With Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak all set to take over as the Prime Minister of the UK, a debate has started over his roots—with people from both India and Pakistan making claims and counter-claims over Sunak’s ancestral lineage. The reality, however, lies somewhere in the middle, and Sunak’s elevation as the UK’s PM can be termed as a matter of pride for both India and Pakistan—the neighbouring countries once ruled by the British for over 100 years, say experts.
Calling himself a “proud Hindu”, Sunak in his speeches has said he is proud of his “Indian roots” and of “where he came from.” From performing gau puja (cow worship), serving community meals at a temple, and not eating beef to celebrating Diwali with family and taking oath on the Bhagavad Gita after becoming an MP, Sunak said he never tried to hide his faith in Hinduism. Sunak, 42, has said he marks the “British Indian” category while filling out the UK census form.
The Prime Minister-designate of the UK comes from a Punjabi Khatri family and his paternal grandfather had moved to Africa from Gujranwala before India gained Independence. Gujranwala is now in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Later, Sunak’s father moved to the UK.
“There’s actually no debate. Sunak’s success belongs to both India and Pakistan. In fact, what people of Punjab on both sides of the border should be proud of is that a man with his family’s roots in Gujranwala, the birthplace of great Sikh warrior Maharaja Ranjit Singh, will become the head of a sovereign country. Sunak’s family roots lie in the undivided Punjab of pre-Independent India. He was born in the UK so there is no link to either India or Pakistan after Independence,” says eminent Punjabi poet Dr Gurbhajan Singh Gill.
Dr S P Singh, president, Gujranwala Khalsa Educational Council which manages Gujranwala Guru Nanak (GGN) Khalsa College, Ludhiana said, “Khatri is a caste that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Traditionally, they were mostly employed in commercial professions, artisanal occupations, particularly silk weaving, as well as engaged in agricultural and clerical professions.”
Dr Singh, also the former vice-chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, says Ramdas Sunak, Rishi’s paternal grandfather, left Gujranwala to work as a clerk in Nairobi of Kenya in 1935. “The move to Nairobi was linked to deteriorating Hindu-Muslim relations,” he said.
He said Ramdas’ wife, Suhag Rani Sunak, first moved to Delhi from Gujranwala, before travelling to Kenya in 1937. Ramdas was an accountant who later became an administrative officer with the colonial government in Kenya. Ramdas and Suhag Rani had six children—three sons and three daughters. Rishi Sunak’s father Yashveer Sunak was born in 1949 in Nairobi. “Yashveer arrived in Liverpool in 1966 and went on to study medicine at the University of Liverpool. He now lives in Southampton,” adds Dr Singh.
Rishi Sunak’s maternal grandparents also hailed from Punjab. Dr. Singh, whose family had also moved from Gujranwala to Ludhiana after Partition, said Raghubir Berry, Sunak’s maternal grandfather, grew up in Punjab and moved to Tanganyika, a colonial territory in Africa, as a railway engineer. He married Tanganyikan-born Sraksha. “Sraksha moved to the UK in 1966 with a one-way ticket that she bought after selling her wedding jewellery. Berry also moved to the UK soon after and worked for many years in the UK’s Inland Revenue department. He became a Member of the Order of the British Empire or MBE—an award for significant contribution to society—in 1988. The couple had three daughters, one of whom is Rishi’s mother, Usha,” added Dr. Singh.
Usha received a degree in pharmacology from Aston University in 1972. She met Yashveer met in the UK and they married in Leicester in 1977. Rishi was born in 1980 in Southampton and attended the prestigious private school called Winchester College.
In his speeches, Sunak has said he did not grow up in a wealthy family and his parents “worked day and night in the UK” to educate him and his siblings. “My father was a general practitioner (GP) with the NHS and worked extra time, and on weekends. My mother had a chemist shop ‘Sunak Pharmacy’ in Southampton and after school, I delivered medicines to customers. They worked hard for us. I belong to a family of immigrants who came to the UK for a better life,” said Sunak.
“I am thoroughly British, this is my home and my country, but my religious and cultural heritage is Indian. My wife is Indian,” said Sunak who is married to Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty, an author specialising in books for children.
