Why Rishi Sunak's election as PM of UK is significant?

 

Rishi Sunak will be the first UK Prime Minister of colour and the second PM of non-christian background.  UK had the first and only Jewish PM - Benjamin Disraeli ( Conservative  1868 to 1868 & 1874 to 1880).

It's highly significant for today's Britain which is evolving as a multicultural society.  For the kids that grow up today in UK who come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, they can see someone who does not look caucasian, rise to the top post in government. 

It is not some diversity and inclusion slogan that receives the usual lip service.  It is someone who looks different being able to rise to the top job by performance. 

The Hindu community has always been hardworking and enterprising. We have had leaders from the  Hindu community who have risen to key Cabinet roles.  Instead of playing second and third fiddle, this is the first time a non-christian has risen to the top job in the 150 years of British political history. 

10 years ago David Cameron predicted that the only conservative party will give the first British Indian PM and this is becoming true today. (1)

Rishi will be the first nerdy PM

During an interview with BBC a reporter was quizzing him casually on Star Wars. Rishi Sunak got correct answers for all the questions in that quiz (2). When I played that part of the interview to my 16-year-old daughter, she was very happy to see a nerd becoming the next PM.  It is an example of a young politician becoming relevant to a younger generation.

Rishi Sunak is a person "with a lot of attention to details"

As per a current conservative MP, "If Rishi Sunak walks into a meeting with the permanent secretary for an important discussion on an issue, he will be the person in the meeting room, who knows more details on the issue than the permanent secretary.  He demonstrated it day in and day out as a chancellor with clinical accuracy on top details 24/7.  We need someone like him to sort out the economic mess. "

Former Chancellor, George Osborne recently reflected a similar view that Rishi is the right person to solve the current problems with the British Economy.

Rishi Sunak's attention to detail is not just limited to facts and figures

It was a political dinner party in London and a political correspondent was having a casual conversation and someone asked her how long she has been in that role. She casually mentions that couple of years. Rishi Sunak who is part of the conversation corrects her saying "it's more like 6 years isn't it?" She was completely taken aback, as Rishi was right that she has been in that role for 6 years and she was completely surprised that being on Rishi Sunak's radar. That's an example of Rishi being a people person who remembers interactions and people very clearly.

Everyone knows it's going to be a tough job

Everyone knows that it's going to be tough.  With the global economy faltering and the UK economy with Anemic growth for decades and the British pound weak for the last 10+years, it's not going to be an easy job. 

The toughest part being the leader of a fragmented conservative party.  Rishi is the only leader from that party calling out for party unity for a very long time.  Time will tell whether he will be successful. 

References:

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/cameron-predicts-first-brit-indian-conservative-pm/story-mQMem7b02nQJOXJm9ISOxM.html

2.  Rishi Sunaks interview last summer. please listen to the first 3 minutes, if not the whole,  🤓

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0ctp8jh?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Never let a good crisis go waste

(This is the letter that I wrote to the ministers of civil aviation, defense, and external affairs of India. Copied Indian commission in London and Indian Embassy in Scotland.   Hopefully, someone relevant will read it and get something out of it. )

Vanakkam & Namaste,

I am originally from Chennai but I have been living outside India for almost half of my life (initially in the US and now in Scotland).  Following global news and current affairs has been my hobby since school age. 

Today, I read the news that Infosys has decided to close its operations in Russia due to western pressure.  I understand why Infosys is doing it, but it is a shame that an Indian company like Infosys is succumbing to western pressure when all it is doing is supporting civilian projects.

The Geopolitical situation created by the Russia - Ukraine conflict is a huge opportunity for India. It's a once-in-a-century opportunity.  But unfortunately, I am not seeing any big strategic actions from the Indian Government. Please don't mistake me, I am saying this with very good intent. 

From the Media, I came to know that during the recent visit Russian foreign minister Lavrov said something like this “Russia is Ready To Discuss If India Wants To Buy Anything”. But it looks like on the Indian side the discussions were around how India can buy some cheap oil and how to pay for it. Really. Is this the best that the descendants of Chanakya and Thiruvalluar can come up with?  

