While British politician Rishi Sunak’s appointment as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a politically significant event in the UK, this appointment has had culturally charged effects on South Asian countries, especially India and Pakistan.
As a community, the Hindus love to revel in the shared joy of the achievements of fellow Hindus. Hence, the excitement in India surrounding Sunak’s political ascendance was evident and expected. Most Indians may not care or even know about Sunak’s political ideology. It’s the feeling of “Hey, he’s one of us,” making a random Sharma, Mehra, or a Reddy back home elated. This sentiment is not particularly political. It was all fun until the keyboard warriors of Pakistan started to claim Sunak as their own. Then the hilarity ensued.
Pakistanis’ strong assertions about Sunak’s “Pakistani origin” are as hilarious as they are misleading. The investment banker-turned-prime minister was born to African-born Hindu parents. Sunak is the son-in-law of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of the Indian tech giant Infosys. Sunak’s maternal grandfather was from Punjab, India. He moved to Africa in 1966 and eventually relocated to the UK. His paternal grandfather, Ramdas Sunak, migrated to Nairobi from Gujranwala in 1935. His wife joined him in Kenya after two years. Though Gujranwala is located in present-day Pakistan, Sunak’s grandparents held Indian passports during their migration. You see, there was no Pakistan on the world map when they migrated. The Islamic nation was created in 1947, over a decade after Sunak’s Indian grandparents moved out of India. Thus Rishi Sunak is clearly not of Pakistani origin; Pakistan itself, however, is certainly of Indian origin.
A country formed to be an Islamic state some 75 years ago, which is working around the clock to eliminate the last breathing Hindu from its soil, is desperate to claim a Hindu politician as its own. Isn’t that strange?
Dear Pakistan,
I imagine what might have happened to Rishi Sunak had his forefathers not migrated to Africa, and stayed back to live as second-class citizens in the Islamic country you incessantly strive to be. The images that come to my mind send chills down my spine. I wonder if the Sunak family would have survived, or if it would have been slaughtered in 1947 or the subsequent years. Rishi Sunak celebrates Diwali and sports a kalawa (holy string tried around the wrist by Hindus) with great devotion and full freedom in the UK. I dread to think of the consequences of him celebrating Diwali in your land.
I mean, when the British Hindu politician was celebrating Diwali at 10 Downing Street, Muslims were attacking Hindus for celebrating Diwali in the Tando Allahyar district of Sindh, Pakistan. “Unidentified” miscreants opened fire on a Hindu gathering in the area, in retaliation for the Hindus’ crime of engaging in religious festivities. The Hindu community raised the issue with local authorities and Muslim politicians in the area, but didn’t receive any positive response or assurance regarding their safety and security. Reportedly, even the police refused to register an FIR against the miscreants (who were Muslim mullahs) over the violence.
A Pakistani Hindu laments, “We are not allowed to celebrate our religious festival Diwali in Pakistan. What do Muslim mullahs want from us [Hindus]? Give us the right to live in Pakistan or arrange our visas for India. We are ready to move to India if you [Pakistan] are not treating us equally. Our religion Hinduism is not a crime. If we can’t celebrate our religious festivals in Pakistan, then what’s the reason to live in this country? We are requesting authorities to treat us as human.”
Muslims have attacked six Hindu temples this year; over 10 Hindu girls have been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. Sunak has two young daughters. How safe would these girls be in present-day Pakistan?
You cannot tolerate Hindu Pakistanis celebrating Holi or Diwali, and you want to claim and take pride in a Hindu, temple-frequenting politician leading a Western country? Are you a master in hypocrisy and double standards, or what?
Dearest Pakistan,
Instead of assuming borrowed pride over what was never yours, take responsibility for the bigoted nation filled with religious lunatics that you have made out of the land that was robbed from naïve Hindus. Try treating the Pakistani Hindus and Christians with a bit of compassion and the slightest bit of respect . And stop begging for validation from a British national of the Hindu faith.
Uma Maheswar Nakka says
Excellent article, presented with full knowledge and wisdom.
Regards
Uma
John ..Smith says
+100
wpm says
He is a one world government kind of guy wanting to go total electric with no hard currencies in peoples hands or pockets. He believes a social rating system should “help” people make the right decisions on how ,when ,how much money they can spend like China. He believes in a world central banks controlling all peoples spending habits. .He is a wolf in sheep,s clothing in my opinion He personal religion ,his skin color, or where he and his family comes from means nothing to me.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Fully agree! Just not getting Indians who are thrilled about him being elected just b’cos of identity politics. He is a favorite of Beijing: show me another Indian/Hindu who excites Beijing that much (aside from Indian Leftists)
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Sunak’s ancestors were from Gujranwala, which is in today’s Pakistan, but normally, Pakistan (and other muslim countries) don’t own ‘jahiliya’ figures, such as Emperor Kanishka or other pre-islamic rulers whose realms were centered in places within their borders today. Yet they wanna pretend that Sunak is of Pakistani heritage
And Ashlyn is right: if Pakistan wants to claim non-muslims whose ancestors originated within their borders, maybe they should first protect the non-muslims already living there
Devasur says
Correct, this is quite ironic Pakistan making this claim, Maybe Pakistan is desperate as their economy is crumbling.
Alkflaeda says
Maybe they are hoping that he will publicly embrace “the religion of peace”….