Humza Yousaf is set to be the first minister of Scotland after narrowly winning the election for leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP).
The 37-year-old son of Asian immigrants from Pakistan’s Punjab is now set to become the first person of color to serve as Scotland’s first minister, less than 6 months after Rishi Sunak became the first Prime Minister of Indian heritage.
Humza Yousaf will lead the Scottish National Party (SNP) as a successor Nicola Sturgeon. Yousaf is a firm advocate of Scottish independence. He stated that he will not follow Sturgeon’s path to independence. He further stated that the party needs to get back to making the case for independence. He also said an independent Scotland should look at ditching monarchy.
Fmr Diplomat Bhaswati Mukherjee said, ”The irony is that we have a man of Pakistani descent who will serve as Scotland’s first minister,” she further said that, ”the Pakistanis’ attempts to start an insurgency in Kashmir may have directly inspired the Scottish independence movement.”
”Hamza Yousaf has been in the party for a while . Under his predecessor the party has lost a lots of popularity. The fact that he said he’s not going to spend his time in the industry debating about independence probably means he wants to set things right at the grassroot level,” she added.
Sr Journalist, Gautam Mukherjee said, ”The current situation in Scotland is fraught with economic difficulties, people are reeling under high prices, energy costs, fuel costs, inflation and they are focused on survival rather than independence at this point.”
”Hamza Yousaf does have a fair amount of experience, but if he can consolidate his position by addressing what the Scots need, then I think they may rally behind him and go back to this dream of an independent Scotland,” he further added.
