How will Rishi Sunak’s Hinduism inform his premiership?

When Rishi Sunak was elected as an MP, he swore his oath of allegiance in the House of Commons on the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s most sacred texts. Many – if not most – people think that Hinduism is a religion of peace: an idea that’s taken root thanks to Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolence.

The truth is that the Bhagavad Gita is about war. The text consists of the dialogue between Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna on the battlefield. Prince Arjuna is facing amoral and emotional dilemma. The battle is against his own kith and kin – many of whom would be sure to be killed. Arjuna asks Krishna whether he should renounce the war. Krishna’s counsel is unambiguous: Arjuna’s duty is to waste them. Arjuna wins the war, killing quite a few himself.

Hinduism clearly is not a pacifist religion. War is right when it is in a just cause. Volodymyr Zelensky should take succour from that – Rishi Sunak’s Hinduism will not be a barrier to supporting the Ukrainian President in his fight against Vladimir Putin. Much has been made of UK’s first Hindu prime minister being appointed on Diwali, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Zelensky should be doubly reassured.

It was also at Diwali two years ago that it became clear to the world that Sunak was a practising Hindu. He was photographed lighting candles outside No. 11. It took me back to my life at home in the 1960s, when my mother lit lamps and made a rangoli on the doorstep of our semi-detached house in Hounslow. We were the only Indian family in the street and the decoration marked us out as different. Never would I have believed, back then, that a prime minister would be lighting Diwali candles in Downing Street with a shrine inside No.