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Guyana’s president 42-year-old & Suriname's took over amid chants of Vedic mantra

By Vinod Kumar Shukla- 28 Oct 2022

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New Delhi (28.10.2022): If the Google CEO or for that matter honchos of any business giant could be an Indian, why not CEO read head of the state of a country can become an Indian. They have all the necessary qualifications and confidence of the people of the country they presently belong to because the Indian diaspora has always been the most vibrant among all which promotes the community very well and becomes part and parcel of the country where it lives. What has evoked this deliberation, certainly the election of Rishi Sunak who has become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?

Is this really something new that has happened for the first time? A certain section in India is trying to play it up more than what it deserves. Let’s see how? There are more than half a dozen people of Indian origin running the government in various countries as top administrators. Antonio Costa is the 13th Prime Minister of Portugal who has his origin in India. His grandfather was born in India and his father lived in India for a fairly long part of his life. He visited his ancestral home in Goa in 2017 as the first Prime Minister of Indian origin of any European country. The family converted to Christianity from Hinduism during Portuguese rule and speaks Konkani fairly well. Costa was presented with the Overseas Citizen of India card during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Portugal in 2017.

Kamala Harris, who is also known as ‘Female Obama’ and has her roots in Tamil Nadu, is Vice President of the US while Pravind Jugnauth is Prime Minister of Mauritius where over 50 percent of the population is Hindu and speaks Hindi. Pravind’s father Anirudh Jugnauth too served both as Prime Minister and President of Mauritius. The Jugnauth family has its roots in Uttar Pradesh. Prithviraj Singh Roopun is the incumbent president of Mauritius who too has Indian origin. Halimah Yacob is the President of Singapore whose father was of Indian origin to name a few more. Chandrika Prashad Chan Santokhi is the president of Suriname whose forefathers moved to the country as laborers many generations ago. He took the oath of office amid chanting of Vedic mantras.

Mohammad Irfan Ali is the President of Guyana who is also 42 years of age as Sunak. His Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is also of Indian origin. Wavel Ramkalawan is the president of the Indian Ocean country Seychelles. Jamaica, Barbados, and Fiji too had Indian-origin Prime Ministers and Presidents. So Indians are global citizens spread across the world donning top posts from CEOs in the corporate world to heads of governments.

(Vinod Kumar Shukla)