In August, the 42-year-old and his Indian heiress wife, Akshata Murty, went to a Hindu temple in the UK and his Instagram post got love-bombed by thousands of Indians. This week, just before he became the UK’s first Asian prime minister and youngest in modern history, a video of him in London worshipping a cow, a common Hindu custom for good luck, went viral. “That’s our rich cultural heritage we must be proud of,” said one Indian Twitter user.
Videos by VICE
During his first speech as prime minister, Indians raved about a ceremonial Hindu thread on his wrist, or how he keeps a Hindu god’s idol on his desk, or hoping he doesn’t eat beef.
On Thursday, Sunak spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called himself a “visual representation” of historic ties between the UK and India – a statement cheered by many.
But not everyone is celebrating. Ravikant Kisana, an Indian academic of cultural studies, doesn’t believe this is a Barack Obama moment for British politics. “Sunak’s politics doesn’t threaten the status quo,” he told VICE World News. “Rather it reflects the intersection of caste and race that is seen in his fiscally conservative, quasi-imperialistic and right-wing politics globally. It’s practically white.”
Yet, his wealth has triggered a raging discourse on Britain’s wealth gap. He has a net worth of over $800 million, mainly from his wife, who has stakes in her billionaire father Narayana Murthy’s billion-dollar company Infosys. This, when 14 million British people, especially ethnic minority groups, can’t afford regular meals.
In his campaign videos, Sunak brands himself as a British success story of an immigrant family. But some experts observe Sunak’s rise in the context of British imperialism that colonised Indians for centuries.
“There is a celebration of the imaginary facts about reverse colonisation and civilisational justice,” Anurag Verma, a cultural commentator and artist, told VICE World News.
Historical records show that millions of South Asians travelled beyond the borders as indentured labour during the British colonisation. This was a stark difference from Sunak’s ancestors, who worked with the British in India and in East Africa, and then later as a business class after the British colonisation ended. His parents moved to the UK in the 1960s from East Africa.
“The kind of wealth and political power Sunak has – which puts him in the top, top percentile of wealthy people in the UK – is out of touch not just with the South Asian community but also the vast majority of British population who will never have the kind of financial and political power that he has,” Dalia Gebrial, a British academic who studies race and advocates for migrant rights, told VICE World News.
Gebrial said the Sunaks benefited greatly from the British Raj in terms of generational wealth, and continue to even now. Sunak has been accused of hiding offshore banking trusts, and his wife’s non-domicile status was questioned, which allegedly helped her avoid paying taxes in the UK for nearly a decade.
In India, celebration over Sunak’s upper caste signalled his popularity from the lens of India’s ancient Hindu caste system. India’s billion-plus Hindus are the world’s fourth-largest religious group. They believe in a social hierarchy that creates a social order, the highest of whom are inherently privileged, while the lowest are considered outcasts.
Studies show upper-caste Hindus are the richest in India, and own 41 percent of the country’s total assets. An Oxfam study found that 77 percent of the country’s total national wealth is actually owned by just 10 percent of the total population of 1.4 billion people. In 2017, 73 percent of the country’s wealth went to the richest 1 percent, while an estimated 670 million remain the poorest half of India.
Verma, the cultural commentator whose work explores caste and society, evoked the myth around the term “people of colour” in western societies and said it invisibilises the inequality within this category. “Many may not be marginalised and are, in fact, the beneficiary of acquiring wealth in an unjust system through their social and caste networks. The definition of this category needs to be re-examined.”
Sunak has been known for his anti-poor and anti-immigration stance. In August, Sunak – who was already accused of not disclosing wealth – faced backlash for proudly claiming to have funnelled funds reserved for deprived areas to wealthy towns.
Some experts say Sunak has been instrumental in changing perspectives around his Conservative party, which has had a history of racist politicians. This is cited by historians and advocates of decolonisation through the infamous remark by then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill who, during British rule, called Indians “a beastly people with a beastly religion.” Today, the Conservative party has 22 minority ethnic MPs out of a total of 357 – peddled as a big feat by the party.
Sunak himself stands in the league of other conservative, brown, Hindu politicians with a track record of racism and anti-immigration stance. This includes former British home secretary Priti Patel, a fellow Brexiteer who signed the infamous Rwandan asylum plan to rid Britain of migrants or asylum-seekers by sending them to Rwanda. His current home secretary, Suella Braverman, who is also brown, recently expressed reservations about Britain’s trade deal with India, saying Indians are the largest group of people who overstay their welcome. Braverman has said it is her “dream” to see a plane in the sky deporting migrants to Rwanda.
“To frame Rishi Sunak as an Indian or a brown person is a misnomer,” said Kisan, the cultural studies academic. “He is not who he is because of his brownness. Instead, we should look into his legacy in India’s caste system and history of mobility of his family. In this elite social space, he represents an even more elite and wealthy class.”
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