Following Conservative Friends of India's question and answer session for members with leadership finalist Liz Truss last week, CF India held their exclusive session with Rishi Sunak as part of their leadership husting programme for members.
CF India hosted their session with Rishi Sunak for members at the Dhamecha Lohana Centre in Harrow. Over 650 CF India members were present from across the country. The event was fully subscribed and one of their most popular events to date.
The session was opened by Lord Dolar Popat, the founder of CF India. He launched CF India with former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2012. Marking tenth anniversary of CF India, Lord Popat thanked members for all their support in making the organisation the largest affiliate group for the Conservative Party. The group has since become an electioneering machine for the Party, helping them with electoral success in General Elections, including local elections, particularly success in Harrow in the May elections. Lord Popat also paid tribute to the excellent work of CF India Co-Chairs, Reena Ranger OBE and Ameet Jogia MBE for taking the organisation to the next level.
Ameet Jogia welcomed Rishi Sunak, who entered the packed hall with local dhol (drum beats) and loud cheers.
Paying tribute to Rishi's support for CF India as a long-standing member, Ameet spoke of the tremendous success of the Conservative Party in making it the most diverse Party, Cabinet and Leadership contest in history.
Reena led the question-and-answer session, covering a broad range of topics. Rishi spoke on his vision for the country as Prime Minister.
Addressing the gathering with a mix of traditional and multilingual Indian greetings such as “namaste, salaam, kem cho and kidda”, Mr Sunak even broke into Hindi saying: “aap sab mere parivar ho (you all are like my family)".
Speaking at the session, Rishi said "I want to build a government that you can be proud of, that is confident, ambitious and outward-looking. Politics is about trust and if I'm your Prime Minister and Party Leader in two weeks’ time, I want to urgently begin the work to rebuild that trust and create a Party you can all be a part of."
Addressing the topic of UK-India relationship in an answer to a question from Reena, Mr Sunak reportedly said, “We know the UK-India relationship is important. We represent the living bridge between our two countries.
“We are all very aware of the opportunity for the UK to sell things and do things in India, but we need to look at that relationship differently because there is an enormous amount that we here in the UK can learn from India.
“I want to make sure that it’s easy for our students to also travel to India and learn, that it’s also easy for our companies and Indian companies to work together because it’s not just a one-way relationship, it’s a two-way relationship, and that’s the type of change I want to bring to that relationship.”
In an unprecedented move, Rishi then stayed the whole evening to meet all 650 members individually and take a photo with them. Members left feeling empowered and valued and many elderly members were seen blessing him with two hands, while others patted on his back. A trustee of Shree Jagannatha Society UK gifted Mr Sunak a set of gold-plated murti of Shree Lord Jagannath.
Party members have until 2 September to vote, and results will be announced on 5 September.
Photo courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, Prmediapix
