When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
InterNations
Ideas

Rishi Sunak, Britain's First Hindu Prime Minister — A Lesson For India

Rishi Sunak, a Hindu of Indian origin, has become the UK's prime minister. His religion has not factored at all into debates — a fierce contrast to a religiously divided India.

Rishi Sunak, Britain's First Hindu Prime Minister — A Lesson For India

Rishi Sunak speaking with India's Finance Minister in October 2020

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd*

This article was updated on June 21 at 13:45 p.m. EST

-Analysis-

NEW DELHI — Rishi Sunak, a British politician of Indian origin, became the prime minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Sunake is the most recent person of Indian descent in the West to try to reach the political pinnacle, coming on the heels of Kamala Harris’s arrival as U.S. vice president.

Britain was once the colonial master of India. From an Indian point of view, the British prime minister is the historical political head of an empire of exploitation – and also, let us remember, an empire of reform. Were it not for British colonial rule, and the rights-oriented struggle for freedom against it, India would not have become a democratic, constitutional republic in 1947, however loudly we claim that the roots of our democracy lie in our ancient structures, whether Hindu or Buddhist.

All major aspects of our freedom struggle and colonial life were linked to the British political system. Particularly from the beginning of the 20th century, Indians considered the British prime minister the symbol of colonial rule, the man to revile or to appeal to.

Given this historical context, that a man of Indian origin stands a realistic chance of becoming the British prime minister shows how the world is changing.


At a time when India is experiencing a form of Hindu-nationalist apartheid, Christian Britain is engaged with a prime ministerial candidate who has stated that his religion is Hinduism. As member of parliament (and later chancellor of the exchequer) he took his oath with the Bhagavad Gitaancient Hindu scripture.

An India divided by religion

Now the same Hindu Sunak wants to go to 10 Downing Street. Sunak’s wife, Akshata, is the daughter of Hindu Indian billionaires. Sunak’s wealth is, quite rightly, a point of public debate, since economic and social class have long been features of British politics.

But his religion is resolutely not seen as relevant. This certainly points to a notable new level of multicultural tolerance among the British electorate and the political class. In this respect, I suspect Britain is certainly more secular and multicultural than America. If Kamala Harris had presented herself publicly as a Hindu, I suspect she may not have made it to the winning Democratic ticket.

Anglican Christianity is Britain’s state religion. King Charles is the head of the Church of England. Yet Rishi Sunak’s desire to be prime minister is not seen as anomalous on grounds of religion.

Back in India, what do the Hindu parties Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) think about this Indian-origin Hindu being accepted as a possible prime minister of Britain? After all, they have marginalized India’s Muslims and Christians with a shameless agenda of religious majoritarianism. There isn’t a single Muslim on the treasury benches of either house of parliament, nor is there one in the Indian cabinet. (Under Boris Johnson, Britain had more Muslims in its cabinet than India!)

The RSS/BJP forces constantly boast of Hinduism being the “vishwa guru” (world guru). RSS literature is full of attacks on British and also Christian civilizational history, both as crusaders and colonial expansionists. They claim that Hinduism is the most tolerant religion in the world, notwithstanding the caste hierarchy. And in their historical narrative, even native Indian Muslims and Christians are treated as enemies.

Sunak’s wife, Akshata, is the daughter of Hindu Indian billionaires

Rishi Sunak Facebook Page

How are Hindus viewed in Britain?

In Britain today, Hindus are a small minority – around 1.6% of the population – and comprise very recent migrants and their descendants. Yet “minority-ism” does not seem to play a major role in Britain’s democratic competition. In the India of the RSS/BJP – or even of the Congress in days gone by – a Muslim or a Christian would not have been accepted as prime ministerial candidate. So much for the tolerance of Hinduism.

Britain oversaw a Christian colonial empire. Yet that same Britain now allows Sunak to compete for the top job. No British opposition leader or even his party’s own competitors for prime minister have raised the question of his religion. His wealth, yes. His attitude toward the working class, yes. And his wife’s tax avoidance, yes. All very good questions in a democracy. (These questions, by the way, are rarely asked in India.)

I am agnostic on the outcome of Sunak’s bid. But I do know this: Britain, the mother of parliamentary democracy, is teaching India an important lesson in tolerance and equality.

*Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist and author. He is the author of Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Shudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy, and of Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution.


You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Future

AI And War: Inside The Pentagon's $1.8 Billion Bet On Artificial Intelligence

Putting the latest AI breakthroughs at the service of national security raises major practical and ethical questions for the Pentagon.

Photo of a drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Drone on the tarmac during a military exercise near Vícenice, in the Czech Republic

Sarah Scoles

Number 4 Hamilton Place is a be-columned building in central London, home to the Royal Aeronautical Society and four floors of event space. In May, the early 20th-century Edwardian townhouse hosted a decidedly more modern meeting: Defense officials, contractors, and academics from around the world gathered to discuss the future of military air and space technology.

Things soon went awry. At that conference, Tucker Hamilton, chief of AI test and operations for the United States Air Force, seemed to describe a disturbing simulation in which an AI-enabled drone had been tasked with taking down missile sites. But when a human operator started interfering with that objective, he said, the drone killed its operator, and cut the communications system.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest