Kinship Based on Race is just Skin Deep
The United Kingdom has done it – they’ve finally got a
Prime Minister from a minority ethnic community. Mr. Rishi Sunak, the former
Chancellor of the Exchequer, became the first “Indian-Origin” Prime Minister and
at the age of 42, he is the youngest Prime Minister in the last two centuries.
Mr. Sunak is the third person to take over as Prime
Minister this year and his ascent to power was positioned as a chance for the
ruling conservatives to avoid a wipe out in the next General Election Unlike his
predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, Mr. Sunak is presentable (his
nickname being “Dishy Rishi) and articulate. In his first address to the nation
outside Downing Street, Mr. Sunak seemed to say the right things, and acknowledged
that “mistakes” were made. Unlike Mr. Johnson and Ms. Truss before him, Mr. Sunak
comes across as someone who knows what he’s doing and this was reflected by the
reaction of the markets. The pound returned to its level against the US dollar that
it was before Ms. Truss took over.
Unfortunately, the part of Mr. Sunak that has received
the most attention is the fact that he is of “Indian-Origin.” His rise of the Premiership
gives the British establishment an “aspirational” story to sell to the rest of
the world. Singapore was affected too. Suddenly we had the likes of Professor
Tommy Koh asking us to reflect on the irony that the UK, a former Imperial Power
would have an ethnic minority as Prime Minister long before officially “non-racist”
and “meritocratic” Singapore. The South China Morning Post went as far as to
ask whether Mr. Sunak’s rise in the UK would promote “soul-searching” in
Singapore:
Everyone in the global Indian diaspora is thrilled by
Sunak’s success. It should be noted that one of the first world leaders to congratulate
Mr. Sunak was non other than Mr. Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart. Mr.
Modi went as far as to call Mr. Sunak a “bridge” between the two nations.
Having grown up in “White Anglo-Saxon country,” as one
of a handful of ethnic minorities, I get the fascination that the global Indian
community has with Mr. Sunak. When you grow up with the idea drummed into your
head that you need to “grateful” to the ethnic majority and as much as ethnicity
may not figure in your day-to-day interactions, you will feel a certain need to
see one of your own coming to the top. My childhood hero is Bruce Lee for a
good reason. He was the only visible person of my complexion winning somewhere by
being Chinese.
So, I get why the Indian community around the world
was so happy to see Mr. Sunak climb to the top of British society on Diwali. The
global Indian Community has taken pride in a shot people who have run the world’s
biggest corporations and now having a Prime Minister of a G7 economy feels like
icing on a cake of multinational CEOs:
https://www.inventiva.co.in/trends/indian-ceo-multinational-company/
Ironically, it was Wion, an Indian news channel, that
made the point that the Indians who have climbed to the top of the corporate
ladder elsewhere, do not owe any loyalty to India or to the Indian diaspora.
They owe their loyalty to shareholders who are more often than not based in the
West. Wion made it a point that unlike India, China did not produce CEOs of
Western companies – instead, it produced unicorn tech companies in China:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1096928/number-of-global-unicorns-by-country/
What is true of those who become CEOs of multinationals becomes even more true of politicians. Whenever Indian News channels pointed out that Mr. Sunak is “Indian-Origin” everyone that they interviewed who lived in the UK would reply “Let’s remember he is Prime Minister of the UK and not India.” One White Englishman went as far as to say “He’s more English than I am.” If you look at Mr. Sunak’s personal story, you will notice that the most Indian thing about him is that he married a girl from India.
This then leads to the point that Mr. Sunak is
inevitably going to disappoint someone and the community that is probably going
to be disappointed is non other than the global Indian diaspora.
Whilst Mr. Sunak has played upon his “migrant”
backstory, anyone who thinks he’s going to make it easier for Indian-Born
professionals to get work in the UK is going to be disappointed. Mr. Sunak made
it clear that tighter border controls would be part of his agenda and he did
argue that whilst he is a child of immigrants, he is a child of “LEGAL”
immigrants. How did Mr. Sunak make this clear – he reappointed Ms. Suella Braverman as home secretary. Ms. Braverman
who, like Mr. Sunak is of “Indian Origin” fell out with Mr. Sunak’s predecessor
partly because she was against signing a trade deal with India. Ms. Braverman
holds views that would ironically make Enoch Powel proud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4N_5qAiF6o
Why would Mr. Sunak appoint someone who seems so
intent on harming the interest of the people who have been celebrating his
success the most? The answer is simple – electoral mathematics. Mr. Sunak is
Prime Minister of Britain and not India. He has to be seen “looking after
British” interest and “not Indian” interest and he understands that there is a
segment of the British voting public that believes that includes making it
harder for people from places like India to set foot in the UK. One of the best
explanations of where Mr. Sunak’s loyalties lie are best seen in the following
clip by Trevor Noah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t952Gnpjr0
I get the need to see someone who looks like you
coming ahead. However, we should also understand that just because someone looks
like us, it doesn’t mean that they have the same sympathies and loyalties.
Those who expect Mr. Sunak to be a bridge between East and West are bound to be
disappointed.
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