External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Tripodi in Delhi and discussed the strategic partnership between the two countries and the ongoing efforts to further build on them.

In a separate post on X, the EAM also said that he met former prime minister of UK Rishi Sunak in Delhi on Monday.

“Nice to meet former UK PM @RishiSunak in Delhi today. Appreciate his constant support for strengthening India-UK relations,” he posted. The Union minister also shared some photographs of their meeting.

Nice to meet former UK PM @RishiSunak in Delhi today.

Appreciate his constant support for strengthening relations. pic.twitter.com/zbmO9yxfrt

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 17, 2025

“Received Deputy FM @tripodimaria of Italy in Delhi this afternoon. Good conversation on India-Italy strategic partnership and the ongoing efforts to further build on them,” he posted on X.

Diplomatic relations between India and Italy were established in 1947.

“The two countries enjoy strong people-to-people connect propelled by a large Indian diaspora and long standing Indological Studies tradition in Italy. In 2023, both countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations,” according to a profile of India-Italy bilateral ties, published on the website of the Indian Embassy in Rome.

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Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, along with his family, offered a ‘chaadar’ at the dargah of Salim Chishti in Fatehpur Sikri on Sunday and also tied a thread at the revered shrine.

Sunak arrived in Agra with his wife, daughters, and mother-in-law Sudha Murthy on February 15 for a two-day visit.

On February 16, they visited Fatehpur Sikri, spending around two hours at the World Heritage site.

Fatehpur Sikri’s Conservation Assistant (Archaeology Department), Dilip Singh, said, “The whole family first visited the Diwan-e-Aam. After seeing Jodhabai’s fort, they toured the monument and also went to the dargah of Salim Chishti, where they offered a chaadar. Rishi Sunak also tied a thread at the dargah.” On Saturday, they visited the Taj Mahal and spent around one and a half hours at the iconic monument.

The senior conservation assistant from the Archaeological Survey of India at the Taj Mahal confirmed that Sunak and his family enjoyed their visit.

Both Sunak and his wife left a personal note of appreciation in the visitor’s book.

ACP, Taj Security, Areeb Ahmed, on Saturday, had said, “Rishi Sunak and his family were provided top-tier security throughout their visit. The Taj Mahal was shown to them under strict security measures, in collaboration with the CISF.”

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Rishi Sunak plays cricket in Mumbai

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Jaipur on Friday to attend the city’s annual literary event, the Jaipur Literature Festival, which began on Thursday.

During the five-day event, which will end on February 3, Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty, and her mother, Sudha Murty, who is a renowned author and Rajya Sabha MP, are scheduled to hold a session titled “My Mother, Myself”. The session will be held from 10 am to 10:50 am on Saturday, as per the programme schedule.

Sudha Murty is the wife of Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy.

Mr Sunak, who stepped down as Conservative Party leader in the wake of a bruising electoral defeat in July last year, is a member of Parliament for Richmond and Northallerton in Yorkshire.

The 18th edition of the renowned literature festival is being held at Hotel Clarks Amer in the Pink City. The event brings together leading voices from literature, politics, science and the arts, and serves as a forum for diverse perspectives and meaningful exchange.

This year’s event 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, Amitabh Kant, Eric Garcetti, Kailash Satyarthi, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Yuvan Aves, Shahu Patole and Kallol Bhattacharjee.

Well-known author and Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty has spoken of her pride in son-in-law Rishi Sunak, a British citizen with “good Indian cultural values” imbibed from his parents’ upbringing in the UK.

Sudha Murty joined Rishi Sunak and her daughter Akshata Murty as the guest of honour at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s annual Diwali gala in London on Saturday evening.

The parents of the British Indian former prime minister, Usha and Yashvir Sunak, were also in the audience as Bhavan UK students showcased a variety of Indian classical music and dance forms.

“I always believe when you are abroad, your parents must do two things: one is good education, which gives you wings in return and you can fly anywhere and settle; the second is great culture, your origin which is Indian origin or roots which you can get at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan along with your parents,” said Sudha Murty, delivering her keynote address.

“I want to congratulate Ushaji, my sambandhi and a good friend of mine, who gave her son Rishi Sunak, former prime minister, a great route to identify with the culture, making him a proud British citizen as well as [having] good Indian cultural values,” she said.

The philanthropist went on to appeal to the British Indian community to enable the work of Bhavan UK’s cultural activities, “mentally, physically and financially”.

“You must send your children here to understand Indian culture because when you grow old you go towards your roots… that gap is addressed by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, so you have to help them in every way to survive,” said the staunch supporter of the cultural centre over the years.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, reflected upon Murty’s writings which inspire readers to be true to themselves because our “origin story matters” as he went on to trace the pan-Indian message of Diwali.

“The Krishna story is relevant to Diwali in the south, just as the ‘Ramayana’ story and the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya from Lanka is connected to the Diwali story of the north and the story of Kali Puja is connected with the story of Diwali in the east,” he said.

