Since 25 October 2022, we have encountered a larger number of tweets, memes, and speculations regarding Rishi Sunak, a man of Indian origin replacing Liz Truss as Leader of the Conservative Party. It did not take much time for Indians to be filled with pride, more so because it was represented as revenge time for over 200 years of colonization. Despite being Indians – known for their sheer lack of ability to get impressed – once again we put another leader on the pedestal, for existing.
So, if we discard the memes, who is Rishi Sunak? Born to parents of Indian origin (pre-independence, current day Pakistan), specifically, Punjab was born in Southampton. His educational background includes studying in California and then pursuing an MBA from California. He has been married for over 12+ years to Akshata Murthy. Rishi Sunak despite not being Indian himself, will be the first British Prime Minister who is practicing the Hindu religion as well as the first person of color to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He became the MP of Richmond Yorks in May 2015. He has also been the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and a Chancellor under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It is estimated that both Rishi Sunak and his wife have wealth worth £730 Million.
So apart from this basic idea of who Rishi Sunak is, are we talking enough about his political ideologies? Celebrating the era of Indians ruling the world, it is important to be critical of the actions of the people who are representing us. Rishi Sunak has a right-leaning political ideology and is forthright when it comes to his ideologies and the steps he is willing to take. About making tough fiscal decisions, he is looking to increase taxes and things might get rough for the people there. But according to him, it is an important step to mend the fiscal hole caused during the time of Liz Truss. However, Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor agree that the ones who are less vulnerable will be taking more burden.
Talking about his views on the LGBT community and climate change, Rishi Sunak believes that these are not issues he aims to focus on. Based on his votes on climate issues, one can concur that they do not stand much important in his eyes. However, he has also said that he aims to make Britain independent in terms of energy by 2045…I guess we will just have to see. His ideologies about the LGBT community on the other hand have already made their appearance in interviews. He mentioned that trans people should be respected. However, he believes biology is important when it comes to using toilets and also sports.
While this is an ongoing debate around the world, it is important to highlight that every time someone says this, it negates the feelings of a person who identifies as trans. He also has been critical about using gender-neutral language by saying that it erases the existence of women and is strongly in favor of using binary language. His votes have been either not in favor of the LGBT community or, his presence was unmarked during these votes.
These things make us think if we should hit a pause on WhatsApp forwards or not. Despite the rather right-leaning politics of Rishi Sunak, it is also important to understand the importance of a person of color at the top. Rishi Sunak rising on the leadership front has rather shown that there is a majorly positive reaction even when he is not a white person, however, this event has also highlighted overtly racist views of certain people. This does not give us a full proof understanding that a leader of a conservative party might be very different just because he belongs to a different race. It is worth noting that for a certain ethnicity that was generally discriminated against, we do see some attitude change in people.
We need to see how Rishi Sunak takes steps to use his leadership position before declaring the type of leader he will be. While we celebrate the mere turn of events of a person with South Asian roots at the top, we need to keep in mind that at the end of the day he will make life-altering decisions for the people of his country every day and the judgment day is yet to come.
Written by Freya Dholakia
Edited by Madiha Tariq