The Indian Panorama

Tag: Rishi Sunak

  • Rishi Sunak takes time out of campaign for Janmashtami temple visit in UK

    Rishi Sunak takes time out of campaign for Janmashtami temple visit in UK

    London (TIP): Britain’s prime ministerial candidate, Rishi Sunak, took some time out of a hectic campaign schedule to make a visit to a Hare Krishna temple on the outskirts of London to celebrate Janmashtami.

    Sunak, 42, who swore his oath of allegiance on being elected member of Parliament in the House of Commons on the ‘Bhagavad Gita’, has often spoken about his Hindu faith giving him strength.

    On Thursday, he was accompanied by wife AkshataMurty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and author-philanthropist SudhaMurty, for darshan at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, Hertfordshire.

    “Today I visited the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple with my wife Akshata to celebrate Janmashtami, in advance of the popular Hindu festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s birthday,” Sunak tweeted with an image of the couple offering prayers. Bhaktivedanta Manor is one of the UK’s leading International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) hubs, which was famously donated by Beatles musician George Harrison. The manor is dubbed a “spiritual sanctuary” spread over 78 acres of land with sprawling gardens, an organic farm, a protected herd of cows as well as a temple.

    “Delighted to welcome today Rishi Sunak to Bhaktivedanta Manor temple in Hertsmere to celebrate Janmashtami, the Hindu Festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. Wishing everyone in Hertsmere a very Happy Janmashtami,” said Oliver Dowden, Conservative Party MP for Hertsmere who is backing Sunak in the Tory leadership race.

    Sunak, the UK-born son of NHS doctor Yashveer and pharmacist UshaSunak, is a devout Hindu who counts lighting Diwali diyaas outside No. 11 Downing Street as Britain’s first Indian-origin Chancellor among one of his “proudest moments” in life. The former finance minister is on a busy campaign trail across the UK in an effort to win over the votes of Tory members, who are in the process of casting their postal and online ballots in the election.

    Sunak’s rival, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, is currently holding a firm lead in most recent surveys of the party membership. However, he has insisted that he “definitely” still has a shot at victory and is excited to keep going as he thinks his “ideas are the right ones” for the country.

    The election is set to close on the evening of September 2, with the new Tory leader and British Prime Minister to succeed Boris Johnson confirmed on September 5.   (PTI)

  • Rishi Sunak pledges major crackdown on sex offenders

    Rishi Sunak pledges major crackdown on sex offenders

    LONDON (TIP): The Indian origin contender for UK Prime Minister’s post Rishi Sunak has vowed to hunt down and stamp out grooming gangs who prey on children and young women, and make their ringleaders subject to maximum life sentences as part of his campaign pledge. Under a government headed by him, the Ready4Rishi campaign team said on Wednesday, July 27 evening that members of grooming rings will automatically face criminal charges for belonging to or facilitating the activity of the gang, with those at its heart facing life sentences. In a further crackdown on sex offenders, the former chancellor will ban so-called “down-blousing”, where perpetrators take photos down a woman’s top without their consent to curb abuse targeted at women and bring more offenders to justice. “Sexual violence against women and girls should be treated as a national emergency until it has been defeated. As a father of two girls, I want them to be able to go for a walk in the evening or to a shop at night without any fear of threat,” said Sunak, father to schoolgirls Anoushka and Krishna.

    Sunak said as chancellor he boosted support for victims to record levels – quadruple those under Labour – and a ground-breaking new approach to policing which is helping drive up prosecutions of sex offenders. “As the Prime Minister I will go further. I will make it a criminal offence if you harass women by taking intimate images of them without their consent and will introduce a major crackdown on grooming gangs,” he said. “We cannot let sensitivities over race stop us from catching dangerous criminals who prey on women and I will not stop until we live in a society where women and girls can go about their daily lives feeling safe and secure,” he said.

    The British Indian former finance minister, who is married to Akshata Murty – the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, said he would set up a new emergency taskforce working at the heart of the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to launch an investigation into any town or city where significant grooming gang activity has been found and root it out.

    If elected to succeed Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, Sunak promises to force suspects to explain why they have the phone numbers or contact details of children. They will also have to reveal their ethnicity or nationality for the purposes of crime prevention.He also plans to launch a National Grooming Gangs Whistleblower Network to gather intelligence on gangs and create a dedicated database to help the police monitor suspects. Besides, the focus will be on boosting training for frontline police to help them identify victims of grooming gangs and remind officers to serve without fear or favour, including the fear of being accused of racism.

