London mayor Sadiq Khan urges people to celebrate Rishi Sunak’s premiership

 Image by Twitter @SadiqKhan

London mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his joy at Rishi Sunak’s appointment as the first British Asian prime minister of the United Kingdom saying that it is a ‘source of pride’ for many in the country.

He added that Sunak’s achievements are testament to the fact that if one works hard, then they can achieve anything.

The British Pakistani mayor, who became the first Muslim mayor of London when he was appointed in 2016, recently attended the Diwali celebrations at Shree Swaminarayan Mandir in Kingsbury, north London where urged everyone to “put aside party politics” and celebrate Sunak’s ascend to the top position.

He continued to say that there will be other times where people can question and disagree with the 42-year-old PM’s policies.

The Labour party affiliated mayor said that Sunak’s premiership also pointed towards Britain not only embracing diversity, but actually celebrating it.

Reports quoted Khan saying, “I’m really proud. I’m somebody who’s a British-Asian, I’m somebody born and raised here. These sorts of times you’ve got to put aside party politics.”

“I think it’s a source of pride to many of us that Rishi Sunak’s the Prime Minister of our country. It demonstrates that if you work hard, you can achieve almost anything. Which other country can say we’ve got a Christian King, a Hindu Prime Minister, and a mayor of Islamic faith?”

Khan also said, “I celebrate the fact that we have a Prime Minister of Hindu faith. And just think about the children, my children, other people’s children, people of colour, who will be inspired by the fact that the Prime Minister of our country is Rishi Sunak.”

Sunak became the prime minister of the UK on Tuesday, 25 October after the resignation of Liz Truss, who had previously defeated him in the PM race in September. He was born to parents of Punjabi descent in Southampton, England, in 1980. His grandparents were born in India and had migrated to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s.

Khan’s parents moved to London from Pakistan in the 1960s. He was born in Tooting, South London and grew up in a three-bedroom council flat along with his seven siblings. He was state-school educated and studied Law at the University of North London.