Rishi Sunak: The man who made history for UK-India living bridge

When David Cameron declared with confidence over the years after being elected British Prime Minister in 2010 that it will be the Conservative Party that will offer the UK's first British Indian prime ministerial candidate, even he would not have expected the prospect to come to fruition quite so soon with one of the party's new MPs.

Rishi Sunak, a former investment banker and Oxford and Stanford University graduate, was elected member of Parliament from the Tory stronghold of Richmond in Yorkshire in 2015. He quickly rose up the party ranks from junior ministerial posts to Chancellor of the Exchequer.

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On Monday, the 42-year-old British politician's meteoric rise within the Tory ranks hit new heights as he concluded his spirited run to be elected Britain's first Prime Minister of Indian heritage. In the end, the result was closer than was forecast with Sunak polling 43 per cent of his party's votes compared to his rival Liz Truss' 57 per cent.

"We know the UK-India relationship is important. We represent the living bridge between our two countries," declared Sunak, during the course of the nearly eight-week-long election process — dubbed one of the longest job interviews in British politics.

His vision for the bilateral ties went beyond the opportunity for the UK to sell things in India, wanting Britain to also "learn from India".

"I want to make sure that it's easy for our students to also travel to India and learn, that it's also easy for our companies and Indian companies to work together because it's not just a one-way relationship, it's a two-way relationship, and that's the type of change I want to bring to that relationship," he said.

The former finance minister is expected to continue to champion the cause of the over 1.5-million strong Indian diaspora from the backbenches along with his own constituents.

"I'm going to stay as a member of Parliament… It's been a great privilege to represent my constituents in Richmond in North Yorkshire as their member of Parliament and I’ll love to keep doing that as long as they'll have me," he said, when asked what next in case he lost to Truss, the foreign minister.

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"I need to recover from this one," he added, when pushed if he would contest a second time in the future.

While his close allies do not rule out another go at the party leadership in a few years' time, for the moment the father of two young daughters – Krishna and Anoushka – is expected to take some time out for family.

"The greatest sacrifice I have made is that I have been an appalling husband and father for the past couple of years, it's as simple as that," replied Sunak, to a question about running to become the UK's "first non-white Prime Minister".

"That is something that is really hard for me because I love my kids to bits, I love my wife to bits and unfortunately, I have not been able to be as present in their lives at all in the past few years as I would have liked to have been," he said, at the final hustings in Wembley, London.

His "incredible, loving, kind wife" wife, Akshata Murty – the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and author Sudha Murty, was seen tearing up in the audience which had cheered on her husband just moments before to a rockstar's welcome with chants of “Rishi, Rishi”. His parents, retired doctor Yashvir and pharmacist Usha Sunak, were also tearful beside her as he thanked them for all their support and inspiration.

"It was their example of service and what they did for people that inspired me to enter politics," he said.

This strong family spirit remained at the heart of Sunak's leadership bid, from being the frontrunner among his party colleagues through to the final stages of voting by Tory members which concluded this week.

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"My father-in-law came from absolutely nothing, just had a dream and a couple of hundred pounds that my mother-in-law's savings provided him, and with that he went on to build one of the world's largest, most respected, most successful companies that by the way employs thousands of people here in the United Kingdom," he said, during one of the early TV debates in a fightback against attacks on his wife's Infosys wealth.

The devout Hindu former minister, who swore his oath of allegiance on being elected MP in the House of Commons on the ‘Bhagavad Gita’, also found time for darshan at a temple during the course of the long campaign and has had members of the Indian diaspora praying for his success.

"This gift is a special blessing all the way from India," said Amita Mishra, Trustee of Shree Jagannatha Society UK who handed him a set of gold-plated deities amid chants of a victory shloka from the ‘Bhagavad Gita’.

As Sunak signs off from the gruelling election process, it remains to be seen what's in store next – a return to the Silicon Valley in California and backing off British politics entirely have been ruled out for the moment. But regrouping for a second go at the top job at 10 Downing Street a couple of years down the line is being seen as a reasonable prospect