No, the attacks on Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murthy, over their tax affairs are not because they are Indians. There is no problem with the spouse of the main occupant of No. 11 (a taxpayer funded residence) holding an Indian passport. Of course, Britain has a problem with racism — as borne out by the testimony of Azeem Rafiq about his experience at Yorkshire Cricket Club; as evident in the different numbers of Black and white people subjected to Stop and Search orders by the police. Racism seeps from the very stones of government buildings — the edifices of colonial power and a past that Britain will not fully acknowledge.
Hypocrisy
However, the controversy over Ms. Murthy’s (perfectly legal) tax avoidance in the U.K. and, by extension, of the Sunak household’s financial arrangements, isn’t about racism or her Indian passport. It is fuelled by fury at the hypocrisy exhibited by the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has just raised taxes on the majority, who have no option but to pay the additional amount, while his wife chooses not to pay taxes in the U.K. on her global income because she can afford to opt into a tax settlement that saves her millions. “That is how the system works for people like her”, Mr. Sunak stated in an interview. In other words, if you are really rich, different rules apply.
