Indian-origin politicians holding key positions all over the world isn’t a new concept and on Monday Rishi Sunak made it to the list.
Sunak, 42, scripted history by becoming the first Indian-origin Prime Minister of Britain.
Born in UK’s Southampton, Rishi Sunak is the son of Usha Sunak and Yashvir Sunak who is a general practitioner at the National Health Service (NHS). His grandparents trace their roots back to Punjab.
Rishi Sunak married Akshata Murthy – the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy – in 2009 in the latter’s home city of Bengaluru, according to a report by Metro. The couple has two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.
Also read: Explained: Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Indian connection
An Oxford and Standford University alumni, Sunak has often spoken about his Indian roots and how his family has always reminded him of the values and culture of India.
After Rishi Sunak’s remarkable achievement which has made many Indians proud, we take a closer look at other Indian-origin leaders around the world.
Kamala Harris
Currently serving as the US vice president, Kamala Harris was born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. Born in California, Kamala is the first woman of colour to hold the office of vice president.
Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a breast cancer researcher who moved to the US from Tamil Nadu for higher studies. According to GQ India, Gopalan was also a civil rights activist in California and raised her two daughters, Kamala and Maya as a single mother.
In an interview, Harris said, “My mother was very proud of her Indian heritage and taught us to share in the pride about our culture.”
In the run-up to US Presidential elections in 2020, Harris had been vocal about her Indian heritage and her roots on multiple occasions.
She and her sister along with their mother used to make frequent stops in India to meet their grandparents.
In 2020, Kamala Harris talked about her Indian descent on India’s Independence Day, according to a report by News18. She said, “My mother stepped off the plane in California as a 19-year-old, she didn’t have much in the way of belongings. But she carried on with her lessons from back home, including ones she learned from her parents and her grandmother, Rajan. They taught her that when you see injustice in the world, you have an obligation to do something about it.”
Her grandfather, PV Gopalan was an Indian civil servant who was part of India’s independence movement.
In her memoir called The Truths We Hold, Harris has also discussed how her childhood is a memory of books, Indian spices and her mother’s singing.
The US vice president has also served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017.
Pravind Jugnauth
The prime minister of Mauritius since 2017, Pravind Jugnauth’s ancestors hail from the state of Uttar Pradesh. He was born into a Hindu family of Ahirs in La Caverne.
According to a report by NDTV, Jugnauth’s bid to become the prime minister of Mauritius had created a lot of buzz in UP’s Rasra city in the Ballia district. His ancestors are said to have migrated to the island nation from Rasra.
Vipin Kumar Jain, Rasra’s sub-divisional magistrate said in 2019 that it had been established that the Mauritius prime minister’s ancestors belonged to the area, however, the exact village is not yet determined.
Jugnauth has held many ministerial portfolios apart from keeping the top office in a political career spanning over 30 years. He has been part of the Militant Socialist Movement Party since the 1990s.
This year, Pravind Jugnauth visited India with his wife Kobita Jugnauth for a high-level delegation where he participated at the Global Ayush Investment and Innovative Summit in Gandhinagar, among other events.
Antonio Costa
Antonio Costa has held the prime minister’s office in Portugal since 2015. His paternal family hails from Goa where his grandfather spent most of his life.
While his father, Orlando da Costa, was born in Mozambique, a country in East Africa. Orlando was a writer whose works reflected strong Goan roots and included essays on Rabindranath Tagore, according to a report by Indian Express.
Back home, Antonio is lovingly known as “Babush”, a term that means “young loved one” in Konkani.
In 2017, Costa visited his ancestral home in Goa where he was also awarded the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman. Later in the same year, he hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lisbon. During the visit, Modi said, “Prime Minister Costa represents the best of the Indian diaspora across the world.”
According to a report by Hindustan Times, Costa said that he is very proud of his Goan roots. During his visit to India, he also travelled to Goa to visit his relatives in Margao.
Chan Santokhi
Born in the South American country of Suriname, a former Dutch colony, Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi was elected as the country’s president in 2020.
After studying at the police academy in the Netherlands, Chan Santokhi returned to Suriname where he became a police inspector and was later named as the chief of police in 1991.
After his victory that formally ended a long period of dictatorship in Suriname, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Santokhi and said, “India has a very close relationship with ‘Suriname’. More than a hundred years ago, people from India went there and made it their home. Today, the fourth or fifth generation is there. Today in Suriname more than one-fourth of the people are of Indian origin. Do you know? ‘Sarnami’ one of the common languages there is a dialect of Bhojpuri. We Indians feel very proud of these cultural relations.”
According to a report by India, Chan Santokhi took oath in Sanskrit while holding the Vedas, a move that amazed many Indians and found a mention in Modi’s “Mann ki Baat” radio address.
Leo Varadkar
Born in Dublin, Leo Varadkar is currently serving as the Tánaiste or the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland. He was also the Taoiseach or the Prime Minister of Ireland from 2017 to 2020.
His father was born in Mumbai and later moved to the UK in the 1960s.
According to a report by Times of India, Varadkar visited India in 2019 when he travelled to his ancestral village in Varad, Gujarat. Leo called it a “very special moment” and said, “I am here with my parents, my sisters and their husbands, my partner…some grandchildren are here…it is a big family visit.”
This was his first trip to the village.
With inputs from agencies
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