New Delhi: The eyes of the world are now on Rishi Sunak, a 42-year-old Indian-origin man who is now a top contender for the post of UK prime minister. His ancestry, political rise and wealth have amped up curiosity not only among the Britishers but among Indians too.
On Monday, Rishi topped the third round of voting among the Conservative Party members of Parliament. If he wins this race, Rishi would be the first Indian-origin man to become Britain’s prime minister. The final decision will be announced on 5 September.
Allegations that his resignation, as the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, had triggered Boris Johnson’s downfall have further made him a point of interest. ThePrint takes a look at his family history, education and cultural affiliations.
Move from Punjab to Africa and UK
The Sunaks are a Punjabi Khatri family from Gujranwala, now in Pakistan. Ramdas Sunak, Rishi’s paternal grandfather, left Gujranwala to work as a clerk in Nairobi in 1935.
According to Michael Ashcroft, Rishi’s authorised biographer, the move to Nairobi was linked to deteriorating Hindu-Muslim relations.
Ramdas’ wife, Suhag Rani Sunak, moved to Delhi first from Gujranwala, along with her mother-in-law, before travelling to Kenya in 1937.
According to a source familiar with the family, 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.
One of them was Rishi’s father Yashveer Sunak, 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. All three daughters of Ramdas and Suhag Rani studied in India.
Rishi’s maternal grandparents also hail from Punjab. His maternal grandfather, Raghubir Berry, grew up in Punjab and moved to Tanzania as a railway engineer. He married Tanzania-born Sraksha Sunak.
According to Ashcroft, 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. Usha received a degree in Pharmacology from Aston University in 1972.
Rishi’s parents, Usha and Yashveer, met in the UK and married in Leicester in 1977.
Winchester College, Oxford & Stanford varsities
Rishi was born in 1980 in Southampton and attended the prestigious private school called Winchester College. During his summer vacation, he worked part-time as a waiter at Southampton Curry House. He later attended Oxford University to study philosophy, politics and economics.
“My parents sacrificed a great deal so I could attend good schools. I was lucky to study at Winchester College, Oxford and Stanford university,” he has been quoted as saying.
While pursuing his MBA at the Stanford University, US, on a Fulbright scholarship, Sunak met his future wife and billionaire heiress Akshata Murthy, daughter of Narayana Murthy of the IT services giant Infosys. Rishi and Akshata have two daughters.
Rishi first worked as an analyst for Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2004. He later went on to become a partner in two hedge funds, where he used his experience to help small and entrepreneurial British companies grow, according to a UK government website.
He became a junior minister in Theresa May’s government after serving as a Conservative MP for Richmond in Yorkshire since 2015. He was made chief secretary to the Treasury by Johnson in 2019 and promoted to the chancellor’s post in February 2020.
Though he had always been a vocal supporter of Johnson’s policies, Rishi resigned this month saying his own approach to the economy was “fundamentally” different to that of the PM.
Rishi has also openly declared himself as a “proud Hindu”. While calling himself “thoroughly British“, he has argued that his religious and cultural heritage is “Indian” like his wife and “he is open about being a Hindu”. He had earlier also talked about his abstinence from beef on religious grounds and how he keeps a Ganesha idol on his desk.
Also read: Rishi Sunak extends lead in UK PM race, bags 115 votes in third round of voting