Hostile reception: Protests mar Modi’s landmark UK visit

45 MPs sign motion to debate India’s rights record

LONDON:

As protesters chanted slogans against him, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi penned trade deals worth $13.7 billion with his British counterpart David Cameron in London on Thursday.

Modi arrived in England on an official tour, the first by an Indian head of government in nearly a decade. But he did not anticipate the mixed reception he would get: a warm, red carpet treatment from the government but a hostile welcome from the people and the British parliamentary opposition.

As Cameron and Modi posed for photographs outside 10 Downing Street, a large crowd of demonstrators gathered with posters and banners reading “Modi you are killing Indian democracy” and “Stop religious persecution in India”. They made sure their slogans against the Indian premier were loud enough to be audible to Modi.

“Our main concern is that minorities are not safe in India,” said Sikh protester Kuldip Singh.

At the British Parliament, where Modi became the first Indian premier to issue an address, about 45 MPs, including opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, had signed a motion to debate India’s dismal human rights record.

The sceptre of worsening human rights in India was posed to Modi during a joint news conference with Cameron.

“There is something that is deeply entrenched in our culture, in our traditions, which is that of not accepting anything that has to do with intolerance,” the Indian premier said, adding that violent incidents would not be tolerated without elaborating on the threshold of that tolerance.

Modi’s visit also bears significance since he was effectively banned from Britain until three years ago over anti-Muslim riots which killed more than 1,000 people in 2002, when he was chief minister of Gujarat state. He has always denied any responsibility.

Red carpet treatment

The British government, however, had rolled out the red carpet for Indian premier as he was greeted at the grand courtyard of the Treasury by a guard of honour wearing ceremonial bearskin headgear.

Later, the Royal Air Force’s aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, flew over central London, painting the sky with colours of the Indian flag.

As they signed the trade deals, Cameron said Britain wanted to support Modi in his efforts to transform India with improved infrastructure and education.

“We want to become your number one partner for supporting the finance needed for this ambitious plan, making London the world’s centre for offshore rupee trading,” Cameron told him during a news conference, adding that plans were in place to issue more than 1 billion pounds in bonds.  Modi said the two countries had also signed a civil nuclear agreement, which he described as a sign of mutual trust, and said there were plans for a rupee bond aimed at financing Indian railways.

Before the visit, diplomats said the Indian leader was keen to buy 20 more BAE Systems Hawk trainer aircraft to be made in Bengaluru.

Modi was due to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth on Friday, before the emotional high point of his visit, a mass rally at Wembley Stadium where Modi will address about 60,000 supporters from India’s 1.5 million-strong diaspora in Britain.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.