Rishi Sunak’s mother-in-law Sudha Murty recently recalled an anecdote in which an immigration officer refused to believe her British residential address was 10 Downing Street.
Ms Murty, the wife of Indian tech billionaire NR Narayana Murthy and an author and philanthropist herself, recounted the reaction of an immigration officer when she stated her London address while on a visit to her daughter.
In an appearance as a guest on The Kapil Sharma Show, a programme on Indian television, Ms Murty said the immigration officer was in shock when she announced her intention of going to the prime minister’s address – to rapturous applause and laughter from the show’s audience.
No 10 is the official residence of the British prime minister.
Kapil Sharma, the show’s host, started by making light of the fact that the prime minister of Britain is her son-in-law. He jokingly asks Ms Murty, an Indian citizen, if she ever requires a visa to go to the UK at all or “do you show them the wedding invitation card [of Mr Sunak and daughter Akshata Murty]?”
The audience, along with Ms Murty burst out laughing, after which she began to narrate the incident with the immigration officer.
“Once I was going to the UK,” she recounted, “So I was asking my sister, should I put down ‘10 Downing Street’ as the address?”
“My son [Rohan] also stays in London. But I didn’t remember his address by heart,” she said.
On being met by the immigration officer on her arrival in the UK, she was asked where she was staying in London.
The immigration officer didn’t believe her when he saw the address she would be staying at.
“He looked at me and said ‘Are you joking?’” Ms Murty told the audience.
“No. I am telling you the truth,” she remembered telling the immigration officer.
“He thought I was joking,” she said, through applause.
“Nobody thinks this 72-year-old lady who is simple can be the mother-in-law of the prime minister,” she said.
Ms Murty, who has been the recepient of India’s third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, however, is no stranger to controversy.
Speaking to reporters after casting her vote in the recently held state elections in Karnataka – just days before her appearance on the show – Ms Murty was asked whether communal politics had taken precedence in the polls.
Karnataka was subject to a communally charged political campaign before the elections, where right-wing activists protested against girls wearing the hijab.
Ms Murty replied saying she did not “worry about those things” and said she was “not a politically savvy person”, in remarks that went viral on Twitter.
She was called out on the social media platform for the comments in which users pointed to her privilege and said she would not “worry” about incidents that would not affect her, but would affect minorities instead.
“Mam, you won’t worry about jobs, income, and inflation either,” tweeted one user.
“She should talk to her son in law. He will tell her some things about politics,” said another.
“You can afford to not really worry about those things Sudha Murthy because A) you know you will not be personally impacted by this hate B) you’ve no qualms helping those who perpetuate this hate,” said another user.
During the show, Ms Murty was described by host Mr Sharma as being “such a powerful lady that even the UK’s prime minister bows down and touches her feet”.
In Hinduism, touching an elder’s feet is a symbol of respect.
Last November, Ms Murty was caught in yet another controversy, in which she was seen on video touching the feet of a local right-wing leader from the state of Maharashtra.
On being asked about the encounter, she claimed she did not “know about his personal views”.
“He is an elderly person, an old man. It is our tradition to touch the feet of an elderly person,” she was quoted as saying to the Indian Express.
Ms Murty’s daughter, Akshata, is married to Mr Sunak who became the UK’s prime minister last September. The two had met at Stanford.
