PM: India and GB must have strong ties

Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken of the vital relationship between India and Great Britain, as one that we ‘should not take for granted’, and has revealed his commitment to ensuring the longevity of the relationship.

Last week whilst speaking at the annual gathering of the Conservative and Friends of India, the PM told those who were in attendance his vision to strengthen the ties between India and Great Britain, saying:

We have not yet even scratched the surface of how far this relationship can go”

There is a huge amount that we can do in business, industry, trade, but also in accepting the great challenges that our world faces, whether it is the breadth of terrorism or climate change or modern threats facing our nations”

This announcement comes off the back of a two-day visit to India from two senior ministers; Chancellor George Osborne and former Home Secretary William Hague, where investment deals worth up to £250m were announced. The chancellor claimed that “good days are coming” for Britain’s relationship with India.

Since 1947 Indo-UK relations have been mostly friendly, with what some refer to as the Indian colonisation of Great Britain through food, language and tea. Indian cuisine has long surpassed fish and chips as the nation’s favourite dish. Many of the words of the English language have Hindi origin, words such as jungle, pyjamas, pundit, shampoo and thug to name a few. As well as the English love of tea, a drink first cultivated in India, to this day the UK still imports much of its tea from India.

However, the relationship has not been without its problems, in particular some have cited the attempted British mediation between India and Pakistan on Kashmir as insensitive given that it was Britain which aggravated the divisions in the region.

Equally, the harder measures imposed on student visas, and the closing of the post-study work visa in 2012, both resulting in a decrease in the number of Indian students is seen by many as a "you’re not welcome" sign.

All of this along with the wider narrative by the coalition Government to limit immigration from non-European union countries sends out a confusing message.

The ties, therefore, of history, language and culture that Mr. Cameron references may not be enough to bring about this ‘special relationship’, especially with other countries such as US, Germany, and Canada lining up to do business with India.

The question for India is less about those historical ties and more about what Britain can offer a modern and emerging India. Britain has much to offer; already it invests heavily in the Indian economy, and boasts technology and university excellence as well as a British Indian population of over 1.6 million people. The Prime Minister knows that India is in the driving seat in this relationship given that it is the third largest investor in the British economy and is on track to be the world’s largest economy by 2020.

So can Britain, a small island on the borders of a continent with diminishing global clout stand out from the rest? The Prime Minister and Friends of India group hope so.

Kei-Retta Farrell