- Wednesday, May 08, 2024
It will be the first visit by Sunak, UK’s first prime minister of Asian origin, to visit India after assuming charges in October last year.
By: Shubham Ghosh
PRIME minister Rishi Sunak is scheduled to make an official visit to India later this week for the G20 leaders’ summit, and he can anticipate a warm and extravagant welcome from his relatives residing in New Delhi, according to a report by The Daily Telegraph.
The British media outlet revealed that Sunak’s family in India is planning to host a lavish celebration adorned with flower bouquets and a lively atmosphere of “non-stop dancing” set to the beats of Punjabi music.
Dr Gautam Dev Sood, a 65-year-old maternal uncle of the British premier with Punjabi heritage, expressed his excitement, stating that all family members have been invited to the Indian capital to commemorate Sunak’s arrival.
“It is a great honour for us that he is visiting his ancestral land,” he said.
Subhash Berry, Sunak’s paternal uncle, added to the excitement by mentioning that there is a well-thought-out plan to welcome Britain’s first prime minister of Asian origin, including a night filled with continuous dancing, primarily to the vibrant rhythms of traditional Punjabi music, with the possibility of a few English tunes thrown into the mix.
“We are gearing up for a night of non-stop dancing, mostly to the lively beats of the traditional Punjabi music, although I imagine we might also groove to a few English tunes along the way,” he said.
However, it’s noted that Sunak’s busy schedule related to the G20 summit and bilateral discussions might preclude his attendance at the event, the UK newspaper said.
Sunak, 43, was born in Southampton to parents Yashvir and Usha, whose roots trace back to India.
Accompanying him on this maiden visit to India as the prime minister will be his Indian wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and author Sudha Murty. While Sunak has extended family in northern India, Murty’s relatives are primarily based in the southern state of Karnataka.
It will be the first visit to India for prime minister Sunak, who will complete a year in office in October.
He is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit on September 9 and 10.
Before the visit, the British Indian leader described India as an “indispensable partner” of the UK across all spheres of bilateral cooperation during a Cabinet meeting with his top team at Downing Street this week.
“He said negotiations around a free trade deal were progressing and that he would only agree on an approach which worked for the whole of the UK,” noted a Downing Street readout of the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (5).
UK business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, who returned from a visit to India after talks with her Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal in August, also updated the UK Cabinet on the free trade agreement negotiations, saying that “India is already one of the UK’s largest trading partners, with a relationship worth GBP 36 billion a year”.
