Dr Nitasha Kaul, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, was invited to write an article for the i newspaper in print and online about the identity and politics of the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and what this represents for both British Hindus and the Hindu population in India.
In the article, Dr Kaul discusses the significance of the election of Rishi Sunak as the first British Asian Prime Minister, and how this and his Hindu faith may cause both British Hindus and Hindus in India to frame and judge his policy decisions through the lens of his identity.
Speaking about this dilemma, Dr Kaul said: “The baggage his identity carries will mean that the frames of interpreting his policies and stances on everything will be systematically different than it would be for a white man. Does he have an advantage in securing the trade deal for Britain with India? Will he be able to remark upon communalist sectarian or casteist positions when they are adopted by British Hindus?” She added that while becoming a Prime Minister despite an ethnic minority background is an achievement in any democratic country, whether Sunak’s term offers greater hope, remains to be seen.
Dr Kaul has been studying right-wing political projects in India and transnationally, and referring to her work on 'postcolonial neoliberal nationalism', she explained: “Sunak is a Tory politician ideologically tasked with right-wing policies, at a time of great global flux and national economic crisis, who heads a party that foisted a divisive Brexit upon the country, and represents a people who have much racist history to acknowledge and disown.”
She wrote: “As he mentioned in his address to the country, Sunak no doubt would prefer to be seen as someone serving with integrity and humility, simply doing his job day in and day out. […] He ought to be judged for his policies, yet the identity frames that mark him as different will mean that the “eye” and the “I” may not coincide; how he is perceived by others may not coincide with the “I” that he sees himself as being.”
Read the full article on the i newspaper’s website (paywall-protected).
