- Wednesday, November 27, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Witnessing people in another country praying for the political victory of a leader in another is not new. In the past, Hindu nationalists in India have been seen holding yajnas (Hindu prayer) for Donald Trump ahead of the American presidential elections of 2016 and 2020.
Now, the Indian diaspora has chipped in to pray for a win for Rishi Sunak, the former British finance minister who is currently trailing foreign secretary Liz Truss in the race to become the next prime minister of the UK. Since Sunak is a man of South Asian descent, the Indian diaspora’s sentimental and emotional support for him is even more. But there are also people who think Sunak is a more capable leader of the two who can steer Britain out of its current financial crisis.
According to a report by India Today, members of the diaspora have organised havan (a Hindu ritual of offering grains and ghee, to fire to mark births, marriages, and other special occasions) for Sunak’s victory.
The battle between the two contenders have turned fierce with each passing day and two opinion polls have shown that Truss was widening her gap over Sunak, whose resignation from the cabinet of outgoing British prime minister Boris Johnson triggered his government’s eventual downfall.
“We are not praying for him because he is an Indian but because he has the calibre and can take us out of the cost of living crisis,” CK Naidu, a British Indian, told India Today.
“We co-exist and contribute- not only because he is Indian, but for the dignity with which he has dealt with everything. He is the best candidate currently,” said another person named Sheilamma.
Sunak’s supporters were enlivened by his recent win over an audience comprising members of the Conservative Party in a head-to-head television debate with Truss.
The Indian diaspora is one of the UK’s biggest ethnic minority blocks comprising nearly 1.5 million people or about 2.5 per cent of the total population. This part of the population is estimated to contribute about six per cent to the country’s gross domestic product.
