Rishi Sunak and wife perform ‘gau pooja’ in London, video goes viral

Rishi Sunak, a finalist in the race to become the British prime minister succeeding Boris Johnson, was recently spotted performing gau pooja (cow worship) in London.

A video has been doing rounds on social media platforms showing the Conservative Party leader, along with his wife Akshata Murthy – who is also the daughter of Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy – visiting a cow being readied for the occasion.

In the video, Sunak can be seen performing an aarti (religious ceremony) in front of the cow, standing next to his wife. The former UK Chancellor can be first seen with a brass tumbler in his hand, offering holy water to the cow. The priest standing next to the couple then hands him a diya (earthen lamp) as they perform the ritual and seek blessing from the cow.

The video went viral on social media platforms and garnered a lot of attention from the Hindu community.

The video comes days after Sunak visited the Bhaktivedanta Manor on the outskirts of London to celebrate Janmashtami. He had shared photos from the celebrations on his official Instagram handle. “Today I visited the Bhaktivedanta Manor temple with my wife Akshata to celebrate Janmashtami, in advance of the popular Hindu festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s birthday,” he had written on the post.

The 42-year-old leader who was in charge at No. 11 Downing Street, served as the country’s finance minister between February 2020 and July 2022, is one of the two candidates vying to be Britain’s next prime minister, against Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

The ruling Conservative Party is choosing a new leader after Boris Johnson was forced to quit following dozens of ministers resigning in protest against a series of scandals and missteps. Party members will decide by next month who will take over as the premier.

Sunak, whose resignation created a domino effect for dozens of ministers and led to Johnson’s downfall, started his battle to become the next PM on a strong foot. However, opinion polls now show he is behind in race – the handling of the pandemic becoming his biggest issue. Meanwhile, Truss said she would never again approve another lockdown and asserted that as a trade minister at the time, she was not involved in taking the key decisions.

The result of the crucial vote to decide the next British Prime Minister is due on September 5.