Facing criticism over his wife Akshata Murthy’s family business links to Russia amid its invasion in Ukraine, her husband and British politician Rishi Sunak has said that “at least, I didn’t get up and slap anybody”.
The comment was in reference to a recent incident where actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock when he mocked his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, over her alopecia at an Oscar event.
Sunak, 41, is British Chancellor of the Exchequer and his wife Akshata Murthy is the daughter of tech giant Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. Akshata Murthy has been accused of collecting “blood money” in dividends for the amount of stake she has in Infosys as the company continues its operations in Russia despite many countries pulling out due to the war.
In an interview with BBC, Sunak said, “It’s very upsetting and, I think, wrong for people to try and come at my wife, and you know, beyond that actually, with regard to my father-in-law, for whom I have nothing but enormous pride and admiration for everything that he’s achieved.”
He added that no amount of attempted smearing is going to make me change that because Narayana Murthy is wonderful and has achieved a huge amount.
Sunak has said he has “nothing to do” with Infosys. His spokesperson has also said Akshata does not have any involvement in the operational decisions of the company. “I have absolutely no idea because I have nothing to do with that company,” Sunak said in another interview.
Sunak has encouraged UK firms to sever ties with Russia in the wake of the country invading Ukraine.
“Someone said, ‘Joe Root, Will Smith, and me – not the best of weekends for any of us’. But I feel, on reflection, both Will Smith and me having our wives attacked – at least I didn’t get up and slap anybody, which is good,” he said.
At the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock for a joke about his wife actor Jada Pinkett Smith’s closely cropped hair that is due to medical condition alopecia.
Infosys set up its engineering centre in Russia’s capital Moscow in 2016 to support its customer, Ansaldo Energia, which was developing gas turbines to sell to Russian power plants, and other clients.
The company has said “Infosys supports and advocates for peace between Russia and Ukraine” and has committed USD 1 million to “relief efforts for the victims of war from Ukraine”.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the invasion has triggered Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, with more than four million Ukrainians leaving the country and a quarter of the population displaced.
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