    “Rishi will give the Justice Secretary a final say over parole decisions for dangerous criminals. His government will personally review and consider denying parole for any gang member convicted of rape who still posed a risk after serving their sentence,” reads his campaign statement. “He will pass the Bill of Rights to help prevent any foreign perpetrators using the Human Rights Act to frustrate their deportation orders,” it said. The former frontline Cabinet minister said he would build on the support for victims he funded as Chancellor – 192 million pounds a year by 2024-25, including funding 1,000 sexual violence advisers – by extending mental health support for rape victims to be available to them for life. He will also ensure all survivors of sexual violence have access to same-sex spaces, his campaign said.

    (Source: PTI)

  • Rishi Sunak clinches spot for final leg in UK PM race, faces Liz Truss

    Rishi Sunak clinches spot for final leg in UK PM race, faces Liz Truss

    LONDON (TIP): Rishi Sunak on Wednesday clinched his place for the final leg of the race to succeed Boris Johnson and will go head-to-head with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as one of two finalists to take charge as Conservative Party leader and British Prime Minister.Sunak won the fifth and final voting round of Tory MPs with a resounding 137 votes, while second-placed Truss won the support of 113 MPs. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was knocked out of the race after coming in third with 105 votes. Alleging rigging, a Tory MP says, “There is no way Truss picked up 15 votes from Tom Tugendhat. Someone is moving votes around.” David Davis claims the Sunak camp has reallocated votes from Tugendhat to Truss to stop the trade minister reaching the final. The 42-year-old British Indian former Chancellor, who has topped every voting round so far, added 19 votes to his Tuesday tally of 118 and comfortably crossed the 120 MPs mark seen as the threshold to confirm a place in the final showdown. Sunak and Truss are now set for their first head-on clash in a live televised debate scheduled on the BBC for Monday.

    Earlier, outgoing PM Johnson used his last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons to bid farewell to the top job with the Spanish phrase “hasta la vista, baby”. In his final speech, he had words of advice for his successor: “Stay close to the Americans, stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere,” he said. Sunak’s popularity within the Conservative parliamentary party does not seem to chime with the views of the wider membership base, which has shown favor towards his leading opponents. The most recent YouGov survey of 725 Conservative Party members over Monday and Tuesday showed Truss would beat Sunak by 54 per cent to 35 per cent, and Mordaunt would also beat him 51 per cent to 37 per cent. There is also some concern that Sunak’s prospect to replace Johnson could be hit by Conservative Campaign Headquarters’ decision to send out those ballot papers early next month before the bulk of the campaign hustings have been held. The focus will now shift towards those hustings as both candidates campaign to woo the Tory voters to cast those ballots in their favor.

    (Agencies)

  • An Indian Origin Man in 10 Downing? Rishi Sunak Tops Second Round of Voting to Succeed Boris Johnson as UK PM

    An Indian Origin Man in 10 Downing? Rishi Sunak Tops Second Round of Voting to Succeed Boris Johnson as UK PM

    LONDON (TIP): Rishi Sunak tightened his grip on the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and British prime minister as he bagged 101 votes to again emerge as the winner of the latest voting round on Thursday, July 14. There are now five candidates left in the Tory leadership contest after Suella Braverman, the Indian-origin Attorney General in the fray, was knocked off the shortlist with the least votes at 27. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (83 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (64 votes), former minister Kemi Badenoch (49 votes) and Tory backbencher Tom Tugendhat (32 votes) remain on the ballot in the narrowing race after the second round of votes were cast by lawmakers. The next few rounds of voting among Conservative Party members of Parliament to whittle this list down to just two by next Thursday, July 21 is scheduled for early next week. Rishi Sunak has been the frontrunner among Conservative lawmakers despite being blamed by some for his role in Boris Johnson’s downfall.

    Sunak, whose exit from the Treasury last week was one of the first in a cascade of resignations that forced Johnson to quit, has been the frontrunner among Conservative lawmakers despite being blamed by some for his role in Johnson’s downfall. After maintaining his lead Sunak thanked his supporters and said on Twitter: “I am prepared to give everything I have in service to our nation. Together we can restore trust, rebuild our economy and reunite the country.”Earlier, he took to the airwaves to say his first economic priority would be tackling high inflation, not the tax cuts pledged by his rivals.

    Sunak, like his former boss, was criticized and fined for breaking pandemic lockdown rules to attend Mr. Johnson’s birthday party in Downing Street in June 2020. The former Chancellor, who is married to Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, was also in the spotlight because his wife had saved on paying tax on her foreign income, as an expat living in Britain. He was also criticized for holding on to his U.S. ‘green card’ , despite being a public servant in the U.K. If elected to lead the Tories, Sunak will be Britain’s first non-white and Indian origin Prime Minister.

  • UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak admits attending Downing Street lockdown party

    UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak admits attending Downing Street lockdown party

    London (TIP): UK’s Indian-origin Chancellor Rishi Sunak has admitted to attending Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lockdown birthday party in 2020 but refused to say what happened when he entered the room and claimed that he was there for a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation. His comments came after Johnson’s five aides, including longstanding policy chief Munira Mirza, chief of staff Dan Rosenfield, principal private secretary Martin Reynolds and communications director Jack Doyle, resigned from their posts within hours of each other on February 10.

    They stepped down after a damning investigation revealed that multiple parties took place at Downing Street while the rest of the United Kingdom was living under strict Covid-19 lockdown rules.

    Sunak, who lives next door to the Prime Minister in Downing Street, is also reported to have attended a surprise birthday party for Johnson in No. 10’s Cabinet Room in June 2020.

    He admitted to attending Johnson’s lockdown birthday party in 2020 but refused to say what happened when he entered the room, the Mirror newspaper reported.

    The Chancellor said that he was in the Cabinet Room for Johnson’s lockdown birthday party but insisted he was there for a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation.

    He acknowledged that the scandal surrounding parties during lockdown at Downing Street has damaged the public’s trust in the government, the BBC reported.

    The Chancellor, however, said that he believed his plans to deal with the cost of living crisis would help restore it.

    Sunak, 41, insisted that Prime Minister Johnson, who is facing growing calls for his resignation, has his “full support.” Dismissing talk of him replacing Johnson, the Chancellor said that the Prime Minister had always told the truth about the parties.

    “Yes, of course he does. He is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” he said. Asked whether the parties held in violation of Covid-19 lockdown rules damaged the public’s confidence in the government, Sunak said “Yes, I think it has. I can appreciate people’s frustration. And I think it’s now the job of all of us in government, all politicians, to restore people’s trust”.

    As an embattled Johnson faces intense pressure to step down from the opposition and Conservative MPs, some Tory MPs believe that Sunak, as one of the most powerful figures in the government, is the frontrunner to replace Johnson.

    But Sunak quelled such talk. “Well, that’s very kind of them to suggest that. But what I think people want from me is to focus on my job.

    “I know a few of my colleagues have said that and they’ll have their reasons for doing that. But I don’t think that’s the situation we’re in. The Prime Minister has my full support,” he told the BBC.

    Asked whether he would run to be the next Tory leader and Prime Minister, should there be a vacancy, Sunak said “No, that’s not what I’m focused on.” Officers from the Met Police are investigating a total of 12 Downing Street parties. (PTI)

  • Conservative Friends of India hold an impressive Conference – Manchester 21

    Conservative Friends of India hold an impressive Conference – Manchester 21

    Nirpal Singh Shergill

    LONDON (TIP): The Conservative Friends of India – the most prominent affiliate group of the Conservative Party – was back with a bang at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. Co-Chairs of CF India Cllr Reena Ranger OBE and Cllr Ameet Jogia have been working hard to strengthen the Party’s engagement with the 1.7 million British Indian diasporas. The Conservative Friends of India jointly hosted the spectacular Conference Reception with the Indian High Commission after two years. Several hundred guests and Parliamentarians attended the reception.

    Special guest speakers included the High Commissioner of India H.E Gaitri Issar Kumar, Chairman of the Conservative Party, the Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, International Trade Secretary, the Rt Hon Anne Marie Trevelyan MP, Health Secretary the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Education Secretary, the Rt Hon Nadhim Zawahi MP, Transport Secretary the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Northern Ireland Secretary the Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP and The Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP.

    The speakers also included the long-standing supporters, CF India Patron Lord Rami Ranger CBE and Parliamentary Vice Chairs Padma Shri award winner Bob Blackman MP, Minister for London Paul Scully MP and the Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh H.E Saida Muna Tasneem, Gangan Mohindra MP,  London’s popular former Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, along with the newly elected Member of Scottish Parliament Pam Gosal – Scotland’s first female Asian MP and Cllr Gotz Mohindra.

    Speaking at the Reception, The High Commissioner of India, Her Excellency Gaitri Issar Kumar, paid tribute to the “Living Bridge” that is the British Indian diaspora and the work they do in fostering excellent relations between the UK and India. The High Commissioner thanked the Secretaries of State, Ministers and Members of Parliament for supporting India and the Reception. As well as further highlighting the significant partnership and unique relationship between India and the UK and how she looks forward to delivering upon the opportunities which lay ahead for India and the UK. The High Commissioner lauded the work of CF India and paid tribute to CF India Patron Lord Rami Ranger, Co-Chairman Cllr Reena Ranger OBE, Co-Chairman Cllr Ameet Jogia and Director Nayaz Qazi, for their dedication and commitment to strengthening ties between the Indian High Commission and British Parliamentarians.

    Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, said, “I love Conservative Friends of India, this is my home, and I wouldn’t be here without your support.” Chancellor paid tribute to the Indian High Commissioner and the commitment to strengthen trade relations with India. Chancellor ended by applauding Lord Ranger for his decades of work in enriching and making the Conservative Party the most diverse political Party today.

    The Chairman of the Conservative Party, The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, thanked the Indian community for their significant support and contribution to Britain and the Conservative Party and to CF India for all the continuous work it does to build stronger relations between the British Indian community and the Conservative Party. The Chairman looked forward to further developing closer ties in all areas between Britain and India and the British Indian community.

    International Trade Secretary, The Rt Hon Anne Marie Trevelyan MP, spoke of the significant opportunities that lay ahead in the special UK and India partnership and looked forward to achieving the immense bilateral opportunities.

    Education Secretary, The Rt Hon Nadhim Zawahi MP, spoke of the synergy between the UK and India to obtain the best in education and the opportunities in R&D collaboration, highlighting the success of the AstraZeneca vaccination development, as well how he was looking forward to welcoming students from India to British universities and to developing closer ties between educational institutions.

    Health Secretary, The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, spoke of the integral and most important work of the Indian diaspora in supporting the NHS and of the partnership between the UK and India, which helped deliver the record vaccination roll-out programme to help beat the Covid pandemic.

    Transport Secretary The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP spoke of how when he was Party Chairman, The Conservative Friends of India had just been born, and today it is one of the Party’s leading affiliate groups.

    Northern Ireland Secretary The Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, a regular supporter of CF India and the Joint Reception with the India High Commission, spoke of his delight as to how each year CF India is growing as an organization and how important the work of CF India is and the interaction of the diaspora with the Party and their contribution to Britain.

    Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP congratulated CF India and thanked the Indian High Commissioner for joining the Reception to celebrate the special ties between the British Indian community and the Conservative Party. Sir Iain spoke about the strong and special bond between UK and India and how it is set to become even stronger.

    Lord Rami Ranger, CBE, Patron of CF India, spoke of the importance of the special relationship between the UK and India, the oldest and largest democracies in the world. Lord Ranger thanked the High Commissioner H.E Gaitri Issar Kumar for all the support of the High Commission and paid tribute to both leaders Prime Minister Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

    Gagan Mohindra MP, Pam Gosal MSP and Cllr Gotz Mohindra congratulated CF India for the work it is doing and how it has become a powerhouse within the Party as a leading affiliate organization engaging with the community.

    Co-Chairs Ameet Jogia and Reena Ranger said it was fantastic to be back with an in-person, “we look forward to restarting our events and engaging with more Conservative Parliamentarians and our members”.

    The vote of thanks was delivered by CF India Director Nayaz Qazi, who paid tribute to the CF India members, The High Commissioner H.E Gaitri Issar Kumar, Deputy High Commissioner Mr. Charanjeet Singh, The Rt Hon Secretaries of State and all the Parliamentary support. And gave a special thanks to CF India Co-Chairs Cllr Reena Ranger and Cllr Ameet Jogia for all their work in engaging with a new generation of Party supporters.

    CF India exhibited at its Conference Stand and signed up record members and was visited by many Parliamentarians, including The late Sir David Amess MP, the Home Secretary The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP, the Foreign Secretary The Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, the Defense Secretary The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, COP 26 President The Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, Business Secretary The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Minister of State at FCDO The Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, Chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady MP and many other Parliamentarians and dignitaries

    CF India also hosted a roundtable dinner with Minister for International Trade Ranil Jayawardena MP, who has been at the forefront of developing the road map of a Free Trade Agreement between Britain and the UK.

  • A ‘crucial’ colloquy at the G7 Summit

    A ‘crucial’ colloquy at the G7 Summit

    Besides addressing issues like global vaccination, vaccine passport, counterterrorism and economy, the G7 Summit could take a stern stance towards China

    By Prabhu Dayal

    “The likely “Policy Priorities” that could be discussed at the Summit include leading the global recovery from coronavirus while strengthening resilience against future pandemics, promoting future prosperity by championing free and fair trade, tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity, and championing globally shared values. Some issues will flow from the G7 ministerial meeting which are important from India’s point of view.”

