Features
Britain and Ireland with South Asian Heads of State
Historic and most noteworthy is that England, Scotland and Ireland have people of Indian and Pakistani descent as their heads of government. 
Much is known about Rishi Sunak , 42, a Hindu, who recently cut a superb figure alongside Biden when they were in Belfast to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement that brought peace to a large extent to warring Protestants and Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland. Sunak was elected by the Conservative Party on Boris Johnson having to vacate 10, Downing Street and his successor, Liz Truss, having to follow suit. He became PM in October 2022.
Humza Yousaf
, 38, who is a Muslim, succeeded as leader of the Scottish National Party on the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon on March 28 this year. He was elected PM as head of the majority Party. He joined the SNP while a student at the University of Glasgow in 2011 and in 2016 became the first Muslim and non-white cabinet minister to serve the Scottish government. He wore a gold embroidered shervani and a kilt for his swearing in and proclaimed in Urdu: “I, Humza Yousaf, swear with honesty and a true heart that I will always be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, so help me God.” He often noted that his background is an example of Scotland’s socially liberal and ethnically diverse landscape, even referring to himself as coming from a ‘bhangra and bagpipes heritage’.
Leo Eric Varadka, 44, is an Irish politician since 2011 who held various portfolios and served as Taoiseach (Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland) since December 2022 and previously from 2017 to 2020, being the youngest at age 38 to hold that post and the first Taoiseach to be from an ethnic minority in Ireland. He has held various portfolios since he came to politics in 2011. He holds another record: he is Ireland’s first and the world’s fifth, openly gay head of government.
Brief Bios
I have written about Rishi Sunak in this column. It is most interesting to know who Yousaf and Varadka are.Humza Yousaf’s father was born in the Pakistani city of Mian Channu in the Punjab; while his mother was born in Nairobi to a family of Punjabi descent. They migrated to Scotland in the 1960s. Yousaf was born in Glasgow in 1985. His parents wanted him to be an accountant, doctor or lawyer, but he realised politics beckoned him. His father okayed his decision. He has been the member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Pollock constituency since 2011 and held many portfolios,
He studied politics at the University of Glasgow and then worked as a Parliamentary assistant to Bashir Ahmad, the first Muslim elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007, then Nicola Sturgeon.
He takes over a party with the objective to end Scotland’s three centuries long union with England. Sturgeon was blocked in her attempts to obtain a vote for independence. In his victory speech Yousaf proclaimed: “We will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland. Where there are divisions to heal, we must do so quickly because we have a job to do.” Director of the think tank British Future called Yousaf “the history maker”. A human rights lawyer in Scotland said “The Empire strikes back. Historic moment for British politics.”
Leo Varadka was born in Dublin in 2017, third child and only son of Ashok Varadka, born in Bombay who migrated to the UK to work as a doctor. Leo’s mother was an Irish nurse working in Slough when she met her future husband.
Leo Varadka studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, He served many years as a non-consultant hospital doctor, eventually qualifying as a general practitioner in 2010. Then he went to politics and was deputy mayor of Fingal. In May 2017, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny resigned and Varadka stood in the leadership election to replace him. He was elected leader on June 2, 2017 and held the post till 2020 and then again was elected in December 2022.
Successful South Asians in the UK and Ireland
A couple more successful politicians can be added to the three written about. This is apart from the highly successful professionals in other fields, particularly economics and medicine. In the UK just under 10% of the population are of South Asian descent, according to government statistics. The leader of Scotland’s main opposition, Anas Sarwar, is a child of Pakistani immigrants while Britain’s Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is of Indian origin and London mayor, Sadiq Khan, is of a working class Pakistani immigrant family.
Observers point out that an ironical situation is in the offing. Sunak – Hindu Indian will face Yousaf – Pakistani Muslim who vows to lead Scotland out of the United Kingdom and gain independence. In 2014 Scotland voted against independence by 55%. In 2016 Britain vied to leave the European Union when a majority of Scots wanted to stay within the EU and thus re-energized the fight for independence. Time will see what results. One certainty is that the two leaders will face each other with grace, intelligence, diplomacy and decency.
Haute Couture seeks India
It is not only South Asian politicians, researchers and professionals settled down overseas who have focused the spotlight on this region of the earth, signifying its recent emergence.
Nations, organisations and people have been courting countries of this region, particularly India. Thus was held a much hyped Dior Show at the end of March with the historic Gateway of India as backdrop and the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel as foreground, made festive with marigold décor and glowing diya lamps. The models, most Indian with no white skins, wore clothes made of Indian fabrics – Madras check and Benaris brocade, mirror work, tie dye, Nehru collars and Kurta tailoring; and chappals on their feet. I quote from a description by Sujata Assomull of CNN Mumbai of the Pre-Fall 2023 collection: “Dior hosted a runway show in Mumbai, a move nodding both to India’s long standing role in manufacturing European high fashion and the growing power of its luxury consumers”
India’s fashions and fabrics have been exotic and valued worldwide long before Dior and other houses of fashion came into being. Remember the Kashmir saris that could be passed through a ring and Pashmina shawls woven of laboriously collected ‘hair’ rubbed off on bushes by a particular kind of goat? Remember the glorious Benaris saris that were the inevitable choice of brides of yesteryear? What about their mirror work and shadow embroidery? I remember asking for a tie and dye sari in a small shop in Jaipur and being given a piece of material about 18″ by 12″. Angered I said I wanted a six yard sari. The trader nodded and thrust the blue material in my hand. Fortunately, before I exploded, he took it back and pulled it out – a marvel of a sari, deep bright blue with red and white tied and dyed dots.
I read and watched avidly the Dior show on Internet, mostly to recall a birthday stay at the Mumbai Taj Hotel my son gave me a couple of years back. The marvel of the interior of the hotel was revealed to us by the hotel guide Viren and the ambience of the area around the Gateway to India absorbed in several walks around in the early mornings and late evenings. When I commented on the exquisite red and green saris with embroidered panels worn by the receptionists, Viren narrated a story that has stayed vivid in my mind. After the terrorist attack on the hotel on November 26, 2008, when repairs and refurbishment were on-going, the then CEO/ Tata heir heard of a craft village in Kashmir which was impoverished due to troubles over there. He commissioned the weavers of the village to weave saris for workers in all Taj hotels in India and overseas. Result was extra resplendent hotel staff and the resurrection to an entire Kashmiri village with a revival of its splendrous craft.