- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A week ago, he was at the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple on the outskirts of London run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Janmashtami with his entrepreneur wife. Now, UK prime ministerial hopeful Rishi Sunak has been found performing ‘gau pooja’ (cow worship) in London, accompanied by his wife Akshata Murthy again.
A video of the former British finance minister, who is racing against time to beat Liz Truss who has taken a considerable lead over him to emerge as the successor to outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson, was doing rounds on social media. In it, the 42-year-old Indian-origin politician was seen at a cow enclosure with Murthy and standing next to a bovine ready for the puja.
Rishi Sunak and his wife doing Gau Puja in London. pic.twitter.com/VWIoXFRdBo
— ????????||राजेंद्र||রাজেন্দ্র||ਰਾਜੇਂਦਰ|| (@sdl_singh) August 23, 2022
In the video, Sunak is seen holding a brass vessel in hand after offering holy water. The priests standing around the couple then told them about the next ritual.
The high-profile couple were then seen performing ‘aarti’ standing to the side of the cow decorated with colours and handprints.
Sunak had won praises from the Indian diaspora in the UK after he took part in Diwali celebrations in November 2020 when he was the chancellor of exchequer. He lit oil lamps on the front step of the chancellor’s official residence at 11 Downing Street, while urging people to stick to the Covid-19-induced lockdown.
In the past, Sunak had taken oath as a member of the British parliament holding the Bhagavad Gita.
Also during his visit to the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple, Sunak said he drew strength from the holy book of the Hindus during his quest to become the next prime minister of Britain.
