Sunak visits temple as leadership race nears end

FORMER chancellor and prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak visited the Hare Krishna temple on the outskirts of London to celebrate Janmashtami last week.

Sunak, 42, who swore his oath of allegiance on the Bhagavad Gita when he was elected as an MP, has often spoken about his Hindu faith giving him strength.

He was accompanied by his wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and author-philanthropist Sudha Murty, for darshan last Thursday (18), at the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple in Watford, Hertfordshire. “Today I visited the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple with my wife Akshata to celebrate Janmashtami, in advance of the popular Hindu festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s birthday,” Sunak tweeted, with an image of the couple offering prayers (pictured right).

The Bhaktivedanta Manor is one of the UK’s leading International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) hubs, which was donated by Beatles musician George Harrison. Spread over 78 acres, it has gardens, an organic farm, a protected herd of cows as well as a temple.

“Delighted to welcome today Rishi Sunak to Bhaktivedanta Manor temple in Hertsmere to celebrate Janmashtami, the Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. Wishing everyone in Hertsmere a very happy Janmashtami,” said Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party MP for Hertsmere, who is backing Sunak in the Tory leadership race.

Sunak, the UK-born son of NHS doctor Yashveer and pharmacist Usha Sunak, is a devout Hindu who counts lighting Diwali lamps outside No 11 Downing Street as Britain’s first Indian-origin chancellor among one of his “proudest moments” in life.

Sunak is travelling across the UK in an effort to win the votes of Tory members, who are in the process of casting their postal and online ballots in the election for their next leader.

His rival, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is currently holding a firm lead in most recent surveys of the party membership. However, he insisted he “definitely” still has a shot at victory and is excited to keep going as he thinks his “ideas are the right ones” for the country.

The election is set to close next Friday (2) evening, with the new Tory leader and British prime minister to succeed Boris Johnson confirmed on September 5.