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Cameron to welcome Modi to UK despite misgivings by Indian Muslims
Kiran Stacey in London and Victor Mallet in Delhi
©Bloomberg
Narendra Modi
David Cameron will welcome Narendra Modi to the UK in November, setting aside concerns from some in the Muslim community about offering the Indian prime minister what officials say will be a “big and flashy” reception.
Britain cut off Mr Modi diplomatically after riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. Most of the dead were Muslims and critics have accused him of being complicit. Relations were only restored in 2012 after Indian investigators cleared him of any responsibility.
Downing Street is promising to pull out all the stops for his first official visit as prime minister, with Mr Cameron keen to boost the trading relationship between the two countries.
The government is looking for ways to use the Indian diaspora living in the UK to improve the relationship between the two countries, which has been difficult at times during the past few years.
As part of that effort, people with knowledge of the visit have told the Financial Times that Mr Modi is likely to address a crowd of Hindus at the temple in Wembley soon after the Diwali celebrations.
One Conservative MP involved in the discussions said: “We’re keen to do everything we can to maximise the effect of the Indian community here in the UK to bring us closer together.”
But Muslim groups are unhappy about what they see as an uncritical welcome being afforded to Mr Modi.
Shamsuddin Agha, president of the Indian Muslim Federation in the UK, said: “We know [Mr] Cameron has to look after business in this country, but he should be more careful about how he deals with Mr Modi,” said Mr Agha, who said his group was talking about the possibility of protesting against the visit.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has found itself battling an unexpected political fire, sparked by allegations that Sushma Swaraj, foreign minister, did favours for Lalit Modi, the exiled architect of the riotous Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
The UK prime minister is keen to downplay such concerns as he makes a big push to improve trade between the two countries, having promised to double UK trade with India from 2010 to 2015.
But despite carrying out high-profile trade missions to the country, Mr Cameron is a long way from meeting that goal — exports to India last year were more than £100m lower than in 2010.
Ministers point out, however, that India is now the third-biggest source of foreign investment into the UK in terms of the number of projects being financed.
During Mr Cameron’s tenure, relations between the two countries have occasionally been strained, not least because of frustration among Indian businesses about UK visa restrictions.
Last month, the Confederation of Indian Industry expressed “deep concern” over Mr Cameron’s immigration policies.
“There are over 800 Indian companies operating in the UK,” said Sumit Mazumder, CII president. “Many companies avail the ICT [Intra-Company Transfer] visa and their operations may be severely disrupted.”
Britain says 91 per cent of Indians applying in the year to March obtained their visas, and the number of work visas issued rose 10 per cent to 55,000. Officials in London, meanwhile, are hoping that the UK will join the lengthening list of nations whose short-term visitors are granted so-called e-visas that take only four days to process.
A delegation of business leaders visited the UK last week for talks on how to improve the bilateral business relationship, but the visit by Mr Modi comes relatively late in his tour of foreign capitals.
Successive Indian leaders, perhaps mindful of the uncomfortable 400-year-old legacy of British colonialism, have been slow to respond to the eager commercial overtures of British governments in recent years.
Mr Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Britain for nearly a decade, even though Mr Cameron has been to India three times.
Mr Cameron is also likely to plead the case for British investors in India — including Vodafone, which is embroiled in tax disputes over retrospective demands running into billions of dollars.
Mr Modi’s visit will happen just a month after the state visit to the UK by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, which was announced by the government at the beginning of this parliament.
Mr Xi and his wife will be given an audience with the Queen, nearly two years after Mr Cameron took the largest ever UK trade delegation to China.
Chancellor George Osborne helped improve relations between the two countries when he decided to join the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, which the US sees as a rival to the World Bank.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/db75592c-24b4-11e5-9c4e-a775d2b173ca.html#axzz3fiQBUXbo
Its impossible to make Indian Muslims happy. Point well taken!
Kiran Stacey in London and Victor Mallet in Delhi
©Bloomberg
Narendra Modi
David Cameron will welcome Narendra Modi to the UK in November, setting aside concerns from some in the Muslim community about offering the Indian prime minister what officials say will be a “big and flashy” reception.
Britain cut off Mr Modi diplomatically after riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. Most of the dead were Muslims and critics have accused him of being complicit. Relations were only restored in 2012 after Indian investigators cleared him of any responsibility.
Downing Street is promising to pull out all the stops for his first official visit as prime minister, with Mr Cameron keen to boost the trading relationship between the two countries.
The government is looking for ways to use the Indian diaspora living in the UK to improve the relationship between the two countries, which has been difficult at times during the past few years.
As part of that effort, people with knowledge of the visit have told the Financial Times that Mr Modi is likely to address a crowd of Hindus at the temple in Wembley soon after the Diwali celebrations.
One Conservative MP involved in the discussions said: “We’re keen to do everything we can to maximise the effect of the Indian community here in the UK to bring us closer together.”
But Muslim groups are unhappy about what they see as an uncritical welcome being afforded to Mr Modi.
Shamsuddin Agha, president of the Indian Muslim Federation in the UK, said: “We know [Mr] Cameron has to look after business in this country, but he should be more careful about how he deals with Mr Modi,” said Mr Agha, who said his group was talking about the possibility of protesting against the visit.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has found itself battling an unexpected political fire, sparked by allegations that Sushma Swaraj, foreign minister, did favours for Lalit Modi, the exiled architect of the riotous Indian Premier League cricket tournament.
The UK prime minister is keen to downplay such concerns as he makes a big push to improve trade between the two countries, having promised to double UK trade with India from 2010 to 2015.
But despite carrying out high-profile trade missions to the country, Mr Cameron is a long way from meeting that goal — exports to India last year were more than £100m lower than in 2010.
Ministers point out, however, that India is now the third-biggest source of foreign investment into the UK in terms of the number of projects being financed.
During Mr Cameron’s tenure, relations between the two countries have occasionally been strained, not least because of frustration among Indian businesses about UK visa restrictions.
Last month, the Confederation of Indian Industry expressed “deep concern” over Mr Cameron’s immigration policies.
“There are over 800 Indian companies operating in the UK,” said Sumit Mazumder, CII president. “Many companies avail the ICT [Intra-Company Transfer] visa and their operations may be severely disrupted.”
Britain says 91 per cent of Indians applying in the year to March obtained their visas, and the number of work visas issued rose 10 per cent to 55,000. Officials in London, meanwhile, are hoping that the UK will join the lengthening list of nations whose short-term visitors are granted so-called e-visas that take only four days to process.
A delegation of business leaders visited the UK last week for talks on how to improve the bilateral business relationship, but the visit by Mr Modi comes relatively late in his tour of foreign capitals.
Successive Indian leaders, perhaps mindful of the uncomfortable 400-year-old legacy of British colonialism, have been slow to respond to the eager commercial overtures of British governments in recent years.
Mr Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Britain for nearly a decade, even though Mr Cameron has been to India three times.
Mr Cameron is also likely to plead the case for British investors in India — including Vodafone, which is embroiled in tax disputes over retrospective demands running into billions of dollars.
Mr Modi’s visit will happen just a month after the state visit to the UK by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, which was announced by the government at the beginning of this parliament.
Mr Xi and his wife will be given an audience with the Queen, nearly two years after Mr Cameron took the largest ever UK trade delegation to China.
Chancellor George Osborne helped improve relations between the two countries when he decided to join the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, which the US sees as a rival to the World Bank.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/db75592c-24b4-11e5-9c4e-a775d2b173ca.html#axzz3fiQBUXbo
Its impossible to make Indian Muslims happy. Point well taken!
