Journalism of Courage
Rishi Sunak’s relatives from his mother’s family, currently living in Punjab’s Ludhiana city, have hailed his elevation as the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Sunak’s maternal grandfather Raghubir Berry was a native of the Jassowal Sudan village of Ludhiana and had moved to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in Africa to work as a railway engineer. He married Tanganyika-born Sraksha and they later moved to the UK. The couple had three daughters, one of whom is Rishi Sunak’s mother Usha.
Berry’s nephew Subhash Berry (74), a resident of Club Road in Ludhiana, said that his uncle (father’s younger brother) now lives in London. “Our family’s ancestral house was in Jassowal Sudan village, where Raghubir Berry was born and lived till the time he was in India. Later he moved to Africa after studying engineering and got married there. The couple moved to the UK and had three daughters. Usha, mother of Rishi, is one of my cousins,” said Subhash. “My uncle is 92 now and we are yet to congratulate them on Rishi’s achievement. He is currently in hospital due to some old-age issues.”
Sunak’s paternal family also belonged to undivided Punjab. His paternal grandfather Ramdass Sunak had moved from Gujranwala (now in Pakistan’s Punjab province) to Africa in 1935, before India gained Independence from the British. He worked as a clerk in Nairobi, Kenya, and the family later shifted to the UK.
