KARMIC RISE OF THE COLONISED IN BRITAIN

LONDON — On any regular weekday night, Akshana Asthana’s name comes across television screens in the UK.

Asthana is deputy political editor at ITV news. 

Her face is familiar to the British viewing public as one of the top broadcasts journalists in Britain today. 

The well-respected newswoman covers major political events, interviewing national leaders,  and helping to form public opinion across the British Isles.

Asthana is just one of several Indian-descended journalists on British TV. 

There’s Rohit Kachwaroo, Divya Kholi, Tina Tahini, Sangeeta Kandola, Rishi Davda, and Anila Dhamani, among several others. 

These are children and grandchildren of Indians, who left their homeland in the 70s and 80s and made the bold decision to settle in a foreign land. 

Armed with the knowledge that Britain was once the coloniser of their homeland, they settled in the UK, most barely speaking more than a few words of English and without an inkling of the culture. 

But with hard work, determination and grit, Indians have come a long way in these parts. 

They were sometimes shunned, looked down upon, and teased, but they trudged on.

They worked hard, mostly as shopkeepers, keeping their businesses open long hours, and on weekends. 

Then Prince Charles now King, publicly expressed his admiration for Indian businesses and the hard work of their proprietors. 

Today, though, it is clear that it was all part of a singular plan to do better by their children. 

And it has paid off handsomely. 

While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak remains, for now, the most high-profiled British Indian, many others are making their mark. 

In the Metropolitan Police Force,   Parm Sandhu, Chief Superintendent, is one of the most senior ethnic minority female officers in the Met Police. 

In local and national politics, Indians have broken the barriers and are now holding key positions, among them Suela Braverman, the current Home Secretary, whose mom is Hindu Tamil and dad is of Goan ancestry. 

Braverman was Attorney General for England and Wales from 2020 to 2022.

There’s Priti Patel, the tough-as-nails former Home Secretary in Britain, whose grandparents were born in Gujarat, India. 

Patel, an MP, is the first woman to hold this position. 

For many looking on, it would appear that the descendants of the subjects of the British colonisers have come, in a kind of karmic full circle, to reclaim those difficult years of British rule from 1858 to 1947.

Across the four isles that make up Great Britain, there’s Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, whose father migrated to Ireland from Mumbai. 

During his six years, so far, as PM, Varadkar has made several visits to the land of his father. 

Just recently, the Scottish National Party (SNP) voted in Humza Yousaf as Prime Minister to replace outgoing Nicola Sturgeon. 

All eyes are now on Wales, although, for now, no contenders with ancestry from faraway India have emerged for any political post. 

But who knows? 

Anything is possible, it seems. 

Despite the long, arduous journey from colonialism to today’s triumphs, Indians seem to not bear any ill-will toward their former, eh, oppressors. 

Except, of course, the long-harboured desire to have their cherished kohinoor diamond back. 

It may not be returned in the near future, but at least the kohinoor has been removed from the crown worn by queens since the days of Queen Mary. 

Instead, another diamond has replaced the dazzling kohinoor for the wife of King Charles at his upcoming coronation.