Is Rishi Sunak an Indian, and does it matter?

Ever since Rishi Sunak became the new UK Prime Minister, LinkedIn and social media in general is filled with posts of Indians rejoicing over his Indianness.

And then there are comments on the same posts saying he isn't Indian, that his parents are from East Africa and his grandparents are from Pakistan, he has a British citizenship and so on.

So, which is it, is he an Indian or not?

Before we come to that, let's try and define a few words. Country; Ethnicity; Nation; and Race;

1. Country - A country is a large area of land that has its own government, a president/prime-minister and citizens.
2. Ethnicity or nation - A group of people who identify with each other, usually on the basis of similarities such as a common language, ancestry, history, society, culture, religion, etc. The concept of nation is similar to that of an ethnicity, but a nation is generally more overtly political than an ethnic group.
3. Race - Race is defined as “a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical or genetic traits.”

As far as country goes, he isn't an Indian. He's a British citizen and that's that.

But what about ethnicity or nation? Here's what he himself has to say -

“I am now a citizen of Britain. But my religion is Hindu. My religious and cultural heritage is Indian. I proudly say that I am a Hindu and my identity is also a Hindu.”

Further let me ask you what does the word 'Rishi' mean? Which part of the world do 'Rishis' come from? Where do people revere cows? And do 'gau puja'?

And as far as race is concerned, if he was a regular person walking around any part of India, would anyone think he was not Indian?

So, the idea is that you can be an Indian, even if you do not hold the Indian passport.

Is this true for other communities?

• The Jewish diaspora has existed as a nation for couple of millennia, even though they did not have a country until very recently, when Israel, the Jewish state was founded. (Jewish diaspora - Wikipedia)
• The parsi community in India are still called parsi (Persian) even though they have left their homeland long ago (Persecution of Zoroastrians - Wikipedia)
• Dalai Lama is known as Tibetan even as he and his community live outside Tibet in exile.

Then, the next question could be - why does it even matter whether he's an Indian or not?

Here's the answer.

Most of India has been under destructive colonial rule for the better part of the past 1000 years. And this has resulted in a mindset that is beset with a sense of deep inferiority. Examples could be like how not knowing English is seen as inferior, or in general viewing Indian culture as regressive.

As it turns out, India was an advanced civilization for its time, and if India is to truly become a great nation again that it aspires to be, we must start with fixing this mindset.

And celebrating Indian achievements, both within and outside is a step in that direction.