    The G7 Summit between June 11-13 in Cornwall is set to discuss major world issues. As the world’s most influential leaderships prepare to meet at the first in-person meet in two years, a question remains whether the Summit will send a tough message to China.

    The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal club of wealthy democracies consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada. It represents 62 per cent of the global net wealth, more than 46 per cent of the global nominal GDP and more than 32 per cent of the global GDP based on purchasing power parity.

    The UK, which currently holds the G7 Presidency, has invited representatives from India, Australia, South Korea and South Africa as guest members, indicating that it is serious about pivoting the Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Summit virtually given the Covid situation in India.

    The likely “Policy Priorities” that could be discussed at the Summit include leading the global recovery from coronavirus while strengthening resilience against future pandemics, promoting future prosperity by championing free and fair trade, tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity, and championing globally shared values. Some issues will flow from the G7 ministerial meeting which are important from India’s point of view.

    UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson could call on fellow G7 leaders to make concrete commitments to vaccinate the entire world against coronavirus by the end of 2022. He is expected to call for stepping up the manufacture of vaccines, lowering barriers to the international distribution of vaccines and sharing surplus doses with developing countries. Another issue is that of “vaccine passports”. Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had indicated that he would like to push the G7 to look at the possibility of agreeing on the issue of “vaccine passports”. The proposal is intended to ease international travel and would involve recording immunity, vaccination or test in the “vaccine passport”. However, there have been concerns that this could create hurdles for citizens from countries that are unable to increase the pace of vaccination due to manufacturing limitations. India’s Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, had also expressed his opposition to this idea. He pointed out that there are lower levels of vaccination in developing countries in contrast to the developed countries, and vaccine passport will be hugely discriminatory and disadvantageous for the developing countries. He suggested that implementation of the same be made only after duly addressing the concerns.

    The taxation of multinational companies will be yet another important issue. Speaking at the recent meeting of the G7 Finance Ministers, Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the world cannot “continue to rely on a tax system that was largely designed in the 1920s”. The G7 Finance Ministers reached an important deal to close cross-border tax loopholes used by some of the world`s biggest companies. This landmark deal aims to squeeze more money out of multinational companies and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens. The deal would be discussed at the G7 Summit and later put up before the G20 Finance Ministers meeting on July 9-10, 2021. It could form the basis of a global pact aimed at ending a prevailing trend in which ‘tax haven’ countries have competed to attract corporate giants by offering ultra-low tax rates and exemptions. Rich nations like the G7 have struggled for years to agree on a way to raise more revenue from large multinationals that often book profits in jurisdictions where they pay little or no tax. In terms of this deal, the G7 said it would back a minimum global corporation tax rate of at least 15 per cent, and put in place the measures to ensure that taxes were paid in the countries where businesses operate.

    On the issue of counterterrorism, the communique issued after the recent G7 Finance Ministers meeting stated: “Global implementation of the FATF standards for combating money laundering, terror-financing and proliferation financing remains uneven. We recognize the role of the nine FATF-Style Regional Bodies (FSRBs) in assessing and supporting the implementation of the FATF standards around the world.” The G7 Finance Ministers have committed to providing additional expertise and funding to support the FSRB’s assessment programs by at least USD 17 million during 2021-24. From India’s viewpoint, it is a welcome sign that the G7 is devoting attention to terror financing because the abetment and financing of terrorist outfits by Pakistan has shown no signs of abating. An influential grouping like G7 can do much more to rein in the scourge of terrorism.

    China is likely to figure prominently in the discussions at the Summit in Cornwall. The communique issued after the Foreign Ministers meeting called on China to participate constructively in the rules-based international system, guided by the principles such as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, in context of Xinjiang, Tibet and especially the Uyghurs. Moreover, the PRC was reminded that it is obliged to respect the high degree of autonomy, rights and freedoms of Hong Kong, ‘including those set out in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law’. In terms of economic matters, G7 Foreign Ministers had noted that, as nations that support free and open trade, they expect the fair economic system, trade, investment and capital growth not to be undermined. The PRC was urged to assume and fulfil obligations and responsibilities commensurate with its global economic role. Beijing was also asked to refrain from conducting or supporting intellectual property theft by exploiting cyberspace. Besides, they expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and World Health Assembly WHA. They also expressed concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas. India will watch with interest what transpires at the Summit concerning all these important issues.

    (Prabhu Dayal is a retired Indian diplomat. He is an author and a commentator, particularly on foreign affairs. A regular panelist at TV channels, he also contributes articles regularly to many publications, including New York based The Indian Panorama. He can be reached at prabhu_dayal70@hotmail.com)