Britain’s former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his equally famous father-in-law Narayana Murthy, co founder of Infosys, were spotted in the front row attending a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival or JLF on Saturday.
Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty, and her mother, Sudha Murty, who is a renowned author and Rajya Sabha MP, were scheduled to hold a session titled “My Mother, Myself”.
“Just to say again and acknowledge, we have got two wonderful people Narayana Murthy and former Prime Minister (of Britain) Rishi Sunak. Thank you and welcome to the Jaipur Literature Festival,” said a presenter, as cheers went up.
At this point, Mr Sunak is prompted by his aunt-in-law to greet the audience, performing a namaste as cue, shows a video. Promptly, the famous son-in-law gets up, turns around, does a namaste, waves and then back in his chair.
#WATCH | Jaipur, Rajasthan: Rishi Sunak, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy attend Jaipur Literature Festival pic.twitter.com/H7sh3DZfve
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2025
“For those of you who don’t know Rishi and Akshata were great supporters of JLF London before he joined the suit gang. But now he is back and back to us. So thank you so much for being here,” the presenter added.
Mr Sunak, who stepped down as Conservative Party leader in the wake of a bruising electoral defeat in July last year, has taken on new academic roles at the University of Oxford in the UK and University of Stanford in the US – both alma maters of the Conservative Party member of Parliament for Richmond and Northallerton in northern England.
The new roles in academia will run alongside Mr Sunak’s role in the House of Commons as a Tory MP on the Opposition backbenches in Parliament.
Before entering British politics, Mr Sunak, 44, spent his professional career in business and finance internationally, co-founded an investment firm working with companies in multiple geographies and is also credited with helping small and entrepreneurial British companies grow.
JLF this year features a lineup of over 300 luminaries such as Nobel laureates, Booker Prize-winners, journalists, policymakers, and acclaimed writers.
The participants include Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Dufflo, Amol Palekar, Ira Mukhoty, Geetanjali Shree, David Hare, Manav Kaul, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Yuvan Aves, Shahu Patole, and Kallol Bhattacharjee.