This, of course, was not planned, but it turned out pretty neat. When Rishi Sunak became Britain's first Indian-origin prime minister last year, it coincided with celebrations of the 75th anniversary of India's independence from British rule. The Times of India headline read: “From the Age of Empire to the Rishi Raj.”
At the time, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed a «living bridge» of British Indians that would help «transform our historic ties into a historic partnership.» Will the two Hindu heads of government be able to deepen this partnership this weekend at the G20?
Narendra Modi holds bilateral meeting with Rishi Sunak during the G20 leaders' summit in New Delhi Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
At first glance, now is hardly the right time to begin a new era in Anglo-Indian relations. But the fact that exchanges and dialogue between the two countries are still constantly linked to the colonial past is a reminder that the path to closer ties is unlikely to be easy.
The two countries are already very close. British Indians are the largest ethnic minority in the UK, with two million homes linked to India and one million trips between the two countries each year. King Charles has visited India 10 times, is a fan of yoga and Ayurveda and invited dabbawalas to his second wedding.
India's economy is the world's fifth largest and is almost certain to become the third largest by the end of the decade. The growing middle class has a taste for Western goods and could become an important market for British firms. Both countries have world-class service sector operators that could become the driving force of the knowledge economy in the coming decades. There are already strong business ties between the UK and India, as evidenced by Tata's recently announced plans to build a £4 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Somerset.
Boris Johnson's somewhat amorphous aspirations for a post-Brexit «global Britain» have been transformed by Mr Sunak into a more focused «Indo-Pacific bias». Britain hopes to improve relations and boost trade with a region of the world that is already home to half of humanity and is expected to become a major driver of global economic growth for the foreseeable future. India alone is projected to contribute more to global economic growth this year than the entire Western Hemisphere, according to International Monetary Fund forecasts.
On the geopolitical side of the ledger, India is central to a complex mosaic of alliances being forged to counter aggressive » Wolf Warrior Diplomacy» of Beijing.
Xi Jinping and Modi at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in 2018: New Delhi and the West have a common interest in containing the rise of China Photo: REUTERS
New Delhi and the West have a common interest in limiting or at least containing the rise of China , so that President Xi Jinping does not end up holding all the cards. In this context, «the West» still predominantly means the United States. But Britain has traditionally been a good way to reach Americans, whose attention is widespread.
The UK is keen to follow the lead of the US and France in signing new defense agreements with India, which will lead to further cooperation in the sharing of military technology. This is a smart path to the heart of New Delhi, as it will help strengthen land and sea defenses against China while developing the local supply chain and reducing dependence on Russian weapons.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverley is believed to speak with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's foreign minister, more often than any of his other colleagues except Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state. But Britain's relationship with India is, of course, complicated by history. One of the ways in which the Modi government's Hindu nationalism is manifesting itself is by erasing the last vestiges of India's colonial past.
. But Dharmendra Pradhan, India's education minister, told local media: «This is the loudest statement to come out of a colonial mindset.»</p>
<p>A visible beacon of British soft power</p>
<p>Earlier this year, BBC India offices were raided by tax inspectors shortly after they aired a documentary that criticized Modi's handling of religious unrest in Gujarat during his tenure as the state's chief minister. Many were surprised that New Delhi would target such a visible beacon of British soft power, and that the UK government showed so little concern about the incident.</p>
<p>Family ties between Britain and India may also prove to be a double-edged sword. There are 1.8 million British Indians in the UK, as well as 1.5 million British Pakistanis, who form the country's two largest ethnic minorities. British politicians of all parties often take strong positions on the subcontinent that play to whichever community is dominant in their constituency.</p>
<p>Labour's position on Kashmir during Jeremy Corbyn's time as leader was a particular bone of contention. both in India and among British Indians. It is one of many issues that Sir Keir Starmer has been trying to resolve since taking over the party.</p>
<p>The main focus of relations between the two countries at the moment is negotiations on a new free trade agreement. Mr Johnson promised the document would be signed on Diwali last October. Mr Sunak says a trade deal between the UK and India would be a clear demonstration that Britain is making the most of its «post-Brexit freedoms».</p>
<p>Labour's position on Kashmir during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership was a particular bone of contention both in India and among British Indians. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth </p>
<p>One of the big stumbling blocks in the negotiations was visas, which presented difficulties for both sides. British companies are in huge demand for Indian staff. Since Brexit replaced free movement within the EU with a points-based immigration system, one in four work visas have been issued to Indian citizens.</p>
<p>However, the UK government is under intense pressure to cut immigration and is therefore reluctant to offer more student visas as part of any new deal — a move that Mr Sunak has now rejected. Hopes of an agreement faded last year following Suella Braverman's comments that Indians were the immigrant group most likely to linger in the country after their visas expired. Indian officials were reportedly «shocked and disappointed» by the home minister's comments.</p>
<p>More visa relaxation</p>
<p>At a cabinet meeting last week, Ms Braverman was reported to have raised the issue of India's stated desire for any trade deal to be accompanied by greater visa easing for Indians who want to travel to the UK to work. Shri Vikram Doraiswamy, India's High Commissioner to the UK, responded that his country's main request was not for visas, but for companies to have greater freedom to move staff between the two countries. On the issue of visas, he told Times Radio: “It was in your press, not ours. We never said that visas were part of our issue.”</p>
<p>One reason for this may be that the Indian government is facing pressure to stem the brain drain of the country's best and brightest. However, such fears are probably exaggerated. As Professor Bharat Bhasker, director of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, one of the country's elite universities, says: «We produce so many brains that we don't need to worry about a little leakage.»</p>
<p >Moreover, economic growth is likely to be the most effective measure. Raghav Gaba, an MBA student at the university, says there is little incentive for him to move abroad after graduation as few countries in the world look set to grow as fast as India in the coming years.</p>
<p >Various pressures mean that Anglo-Indian relations must develop. The guiding principle of Indian foreign policy has always been the principle of non-alignment. This was originally adopted as a means of asserting its independence from Britain rather than automatically returning to its sphere of influence during the Cold War.</p>
<p>This position means that it can be a friend to many countries, but no one wants a formal ally , and he operates in a diplomatic twilight zone that the UK has historically found difficult to navigate. “Britain does a good job with its allies and does a good job with its enemies,” says one British diplomat. “However, it needs to do a much better job of dealing with those countries that do not fall into any of these neat categories. And that includes India to a large extent.”</p>
<p>India – The Journey Forward Series [Article 3]</p>
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