by B. R. GOWANI
once upon a time …
the British Empire extended over all the inhabited continents
the Caledonian Mercury in 1821 boasted of the British Empire:
“On her dominions the sun never sets; before his evening rays leave the spires of Quebec, his morning beams have shone three hours on Port Jackson, and while sinking from the waters of Lake Superior, his eye opens upon the Mouth of the Ganges.”
US statesman Daniel Webster put it thus in 1834:
A power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.
the sun never sets on an empire is a few millenia old expression
Persians/Romans//Mesopotamians/Spaniards, & others have used it …
within the British brutally colonized colonies …
Native Americans/black African slaves suffered the most
a Native American chief knew the savage/racist/barbaric British:
he gave Abe Lincoln the reason why the sun never set on British Empire-
John Duncan Spaeth penned the chief’s quote (probably) from Lincoln:
“I know why the sun never sets on the British Empire. God wouldn’t trust an Englishman in the Dark.”
English/British ruled over the Indian subcontinent through Company/UK
(the Indian subcontinent comprises of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan)
racism was part and parcel of the British Raj throughout the subcontinent
Oct. 25, UK-born Rishi Sunak, of South Asian origin, became Britain’s PM
he didn’t attain the post through election but got chosen by a few 100 Tories
for many colored people, Sunak’s selection felt like long awaited revenge
also: Sunak & his wife Akshata are richer than the reigning English King
that’s another heart-soothing news for many people of color
many people are not carried away by color/caste/religion/gender/etc.
like British MP (a member of parliament) Nadia Whittome, who tweeted:
Rishi Sunak and his wife sit on a fortune of £730,000,000.
That’s around twice the estimated wealth of King Charles III.
Remember this whenever he talks about making “tough decisions” that working class people will pay for.
Akshata Murty is IT company Infosys founder N.R. Murthy’s daughter
her $800 million stake in Infosys makes Sunak & Akshata extremely rich
Infosys is also a Britsh government contractor –
and has made more than $120 million since Sunak joined the government
Infosys works with the Home Office which handles immigration
so N Murthy’s Infosys helps British department resposible for immigration
interesting …
also ….
in the US, Infosys has paid heavy fines for breaking Immigration laws
and …
Sunak held US green card while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer
the fact that Sunak is a devout practicing Hindu …
pleases many Hindus, especially hardcore Modi followers
Winston Churchill, a British Premier (1940-1945) (1951-1955), once said:
“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion [that is, Hinduism].”
and now, ironically,
less than 8 decades later, Churchill’s successor is a practicing devout Hindu!
the world has not lost sight of the news of the Indian origin PM
it has given rise to legitimate state of their countries’ reality …
and some Indians have raised questions – as
Ashok Swain tweeted
If a Hindu can be the Prime Minister of the UK, why a Muslim or Christian, or Dalit can’t become the Prime Minister of India?
P. Chidambaram tweeted
“First Kamala Harris, now Rishi Sunak
The people of the U.S. and the U.K have embraced the non-majority citizens of their countries and elected them to high office in government
I think there is a lesson to [be] learned by India and the parties that practise majoritarianism”
Shashi Tharoor said
“Can you imagine an overt Christian or an overt Muslim, public about their faith, being embraced by the BJP as a fit Prime Minister for India?”
Modi is India’s Prime Divider who’s busy turning Muslims into pariahs
most people have tendency to feel good when one of their own gets elevated
whether in politics, religion, business, entertainment, or any other field
once in power, leaders rarely think to uplift their devoted supporters
particularly, if they’re from the upper class and have snobbish attitudes
they neither feel nor understand the miseries the wretched go thru
basically, these kind of leaders are the enemy of the common people
just a couple of months back, Sunak revealed his true self
“I managed to start changing the funding formula to make sure that [wealthy] areas [of course,] like this are getting the funding that they deserve. We inherited a bunch of formulas from the Labour Party and shoved all the funding into deprived urban areas. That needed to be undone. I started work on undoing that.”
Sunak worked in financial markets, including Goldman Sachs, for 13 years
made lots of money through criminal ways like other financiers
now he wants to erase these 13 years from his work history
Sunak is not transparent on many issues, including his companies
Akshata, N. Murthy, and Sunak have quite a few businesses, The Guardian
to avoid paying taxes, Akshata claimed non-domicile status
that allowed her to not pay 34 million pounds in tax
Tulip Siddiq, the shadow economic secretary to the treasury, said:
“The chancellor has imposed tax hike after tax hike on the British people. It is staggering that – at the same time – his family may have been benefiting from tax reduction schemes. This is yet another example of the Tories thinking it is one rule for them, another for everyone else.
“Rishi Sunak must now urgently explain how much he and his family have saved on their own tax bill at the same time he was putting taxes up for millions of working families and choosing to leave them £2,620 a year worse off.”
lest we forget …
the 1st black US Pesident Barack Obama was supported by the filthy rich
people from Goldman Sachs and billionaires were his backers
the Wall Street executives were responsible for the Great Recession
they were liable for loss of millions of jobs and the housing bubble
the 2007-2008 crash caused about 10,000,000 families to lose their homes
how did the new President Obama respond to the terrified managers?
Obama said:
“Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration,” “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
Obama’s wife Michelle isn’t any better as the late Glen Ford noted in 2012
the colored leader elected/selected is good if s/he’s for the common people
otherwise …
white old men Sanders/Corbin are better than black/brown Obama/Sunak
not revolutionaries, Sanders/Corbin are way better than Sunak/Obama
PM Sunak is a ruthless businessman & a hypocritical politician
he and his party propogate austerity for Britain
where as Sunak himself is allergic to austerity
he indulges in excessive luxury, such as
£1,500 custom-tailored suits
£450 Prada sneakers
£180 smart coffee mug
£400,000 spa, tennis court, swimming pool, and gym
…
he opposes trans rights and trans athletes will face crackdowns under him
he’ll cut taxes not by borrowing but by cutting public services
this will increase hardships for the poor Britons
in 2021, he refused to extend the Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit
the program had increased the allowance by a mere £20 a week
talking to BBC in 2001, Sunak bragged about his upper class friend circle
“I have friends who are aristocrats, friends who are upper class and friends who are working class….well not WORKING CLASS!”
“I mix and match and then I go to see kids from an inner-city state school and tell them to apply to Oxford and talk to them about people like me and then I shock them at the end of chatting with them for half an hour and tell them I was at Winchester [one of the expensive schools] and one of my best friends is from Eton and whatever and they are like: ‘Oh, OK.’”
wealthy Sunak is not the guy the poor Brits have been waiting for
“the one we have been waiting for, this is not that dawn“
as Faiz Ahmed Faiz lamented on Indian subcontinent’s tragic partition
so despite his color and origins …
Sunak is not the desired advocate for poor people …
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com