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New Delhi: Ahead of a British Parliament panel’s debate on the Indian farm laws and the ensuing protests, the United Kingdom’s new envoy to India, Alex Ellis said things that happen in India create “ripples” in his country.
The British Parliament will debate the Indian farmers’ issue on 8 March. It will also discuss issues concerning press freedom in India.
“Your politics are our politics. In other words, things that happen in India have ripples in the UK probably because you do have such a big diaspora community in the UK, so these things get debated. This is something we look at but it is for India to resolve,” Ellis said at a media conference in the national capital Friday.
According to the British envoy, while the farm laws and the ongoing protests are internal matters of India, this will have an impact on the vast diaspora community living in other countries.
“As the Indian diaspora grows, and it is really very successful in many countries around the world, you are going to see more of this (internal issues getting discussed). And also as India grows and it becomes more international, ever more significant in the world, there will be more debate about Indian issues,” he said, adding that issues that belong to India are “quite regularly” debated in the British parliament.
He also said the debate will be taken up in the Parliament in the wake of a petition being filed by some parliamentarians who have moved as they have to answer their constituents.
“This is something which is done by Parliament… Government has to participate, government has to answer because really Parliamentarians, as you would expect, would raise issues of concerns and their constituents,” he said.
After international celebrities like Rihanna raised the farmers’ issue last month, the Ministry of External Affairs said the ongoing protests “must be seen in the context of India’s democratic ethos and polity, and the efforts of the Government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse…”
It added, “Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken.”
Also read: Quad to get big boost as Modi, Biden, Morrison, Suga set to meet for ‘Indo-Pacific engagement’
G7 summit to be attended by PM Modi
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the G7 Summit to be held in Carbis Bay, Cornwall on 11-13 June, along with leaders of Australia and South Korea to create a so-called D-10.
The D-10, or group of 10 democracies, was touted to be an “emerging new alliance of democracies” even as London gears up to play an active role in the Indo-Pacific strategic initiative.
However, the UK is yet to formalise the D-10 announcement even as some European Union countries continue to remain opposed to the idea while US President Joe Biden has expressed plans to hold a summit of all democracies.
“We are having a G7 Summit, we are inviting three other leaders, PM Modi is one of them. The G7 has a lot of different strands … These strands work underneath that. So how exactly who will get invited to what will depend on the work strand,” he said.
He also added that the Indo-Pacific is going to be “great growth area of the world” and so every country, including the UK, will have to partner with the countries that are part of it in their own way.
On India-UK trade deal
According to Ellis, the plans to have an India-UK trade pact will become clearer with the British PM’s upcoming trip to India. He is expected to visit before June.
“I think the long-term aim is to have a free trade deal. We can do that now with an independent trade policy. That is a big ask. India has traditionally not been very enthusiastic about trade deals but I think we see a definite shift in their desire for bilateral trade deals, including with us,” he said.
He added that both sides are now exploring “concrete steps” towards a trade deal.
Last month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met his British counterpart Liz Truss in order to enhance the trade relationship between the countries following UK’s exit from the European Union.
Also read: India again assures Dhaka on Teesta water, says there’s no issue ‘we can’t resolve amicably’
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