- Friday, December 01, 2023
Sunak is expected attend the summit on his first official trip to India as Britain’s prime minister
By: Pramod Thomas
PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak’s family will prepare a banquet in New Delhi this week in his honour as the leader will be in India to attend the G20 summit.
The family will host a feast with flower bouquets and “non-stop dancing” to Punjabi music in the Indian capital on Thursday (7) or Friday (8), his uncle told The Telegraph.
The menu will feature a mixture of North and South Indian cuisine, along with flower bouquets and beverages for the dinner, the report added.
According to the report, Sunak himself will not attend the event as the Indian-origin leader will be busy meeting world leaders and negotiators working on a UK-India trade deal.
Dr Gautam Dev Sood, 65, a maternal uncle of Sunak, revealed that all family members have been invited to gather in the Indian capital to celebrate his arrival.
“It is a great honour for us that he is visiting his ancestral land,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Sunak was born to Indian parents in Southampton. He married Akshata Murty, the daughter of the billionaire who founded the Indian tech firm Infosys, in 2009. It is reported that Akshata will accompany her husband on the trip.
“We can’t divulge exact details, but a plan is in place to welcome the prime minister,” Subhash Berry, Sunak’s paternal uncle, told the newspaper.
“We are gearing up for a night of non-stop dancing, mostly to the lively beats of traditional Punjabi music, although I imagine we might also groove to a few English tunes along the way.”
Ajay Berry, 48, another relative of the prime minister, is flying from a business meeting in China to help plan the event.
The Indian media has lauded Sunak’s rise in British politics, dubbing it a ‘Rishi Raj.’
Sunak has said his election as Britain’s first Hindu prime minister ‘meant a lot of things to a lot of people.’
He marked his inauguration with a Diwali reception at Downing Street, his first official event at No10.
During the summit, the UK delegation will be engaged in discussions regarding a trade agreement between Britain and India. These negotiations have now reached their twelfth round and have encountered challenges related to India’s desire for smoother employee mobility to the UK for its companies.
The UK has also requested India to ease protective regulations in its services sector to facilitate the operation of British firms there. Additionally, there is a request for the extension of drug patents before more affordable generic versions can be manufactured.
