Rishi Sunak made it to the final round of the race to replace Britain’s current Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month and since then there has been a flurry of coverage, criticism and commentary about the possibility that Britain could have a first Indian minister.
For Sunak, the Southampton-born Hindu practitioner to Indian and East African parents, much of the focus has been on the former banker’s class and wealth.
The combined wealth of Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of one of India’s most successful and wealthy IT entrepreneurs, is estimated at 730 million pounds ($852 million).
Throughout the campaign, Sunak, 42, has been forced to downplay his privilege, having to admit he was “silly” after video surfaced of him making comments as a student nearly 20 years ago. in which he said he had no working-class friends.
He was also called out after saying he eats a McDonalds breakfast that the fast-food chain later confirmed it had stopped serving two years ago.
His Hindu religious identity has also been an aspect that the aspiring prime minister has wanted to highlight, recently posting an image of him and his wife celebrating an auspicious Hindu religious festival by praying in an Indian temple.
Sunak’s positioning as a devout Hindu has been welcomed by Hindus in the UK, US and India, and reports of Hindus praying for him have been some of the consistent displays of support for him in recent times. weeks.
As Rima Saini, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Middlesex University Law School in London, told Al Jazeera: “In the UK, there is a growing and cosmopolitan Indian South Asian middle class who in recent years years has leaned increasingly towards the Conservative Party. Among this demographic, it has been very well received.”
Saini said, however, that this support does not necessarily extend to other parts of the UK’s South Asian diaspora communities.
“Bangladeshi and Pakistani populations still have much more economic challenges than the Indian population in the UK, so they are likely to prefer a more left-wing candidate,” he said.
“Due to historical facts such as the Partition [of the colonised British Indian territories], there is still Hindu-Muslim animosity in the Indian community here, and I think Sunak aligns very much with being critical of so-called radical Islam, something that was seen again when he spoke during the campaign about cracking down on extremists. So I don’t think Sunak will naturally have the same prestige among Muslim populations.”
In India, commentators say his offer has been enthusiastically watched by major English-language and online media outlets.
The story of his candidacy, as well as his political rise as UK Chancellor of the Exchequer over the past two years, has taken on a celebratory tone, with pieces on the rise of the Indian diaspora and the strength of British multiculturalism.
Professor Harsh Pant, vice president for studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera: “There are two ways this story has been approached. One has been: Look, this is the real strength of multicultural democracies, where you have the same opportunities as someone like Rishi Sunak, who is not seen as traditionally British, but who has still risen political positions.”
“There’s also been an undertone that some of the attacks on him have been outwardly racist, but overall, it’s been a positive reception,” he said.
Professor Pant said Sunak’s relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though indirect through his wife’s family, has not been widely criticized.
“Among the broader narratives, there has been some pushback that while it’s nice to see this as a success story, let’s not overstate what an Indian-origin prime minister could mean for British-Indian ties,” he said.
East African heritage
One aspect of his identity that hasn’t been highlighted as much is his East African heritage: Sunak’s parents, Yashvir and Usha, were born in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively, during the days of the British Empire.
The story has received mainstream coverage in East Africa, with an article in The Nation newspaper in Kenya drawing on comparisons to when Barack Obama was running for president in the US.
Beyond that, however, analysts say Sunak’s story has received very little attention, which could speak to the broader relationship dynamic between the two communities.
Fridah Naliaka, a digital journalist for the prominent Nairobi-based news site Citizen Digital, told Al Jazeera that the Nation story received little engagement online.
It was a similar reaction from readers when Naliaka published her article mentioning Sunak’s Kenyan roots.
The story received just two comments on the media organization’s Twitter feed, a significantly low figure amid a Twitter following of nearly five million.
“Indians are still a minority in the country and there is still a huge social disparity between the African and Indian communities, so for most Kenyans, Sunak’s story has not been relatable. The coverage has not exploded in the region in the same way that it did when Obama was running,” Naliaka said.
“This may change if he wins, there may be more rumors about his Kenyan identity, but from a journalistic perspective, it’s about seeing how the audience interacts. And right now, I don’t see this story being particularly useful for our audience,” she added.
Britain’s new prime minister will be announced on September 5 and polls show Sunak’s rival, Liz Truss, with a significant lead. Analysts say whatever the outcome, Sunak’s career is likely to have an impact.
“The Indian diaspora has done well in politics recently, so I think this can now push Indians in the UK to do more in terms of political mobilisation. There is a feeling that you can do well in British politics if you are now someone of Indian origin and I think that feeling will only strengthen,” Pant said.
Yasmin Nair, a writer and human rights activist who has been following the story from the US, where Sunak admitted earlier this year that he had permanent residence with his green card until last year, told Al Jazeera that Sunak’s candidacy could come to represent a moment of looking beyond a political candidate’s religious and ethnic identity.
“What we can expect in the long term from this is a more complicated way of thinking beyond racial and ethnic identity and integrating it within the context of class, capitalism, diaspora and empire,” he said.
“These identities are not separate entities and should be more nuanced. Sunak’s story gives us an opportunity to look at identities in a much more complicated way.”
