Rishi Sunak elevation: Some leaders hope India will one day elect a minority to top post

Rishi Sunak (Image source: AFP)

With Indian-origin Rishi Sunak set to become Britain's prime minister, some opposition leaders on Monday hoped that India will take a lesson and adopt the practice of electing a person from among minorities to the top post. Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Shashi Tharoor welcomed the move and hoped one day this practice is adopted in the country.

TMC MP Mohua Moitra welcomed the move and hoped India too becomes more tolerant. "First Kamala Harris, now Rishi Sunak. The people of the US and the UK have embraced the non-majority citizens of their countries and elected them to high office in government," Chidambaram said on Twitter. "First Kamala Harris, now Rishi Sunak.

"I think there is a lesson to be learned by India and the parties that practise majoritarianism," he also said. "If this does happen, I think all of us will have to acknowledge that the Brits have done something very rare in the world, to place a member of a visible minority in the most powerful office. As we Indians celebrate the ascent of @RishiSunak, let's honestly ask: can it happen here," said Tharoor.

Moitra said, "Proud of the UK, my second favourite country for placing a British Asian in Number 10." "May India be more tolerant and more accepting of all faiths, all backgrounds," she said.

Sunak will make history as Britain's first Indian-origin Prime Minister after being elected unopposed as the new leader of the governing Conservative Party on Diwali as Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the race. This means the 42-year-old former chancellor, a devout Hindu, is poised to walk through the door of 10 Downing Street in London after an audience with King Charles III in Buckingham Palace, which is likely to be on Tuesday.

Sunak will not officially become Prime Minister until Liz Truss, Britain's shortest-serving Prime Minister, formally tenders her resignation to the King after which he will be invited by the monarch to form a new government. Besides being the first Hindu Prime Minister of Indian heritage, Sunak is also the youngest in around 200 years at 42 years.