“Diwali connects up with the Sikh tradition, with the Jain and Buddhist traditions too. It tells us that light also means there is no such thing as a single certainty because in the light you recognise the diversity of the human condition, the diversity of everything we live with. So, in a world in which we spend our time fighting about certainties, it is a really good idea to look at Diwali as an opportunity to consider how so many things look differently in the light.” Subhanu Saxena, chairman of The Bhavan UK, and Executive Director Dr M.N. Nandakumara opened the event with Vedic chants as they highlighted the cultural centre’s many achievements over the years as a centre of excellence in Indian arts, music, dance, Yoga and languages, offering over 120 classes across 23 different subject areas.

Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty presented mementoes to the team behind the centre’s many activities since the 1970s.

Its students and teachers showcased their Kuchipudi, Kathak and Bharatanatyam skills at the annual Diwali celebration as they appealed for donations from the British Indian community to enhance their summer school and scholarship offerings.

“The Bhavan UK is a great organisation promoting Indian culture and deserves our full support,” said NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, one of the many supporters of the centre.

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Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, and his wife, Akshata Murty, visited the Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Bengaluru with his in-laws.

Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy and philanthropist Sudha Murthy accompanied their daughter and son-in-law at the mutt. The family joined the aarti. 

Earlier this year, Akshata Murty and her daughters Anoushka and Krishna visited the mutt with her parents.

 Rishi Sunak, who became the first British Prime Minister of Hindu origin, has ancestral roots in India. Last year, he visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi with his wife before attending the G20 Summit. During their time at the temple, they performed puja and abhishek (the ritual pouring of water on the deity’s idol) and interacted with the swamis.

He was born and raised in Southampton, England, but his appointment as the first prime minister of colour has been cheered by Indians who see him as a son of the soil.

Mr Sunak has been vocal about his Indian roots and his religious beliefs. “I am hugely proud of my Indian roots and my connections to India…being a proud Hindu means I will always have a connection to India and the people of India,” said Mr Sunak.

As Prime Minister, Mr Sunak attended a Ram Katha at Cambridge University on India’s Independence Day, he proclaimed that he was there “not as a Prime Minister but as a Hindu”.

In 2022, he was elected as the Leader of the Conservative Party, becoming the Prime Minister, replacing Liz Truss who had a short 45-day stint in the office.

The Conservatives were ousted by the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, ending their 14-year drought. The Conservatives, also known as Tories, won just 121 seats, while the Labour secured 412 in the House of Commons. 

Former Prime Minister of Britain Lord David Cameron today spoke about ‘The India Century’ at the NDTV World Summit in New Delhi. During his interaction, he mentioned about his prediction of Britain having an India-origin prime minister come true.

The former prime minister also spoke about why he firmly believes the 21st Century is indeed a defining one as India emerges as a leading global power. Backing India’s bid for a permanent seat the UN Security Council, Lord Cameron said “it is India’s rightful place to be the Security Council, but as these reforms and discussions take time, it is reassuring to see India being a key member of the Quad and G20 groupings and also now regularly being invited the G7 Summit too, as a fellow democracy. These are important for the entire world.”

Remembering his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the diaspora event held at the Wembley Stadium, Lord Cameron said, “Those are moments that hard to forget. As a party leader in the UK, one is used to addressing the largest of gatherings of two to three thousand people. But to go to Wembley Stadium which is packed with more than 85,000 people cheering for Prime Minister Modi as I introduced him was quite remarkable.”

“But another thing I vividly remember, and one that I found out later, is that when I making my speech at Wembley introducing PM Modi, I had made a prediction that the Conservative Party will give the UK its first women prime minister, the first Jewish prime minister, and also the first Indian-origin prime minister. Little did I know that that prediction would come true so soon. That evening there was a young leader sitting way at the back – his name is Rishi Sunak and he went on to become UK’s first Indian-origin PM soon after that prediction.”

Taking about the India-UK partnership, Lord Cameron said he has been a strong advocate of it since the early 2000s. “I had said back in 2005 that the India-UK partnership needs to be given a special status, and ties must be a privileged partnership.”

Praising Rishi Sunak’s leadership as Prime Minister, Lord Cameron said, “I admired him. I thought he was a very good prime minister. He was extremely hard working, highly intelligent, very capable, brilliant chairman (of the Conservative Party) and could bring everyone together. When he asked me to become his foreign secretary, I almost immediately said yes to it.”

“It was a difficult time globally with the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. Being a former PM I knew I could play a part in that and It was generous of him to ask me to be his foreign secretary. He wanted experienced people to be with him. It was a very difficult inheritance for him and the year of three prime ministers was virtually impossible for anyone to recover from. But Rishi brought stability to Britain. He brought inflation down from 11 per cent to 2 per cent, he strengthened our relations with Europe and even with India. He did a very good job and he should be proud of that,” Lord Cameron said.
 

The two frontrunners in the race to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader and take his place in the House of Commons as Leader of the Opposition have thrown the spotlight on cutting immigration into the UK, with visas for Indians being singled out in heated debates.

Against the backdrop of the launch of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Sunday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick singled out India as one of the countries that should be subjected to tough visa restrictions across all categories unless it takes back its nationals who enter Britain illegally.

