On Monday, October 24, the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom rejoiced with the announcement that Rishi Sunak would become the first British Asian Prime Minister.
"It is a historic moment for democracy in the UK, and Indian and British citizens of Indian and Asian origins are celebrating it," Father Feroz Fernandes, a London-based Goan Chaplaincy official, told RVA News.
He is a member of the Pilar Society, also known as the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier.
"People are looking forward to public policies that reach out to different groups of people and lead the UK toward economic and social stability and advancement," said Fernandes, an Indian.
Migrants from Asia and people of Asian origin in the United Kingdom are elated with the Conservative Party's electing Sunak as the next Prime Minister.
Sunak, a 42-year-old former Cabinet minister, will be the first Indian-origin UK Prime Minister who is set to face the country's economically toxic combination of recession and rising interest rates.
Following the resignation of his predecessor, Liz Truss, on October 20 after only 45 days in office, he will be the youngest and first person of color to hold the position in 200 years.
Sunak, a multimillionaire, is the third Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in seven months.
Following his victory, he stated that the country faces serious economic challenges and requires stability and unity to deal with a surge in energy and food costs.
"There is no doubt that we are facing a significant economic challenge," Sunak said. "We now require stability and unity, and I will make it my highest priority to unite our party and our country."
He was born in the port city of Southampton in 1980.
He attended Winchester College, a private school, before going on to Oxford to study philosophy, politics, and economics.
He was employed by the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
His parents were Indian-born pharmacists who moved to the UK in the 1960s from East Africa. Sunak's father, Yashvir Sunak, was a general practitioner for the National Health Service, and his mother, Usha Sunak, owned a chemist shop.
He has been a Conservative MP since 2015.
He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2015 before resigning in 2022, citing differences in economic approaches with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In 2009, Sunak married Indian billionaire N R Narayana Murthy’s daughter, Akshata Murty, a fashion designer. Krishna and Anoushka are their two daughters.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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