India welcomes Rishi Sunak as UK’s first Hindu prime minister

India’s ruling celebration has welcomed the ascent of Rishi Sunak as Britain’s first prime minister of Indian origin, with hopes rising for the prospects of a delayed commerce deal.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi mentioned on Monday that he appeared ahead to working along with his counterpart within the UK. The chief of the Bharatiya Janata celebration hailed on Twitter “the ‘residing bridge’ of UK Indians” that will assist “rework our historic ties into a contemporary partnership”.

Sunak’s choice for the job, which got here after he edged out rival Conservative candidates on Monday, was eagerly adopted in New Delhi, the place politicians celebrated the selection of a British-Indian chief 75 years after the nation gained independence from British rule.

Sunak will “make historical past as Britain’s first Indian-origin, Hindu Prime Minister. Who would have imagined the tables would flip in simply 75 years”, Priti Gandhi, a number one member of the Hindu nationalist BJP, wrote on Twitter.

“Historical past comes full circle,” added Raghav Chadha, a lawmaker from the opposition Aam Aadmi Get together.

Modi and up to date British prime ministers, together with Boris Johnson, have sought to strengthen bilateral ties in areas together with defence, immigration and commerce.

A precedence for the incoming British prime minister shall be to finalise a much-anticipated free commerce deal. Negotiators this week missed a Monday deadline set by Modi and Johnson to agree a deal by Diwali, the Hindu competition of lights.

Kemi Badenoch, the UK’s commerce secretary, just lately introduced that the 2 international locations have been “now not working to the Diwali deadline” and refocusing on “the deal itself reasonably than the date”.

Efforts to spice up UK-India relations suffered a setback throughout Liz Truss’s shortlived authorities, when former dwelling secretary Suella Braverman, who can be of Indian origin, angered officers in New Delhi by criticising migrants from India who overstayed their visas.

For Downing Road, nearer ties with India have been a central factor of the UK’s post-Brexit technique to harness financial alternative past Europe. Modi’s authorities, in the meantime, sees the free commerce settlement with the UK — one in all a number of underneath negotiation — as a part of a method to diversify away from commerce rival China.

Sunak, whose grandparents are from Punjab and whose household emigrated to the UK from east Africa within the Nineteen Sixties, is a part of a distinguished Indian enterprise household by marriage. His spouse Akshata Murthy is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the billionaire founding father of outsourcing large Infosys.

With Akshata Murthy’s £630mn stake within the firm, the couple’s mixed wealth reportedly makes Sunak the richest member of parliament.

Narayana Murthy, who has retired from Infosys, celebrated his son-in-law’s new place. “We’re happy with him and we want him success,” he informed Indian information outlet ANI. “We’re assured he’ll do his finest for the folks of the UK.”