Rishi Sunak's 'Indian roots' row: New UK PM’s maternal grandfather belongs to Ludhiana, say relatives

LUDHIANA: Amidst ongoing debate on social media platforms on whether or not the new British prime minister Rishi Sunak is of Indian origin, it has now emerged that his 92-year-old maternal grandfather Raghuvir Sen Berry, who now lives in the UK belonged to Jassowal Soodan village of Ludhiana in Punjab.
A revelation in this regard was on Wednesday made by Berry’s nephews who reside at Ludhiana’s posh Club Road. According to the Berrys, besides their uncle Raghuvir, Sunak’s mother Usha and father Yashvir have frequent several visits to them at their Ludhiana residence.
The first cousin of Sunak’s mother, Subash Berry, said, "It is a matter of pride for Ludhiana and India that Rishi Sunak has been elected as the prime minister of the UK. Rishi is the son of my first cousin Usha, whose father Raghuvir is my father’s brother. My father and his brothers are from Jassowal Soodan village near Alamgir, from where our family shifted to our Club Road residence in 1944, while my uncle moved to Africa in 1950."
Berry further added, "In 1972, my uncle shifted to UK where he worked in the income tax department, and even after shifting abroad, he and Usha have been in regular touch with us and have been visiting us, as well. He last visited us in 2009, after Rishi’s marriage to Akshata in Bengaluru. Ever since Rishi was formally announced as the PM of the UK, congratulations have been pouring in from all our relatives, elders and villagers of Jassowal Soodan. We are soon going to invite Rishi to visit Ludhiana, and we are hopeful that India-UK relations will touch a new high under him."