'Hugely proud of my Indian roots,' says UK PM Rishi Sunak

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi, who is a practising Hindu, is in India with his wife Akshata Murty to attend the G20 Summit 2023. Early on Sunday morning, around 6:30, Sunak and his wife took time out from their G20 commitments and visited Delhi’s Akshardham temple before joining world leaders to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. Sharing pictures of him and Akshata from the Akshardham temple on a rainy Sunday morning, the UK PM said he is proud of his India roots and his connections with the country. Sunak said he will always have a connection to India and its people. “I am hugely proud of my Indian roots and my connections to India… being a proud Hindu means I will always have a connection to India and the people of India,” Sunak said in a post on X on UK in India handle.

"I am hugely proud of my Indian roots and my connections to India ... being a proud Hindu means I will always have a connection to India and the people of India."

Prime Minister @RishiSunak and Mrs Murty visited Akshardham temple in New Delhi to offer prayers. pic.twitter.com/oAI2kIyqsb

— UK in India🇬🇧🇮🇳 (@UKinIndia) September 10, 2023

Upon his arrival at the Akshardham Temple, Sunak performed the puja and Aarti with a lot of faith. He was also offered a model of the temple as a gift. “My wife and I were delighted to visit Swaminarayan Akshardham for darshan and puja this morning. We were amazed and awed by the beauty of this temple and its universal message of peace, harmony, and becoming a better human being. This is not only a place of worship, but a landmark that also portrays India’s values, culture and contributions to the world,” the British PM was quoted as saying in a press release. He further said, that in Britain these very same values and culture are seen today through the positive contributions the British Indian community makes to the country. Sunak, who is on his first visit to India after becoming the Prime Minister of UK in October 2022, said another Akshardham temple will be inaugurated in Robbinsville, USA soon. The 43-year-old leader of the Conservative Party was first elected as a UK MP in 2015. He was made finance minister or chancellor of the exchequer in February 2020 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.