His closest contender, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch, has also zeroed in on the same issue and condemned new migrants bringing their disputes from India to cause unrest on the streets of the country.

“It is quite clear that there are many people who have recently come to this country who have brought views from their countries of origin that have no place here,” Badenoch told the BBC.

“I saw as equalities minister people bringing cultural disputes from India to the streets of Leicester… we need to make sure that when people come to this country, they leave their previous differences behind. This is not a controversial thing to say,” she said.

Nigerian-heritage Badenoch, considered among the favourites to win the ongoing Tory leadership election, was apparently referencing the clashes that broke out in Leicester in September 2022 in the wake of an India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match.

Meanwhile, her former ministerial colleague Robert Jenrick who has notched up an early lead in the contest told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ earlier this week that while India benefited from 250,000 visas in the past year, there were as many as 100,000 Indian nationals estimated to be illegally residing in the UK.

He lamented that deportations or removals to India remain stuck in the hundreds despite an India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership which is designed to cover such returns of illegal migrants.

“The government must stop other countries exploiting our generosity by imposing severe visa restrictions and restricting foreign aid to countries that do not take back their nationals here illegally,” said Jenrick.

Over the four-day Tory conference starting on Sunday, Jenrick and Badenoch will go head-to-head with two other party colleagues – former Cabinet ministers James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat – as they make their leadership pitches before MPs vote in the next round. This time the field will be whittled down to the final two candidates who will then fight it out for the online ballot of the wider Conservative Party membership, many of whom will be making up their minds during the party conference. The new Conservative Party chief and Opposition Leader is then scheduled to be declared on November 2 after the voting closes.

The election follows the resignation of Sunak as Tory leader in the wake of the party’s bruising general election defeat in July under his leadership. The British Indian politician, who was re-elected member of Parliament from Richmond and Northallerton in northern England, has meanwhile been serving as interim leader until his successor is elected. 

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London:

The UK’s Conservative Party leadership candidate Priti Patel has been eliminated from the contest after the first round of voting.

Ms Patel, who was the home secretary in former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government, was running to succeed Rishi Sunak as the party’s leader. Mr Sunak stepped down from the post after the Conservatives lost the general election in July.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenricks came out on top with 28 votes followed by Kemi Badenoch with 22 votes. James Cleverly was in the third position as he secured 21 votes and Tom Tugendhat won 17. Mel Stride was fifth with 16 and the last was Ms Patel with 14 votes.

The next vote will take place next Tuesday after which four candidates would remain before the party’s annual conference at the end of September.

Multiple rounds of voting will take place after the conference from October 8. The voting will last three days until there are only two candidates left.

The MPs will then finally choose their leader, with the result announced on November 2.

During her term as home secretary, Ms Patel was known for her tough stance on immigration. She led the Conservative government’s flagship scheme to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In her Tory leadership campaign, she had promised to unite the party and get it ready for the next general election.

London:

Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak spent the weekend calling the Conservative Party candidates who lost their seats in the general election last week to apologise for the party’s worst performance at the ballot box, with just 121 seats in the House of Commons.

Several former members of Parliament told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ about the “very sympathetic call” they received from the British Indian MP, who won his own seat of Richmond and Northallerton in Yorkshire and remains the Leader of the Opposition until the Tories elect his successor.

The 44-year-old had apologised to his party colleagues and the nation in his farewell speech at 10 Downing Street on Friday, when he also announced his resignation as Tory leader after the Labour Party won a landslide victory with 411 MPs in a 650-seat Commons.

“He took the time to ring me on a Saturday night and I think he’s taken the time to ring other MPs. He was ringing to say that he was incredibly sorry that I’d lost my seat,” an unseated Tory MP was quoted as saying.

“To all the Conservative candidates and campaigners who worked tirelessly but without success, I am sorry that we could not deliver what your efforts deserved,” Sunak said in his speech last week.

Frontrunners to replace him as party leader are working behind-the-scenes to shore up their support. Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who has been openly critical of Sunak’s leadership, is among the contenders but her campaign received an early blow as one of her supporters switched loyalties to her former home office colleague, Robert Jenrick.

Others lining up for the race include two more former home secretaries Priti Patel and James Cleverly and former business secretary Kemi Badenoch. Further former ministers from the Sunak Cabinet, Victoria Atkins and Tom Tugendhat, are also likely to throw their hat in the ring when the contours of the contest are devised by the party’s 1922 Committee – which will be electing its new chair after the election.

Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, spent his first weekend in office travelling to different parts of the United Kingdom starting with Scotland. He will then embark on his first foreign visit as PM for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) meeting in Washington to set the tone for his Labour government’s relations with US President Joe Biden’s administration and other international allies.

On Saturday, he spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leaders agreed to meet at the “earliest opportunity”.

“Discussing the Free Trade Agreement, the prime minister said he stood ready to conclude a deal that worked for both sides. The leaders hoped to meet at the earliest opportunity,” a Downing Street spokesperson said about the call.

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