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Signaling continuity in ties between India and Britain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, 24 July, that his government is committed to achieving the completion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during negotiations with the newly elected Keir Starmer government.
The statement was made shortly after a meeting between PM Modi and the UK's new Foreign Secretary David Lammy in New Delhi.
Lammy is the highest-ranking government official to visit India since the Labour Party won an absolute majority in the country's general election on 5 July.
"Appreciate the priority accorded by PM Keir Starmer to broaden and deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," PM Modi took to X to say on Wednesday evening.
Ever since being elected in 2014, the Modi government has only ever dealt with the Conservative Party, which had been in power in the UK from 2010 to 2024. This is the first time that the Centre is in talks with Labour – which in the past has been quite vocal about its opposition to some of Modi's policies.
In this backdrop, we explore with the help of experts the significance of Lammy's trip to India close on the heels of the Labour government's formation, and possible differences that may arise in the general course of relations between the two countries.
Significance of David Lammy's Trip to India
The fact that India was one of the first trips for the UK's new foreign secretary, even before he visited the shores of key allies such as the US and European countries, underscores the importance that Downing Street attaches to India.
"It is striking that David Lammy visited India so soon after taking up the post of foreign secretary," former BBC India correspondent Andrew Whitehead said while speaking to The Quint. "This is both about the importance of India to Britain and its foreign policy and of course Mr Lammy's desire to make his mark in his new job."
Whitehead said that while Lammy was in West Asia last week – which is in the grips of the Israel-Hamas war, in India, by contrast, there was no pressing issue: "which makes it all the more noteworthy that Delhi has been a priority visit for the new Labour government".
Before calling on PM Modi, Lammy was hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during which the two sides spoke on a range of issues, such as the FTA, defence and security, education, IT, climate change, and people-to-people ties.
However, apart from the various areas in which the countries could potentially form closer links, it is likely that some contentious issues may also have been raised during the discussions.
"Lammy is likely to press India to keep a distance from Moscow, and particularly from anything which offers support or endorsement of Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Whitehead said.
At the same time, however, the UK must be cognisant of India's importance in its foreign policy calculus given the regional and global instabilities playing out currently.
"Britain's relations with Russia are tarnished beyond repair, at least while President Putin remains in office, and there's tension with China, too. So, London, and the west more generally, is keen to ensure good relations with the one other Asian power: India."Andrew Whitehead
A Tense Past Between BJP & UK's Labour Party
The relations between the BJP and Labour, however, haven't always been on a sure footing. There have been several instances of tensions in the past between the two parties – which raises concerns about possible thorns that may arise in the future as well.
In September 2019, the Labour Party under former leader Jeremy Corbyn had passed a motion alleging that the Indian government had carried out "human rights violations" in the Kashmir Valley.
Labour also stated that the people of the erstwhile state should have the right to self-determination. India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had outrightly condemned the motion, calling it an attempt to "pander to vote bank interests".
The motion had also caused outrage from several UK-based Hindu groups, which led the Labour Party to change its position on the issue – stating that the sovereign status of Kashmir was a "bilateral matter for India and Pakistan" to resolve and that it must not divide communities in the UK.
In October 2019, Corbyn had met representatives of the Indian Overseas Congress, during which he discussed issues pertaining to human rights and the situation in Kashmir. The meeting had drawn the ire of the BJP, with Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi.
However, this was when Labour was in the Opposition. As the ruling party in the UK, and given the geopolitical and economic significance of India as a partner, Downing Street is unlikely be as blunt concerning India's domestic matters as it was before.
"I don't think the Labour Party will shy away from expressing concern about rights issues or contentious matters like Kashmir. But I think one of the goals of the new UK government would be to make clear that concerns that it might have will not impact the relationship," Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington DC, said while speaking to The Quint
Kugelman further said that the strategic imperative of the new UK government might entail the response to India's domestic issues to be more "subdued", especially in public.
Further, Labour is likely to have taken lessons from treading a hardline on India's actions in Kashmir. A survey following the 2019 elections, which the Tories swept with 365 seats in the 650-member House, stated that a large number of Hindu Indians in the UK shifted their support to the Conservatives from Labour – once considered the natural political preference of British Indians owing to the party's pro-immigration outlook.
Ahead of the 2019 polls, the Overseas Friends of BJP UK (OFBJP) – which champions the cause of the saffron party across the UK – had also actively campaigned for Conservative candidates.
In Keir Starmer, BJP Sees a Softened Labour Party Leader
An additional silver lining in the ties is that the BJP looks more favourably upon Starmer as compared to his Labour Party predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, who was known to consistently take a critical stand against many of the Modi government's policies.
After Corbyn resigned as the leader of the Labour Party in April 2020 and was replaced by Starmer, the latter went into damage control mode to tide over the bitterness among the vast Hindu diaspora due to the former's remarks about India's domestic matters – which had led to the alienation of Hindu British voters.
In the backdrop of communal clashes in Leicester and Birmingham following a cricket match between India and Pakistan, Starmer had said while addressing a Navratri event in London in October 2022 that "Hinduphobia" had no place in British society.
"A Labour government will bring people back together and end this divisive politics," he had said, citing the Indian epic Ramayana to highlight the need to fight socio-political evils in society.
The efforts were seen as an attempt to boost Labour's fortunes among the Indian community, which is the largest diaspora group in the country and electorally significant in dozens of constituencies, especially swing seats.
Is the Khalistan Issue Likely to Be a Roadblock?
One of the major thorns in the relationship between India and Britain is the rise of pro-Khalistan sentiments across the UK in recent years. In March 2023, the Indian High Commission in London was vandalised by Khalistani extremists in the presence of Metropolitan Police officials. In September of the same year, Vikram Doraiswami, the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, was denied entry into a Scotland gurudwara by similar extremists.
The incidents had drawn a sharp reaction from the MEA, which exhorted the then Rishi Sunak government to ensure the security of Indian embassies and staff residing in the country.
Despite the gravity of the situation, experts say that while India will certainly bring up the Khalistan issue with the UK, it is not likely to cause a rupture in ties.
"Given that the relationship between India and the UK is sound, the Khalistan issue is not likely to be a roadblock in ties as it is when it comes to Canada and India – which have had a toxic relationship for the last few years even before the Khalistan issue became a bigger concern."Michael Kugelman
Others, however, say that even if the Indian government raises the Khalistan issue, it is not likely to be satisfied with the UK government's response.
"The Indian government may well express concern about the activities of supporters of Sikh separatism in the UK," Whitehead told The Quint, "but the UK is likely to respond by saying that advocating secession is not illegal in Britain; indeed, a major political party in the UK, the Scottish National Party, is a separatist party."
However, he added that Britain might convey that any involvement in planned acts of violence won't be tolerated, such as the vandalism of Indian missions in the country.
"That may not fully satisfy Delhi, but their concerns will have been noted," Whitehead said.
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