Anand Mahindra has a 'desi' twist for 10, Downing Street amid UK political crisis

Anand Mahindra has a humorous "desi" tweet amid the UK political crisis.

Industrialist Anand Mahindra, known for his regular humorous tweets, has a new one for his 9.4 million Twitter followers. This time, it’s all about some “desi humour” amid the UK political crisis.

A photoshopped image of 10, Downing Street – the British Prime Minister’s famed residence in London – adorned with traditional Indian household elements like 'toran' (or garland) made of dry mango leaves, Lord Ganesha door hangings, Shubh Laabh (prosperity) signs and auspicious 'swastika' symbols painted in red on each side of the doorway – was tweeted by Mahindra on Tuesday.

He captioned the photo: “The future of 10 Downing Street? The famed British humour is now laced with Desi humour."

The future of 10 Downing Street? The famed British humour is now laced with Desi humour… pic.twitter.com/rjkYPhWDGX

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 12, 2022

The hilarious context behind Mahindra’s now viral post is about Indian-origin politician Rishi Sunak announcing his bid to be the next Prime Minister of Britain.

He resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer on July 5, citing economic policy differences between himself and Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his resignation letter. Days later, Sunak announced his candidacy to replace Johnson in the upcoming Conservative party leadership election.

Suella Braverman, another Indian-origin politician, is also among the eight candidates in the race to succeed Johnson, who announced his pending resignation two days after Sunak resigned.

Mahindra’s post, with over 20,000 likes garnered various comments of which one user tweeted that the traditional lemon and chilli (apparently used to ward of bad omens) is missing. Mahindra retweeted the photo soon after.

Although Sunak is a leading the list of eight candidates in the PM race, he needs the backing of at least 20 Tory MPs to secure a place in the first round of balloting today. Former health secretary Sajid Javid, who also resigned triggering Johnson’s downfall, pulled out of the race today.

Other candidates in the race include Kemi Badenoch, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhim Zahawi.