UK PM Sunak: Tharoor stirs Twitter storm after 'visible minority' remark

The United Kingdom (UK) is set to get its first Indian-origin prime minister in the form of Rishi Sunak after the resignation of Liz Truss amid heightened economic stress. With many in India expressing their happiness, including Sunak's father-in-law and founder of Infosys Narayana Murthy, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has stirred up a storm on Twitter. 

"If this does happen, I think all of us will have to acknowledge that the Brits have done something very rare in the world, to place a member of a visible minority in the most powerful office. As we Indians celebrate the ascent of @RishiSunak, let's honestly ask: can it happen here?" Tharoor wrote on Twitter as it became clear that Sunak was to replace Truss. 

Netizens fact-checked Tharoor's tweet pointing out that Manmohan Singh was a Sikh Prime Minister. Sikhs are a minority group in India. The users said that Tharoor had even served as a cabinet minister in Singh's government. 

Several others pointed out that the President of India Droupadi Murmu is from a tribal background. APJ Abdul Kalam, who also served as the President of India, was a Muslim, another minority in India.

Filmmaker Pritish Nandy said, "We too had a member of a visible minority as Prime Minister for two terms". He, however, added, "Now it looks tough, in fact impossible".

The attacks on Tharoor came at a time when he was under light fire from his own party over the recently concluded elections for the post of Congress president. Mallikarjun Kharge defeated Tharoor to become the first non-Gandhi president of the party in over two decades. 

On Tuesday, Tharoor posted a frame showing Aamir Khan in the 2001 movie Lagaan, alongside a picture of Rishi Sunak. 

"From Lagaan se Lagaam, in just 75 years. Jai Hind," he wrote in Hindi.