Dr Veda Pratap Vaidik

Rishi Sunak is now the Prime Minister of Britain. This is a unique event not just for the United Kingdom but for the entire World.  Sunak is an Indian and was enslaved by Britain for almost two centuries. So an Indian Origin becoming the ruler of his motherland’s onetime master is singularly significant for entire India and rest of the world.

It is amazing; Britain will now be ruled by an Indian, what better gift can India get than this in her 75th year of independence?  Sunak is the first on-white Prime minister of Britain, a White dominated nation which always opted for a White to head the country.

 Here we can compare Sunak with Barack Obama who became the first Black president of America, a country with the largest white population. One need not wonder if an Indian Origin is elected the next President of the United States of America (USA).  Kamala Harris, an Indian origin, is the incumbent Vice-President of the White dominated USA. I had professed about 20 years ago, while giving a speech in the hall of the US Congress (Parliament), that in the next two-and-a-half decades, only a person of Indian origin will be the President of America.

With Sunak becoming the British Prime Minister, the chances are becoming bright for an Indian origin to reach the top post even in the US.

When Sunak lost the Prime Minister’s Chair to Liz Truss a few weeks ago, many thought that the malaise of apartheid had dawned on the white   dominated ruling Conservative Party. Despite Sunak being efficient and courageous, he lost to Liz Truss simply because he is not an Englishman and of Indian origin; He is not a Christian and a Hindu by birth.

Boris Johnson’s government was on the way to collapse after Sunak quit the Cabinet and yet he could not become Prime Minister. But this time majority members of the Conservative Party openly supported Sunak and he  got elected unopposed.  Both of his rivals, including former Prime Minister Johnson, conceded defeat before the election. In other words, Sunak has become the distinguished British prime minister elected unopposed.

His becoming prime minister is a big challenge for the rival Labor Party. It is easy for Sunak to take on Johnson and Truss but it is not that easy for his rival to challenge him.

The next elections are to happen in two years. Till then Sunakis priority will be to continue the commendable job he did as Finance Minister. In his previous avatar as finance minister Sunak efficiently tackled the Corona pandemic and now he will have to show the same performance in this short span of less than two years.

In fact, his predecessors Johnson and Truss have left the British economy in shambles. Sunak faces the same challenges in Britain as Shahbaz Sharif faces Pakistan. It is expected that his economic policies will prevent Britain from landing in an economic mess and his foreign policy will establish Britain as a limited superpower. During his regime the India-UK relationship is likely to take a quantum jump.

*Dr. Vaidik is a widely travelled scholar-journalist. He has visited more than 80 countries on diplomatic and educational missions. Dr. Vaidik has won more than a dozen National and International awards for academic and journalistic excellence. He has been a member of several Advisory Committees of Government of India.