I am not underestimating the importance of oil imports for India, oil shock is big for any economy. We need an urgent tactical solution. But the current opportunity is so big that India needs to have strategic thinking to talk about longer-term bigger bargains now. 

If India has any interest in becoming a world leader it should start thinking and acting big.  As nationalist Tamil poet Bharathi Said “பெரிதினும் பெரிது கேள்” (meaning “don't just settle for big ask for bigger”)

In my not-so-humble view :-), India should have asked for something bigger like the following:

1. Setup the assembly line for a civilian aircraft model in India with a Russian partnership.

2. Collaborate with Russia on building the next International Space Station.

The above are just examples of Long term strategic initiatives which will fall outside sanctions. These are high-value manufacturing and technology areas that will put India in the select group of top 4-5 countries in the world. I will explain each of the above projects in 10 sentences in the appendix.

I am not trying to sell anything. I will not get any benefit if India and Russia go ahead with the above projects.  I am just a regular guy who is tired of hearing “Bharat becoming Vishwa Guru” for the last 25 years, whatever that means. I want to see some real leadership in action. India should start behaving like a stronger country if it is really interested in any serious role in geopolitics. 

Appendix:

1: Setup the assembly line for a civilian aircraft model in India with a Russian partnership.

HAL has been working hard to build a 20-seater Civil Aircraft for the last several years.  If India wants to move up the value chain then Civilian Aircraft manufacturing partnering with Russia is a great strategy. Aircraft building is a complex manufacturing process always spread across different countries.  Russia has great experience in running complex aircraft manufacturing assembly lines across several Soviet nations of the USSR for several years.  After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Civil Aircraft manufacturing industry also collapsed. Russia is working hard to bring it back. Reviving High-end manufacturing is very hard, and it will get only harder for Russia to revive it moving forward under sanctions. So there will be great synergy from the Russian side.  This will fit very nicely with the “Make in India” initiative.  Setting up an aircraft assembly line is a 10-year project. Once set up, that assembly line will run for the next 30-40 years.

2: Collaborate with Russia on building the next International Space Station (ISS).

Even before the current Ukraine conflict, Russia had already announced that it wants to move away from the International Space station. Those who follow space tech closely will know that the ISS would not have come into existence without Russia.  The US, after spending several billion on its own space station, failed to produce any meaningful progress. At that time, USSR had several space stations, sputnik being just one of them. Then the Soviet Union collapsed and the US wanted to make use of Soviet space expertise,(the real truth is that the US did not have the capability to build a space station on its own at that time), and hence the ISS collaboration to include Russia was born.  Today’s situation is very similar. If you talk to ISRO they will give a long laundry list of shopping items, you can just cherry-pick the ones that will withstand sanctions scrutiny in the West. 

Closing comments:

When the “Arab Spring” happened then British Prime minister David Cameron was touring the troubled countries selling weapons to dictators (One of Britain's major exports).  The moral is “when there is trouble in any part of the world then the world's major powers go on a business trip / do the shopping”.  If India wants to be a global power, where is the shopping cart now? 

In the words of Winston Churchill “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. I know the BJP leadership is nationalist in nature and I hope that they will not let the global geopolitical opportunity go to waste for Bharata Varsh. 

Remember “பெரிதினும் பெரிது கேள்”  by Subramanya Bharathi 

(meaning “don't just settle for big ask for bigger”)

Vande Mataram.

Justice For Lavanya

On 20 January 2022, a girl student aged 17, who was staying in the hostel of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, a Catholic educational institution in Thirukattupalli of Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, died after consuming poison.

The girl was forced to convert and she refused and hence mistreated asked to clean the hostel. This girl who was also the topper of the school committed suicide due to the mistreatment.

Please find the attached article in the reference section for full details on news. 

Proselytization is the root of the problem, we have to identify it in unambiguous terms.  I created the following meme and shared it on Twitter and Whatsapp status as a protest. 

References:

https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/forced-religious-conversion-kills-a-child-in-tamil-nadu-again

#justiceforlavanya on Twitter will give you more details