Rishi Sunak will have a tougher time than he thinks in India

Rishi Sunak, the first British leader of Indian descent, has to walk an unenviable political tightrope at this weekend’s G20 Summit in India. It is Sunak’s first visit to the country as prime minister, and Indians have given him the kind of welcome usually reserved for an all-conquering hero returning home. Sunak himself acknowledged that the trip was ‘special’. This mutual fawning aside, Sunak’s Indian roots actually make his task of securing the best trade deal for Britain in talks with India that little bit harder. 

Indians clearly love the idea that Sunak has risen to the top in Britain, treating him as one of their own, even though he was born in Hampshire. The story of his roots is what matters to Indians. Sunak’s parents are both of Indian origin, and came to the UK from east Africa in the 1960s. It also helps that his wife Akshata Murty, who is accompanying him on the trip, is the daughter of one of India’s richest families.