Pravasi Bharatiya Divas: Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris — High-Profile Indian-Origin Leaders Worldwide

On the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, here are the Indian-origin leaders who are now leading foreign countries.

Leaders of foreign nations that have Indian origins

Rishi Sunak was elected as the Prime Minister of Britain in October 2022. His aim has been to strengthen India-UK ties. He is the son-in-law of N. R. Narayana Murthy (Founder of Infosys) and Sudha Murthy (Chairperson of Infosys). (Image Source: Getty)

Kamala Harris made history by becoming the first female Vice President of United States of America. She has Indian origins and as a child, Kamala Harris often visited her grandparents and other members of the maternal family in Tamil Nadu. (Image Source: Getty)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius, at Hyderabad House in 2019. Jugnauth's ancestors are said to have migrated to the island-nation from Rasra in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district. (Image Source: Getty)

PM Modi congratulated Chandrika Prasad Santokhi on becoming the President of Suriname in 2020. Santokhi has Indian origins as well. While congratulating, PM Modi said "More than a hundred years ago, people from India went there (Suriname) and made it their home. Today, the fourth or the fifth generation is there. Today in Suriname more than one-fourth of the people are of Indian origin. 'Sarnami' one of the common languages there is a dialect of Bhojpuri." (Image Source: Twitter | @airnewsalerts)

Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali will later this month be conferred with India’s highest award for persons of Indian origin, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA), for 2023, the Indian High Commission said. Ali was born to an Indo-Guyanese Muslim family in Leonora, a village in the West Coast Demarara region of Guyana. (Image Source: Government of Guyana)

Seychelles President Wavel Ramkalawan's grandfather was from Bihar. "The support we have received from India has contributed immensely to the socio-economic development of Seychelles," said President Ramkalawan at a high-level virtual event with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He lauded India's support on the COVID-19 vaccine front. (Image Source: Getty)

Halimah Yacob was elected as the President of Singapore in 2017. Although Halimah is categorised as an Indian Muslim due to her father's descent, her mother is Malay, she ran for the 2017 presidential election as a Malay candidate and identifies herself as a Malay Muslim. (Image Source: Getty)

Antonio Costa is the Prime Minister of Portugese. His origins can be traced back to India. Costa’s family on his father’s side hails from Goa — his grandfather was born in the former Portuguese colony, and spent most of his life there. His father, Orlando da Costa, was born in Mozambique, another colony of Portugal, and was a writer whose works reflected strong Goan roots, and included essays on Rabindranath Tagore. To his supporters in India, António Costa is known as “Babush”, a Konkani term meaning “a young loved one”. (Image Source: Getty)

Indian-origin Leo Varadkar got elected as Ireland's new Prime Minister in December 2022. His father was born in Bombay and he later moved to UK. (Image Source: Getty)