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| Narendra Modi's belated visit to Britain shows where his priorities lie | Narendra Modi's belated visit to Britain shows where his priorities lie |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| At a press conference in London on Thursday, David Cameron and Narendra Modi, prime ministers of the UK and India respectively, will make the predictable statements about historic ties, current partnership and future collaboration. | At a press conference in London on Thursday, David Cameron and Narendra Modi, prime ministers of the UK and India respectively, will make the predictable statements about historic ties, current partnership and future collaboration. |
| But if both men are keen to make a success of this visit, the growing diplomatic imbalance in India’s relationship with the UK must be clear to even the most casual observer. Cameron has visited India three times since becoming prime minister in 2010, bringing with him small armies of ministers every time. This is the first visit by an Indian PM to the UK since 2006. | But if both men are keen to make a success of this visit, the growing diplomatic imbalance in India’s relationship with the UK must be clear to even the most casual observer. Cameron has visited India three times since becoming prime minister in 2010, bringing with him small armies of ministers every time. This is the first visit by an Indian PM to the UK since 2006. |
| Yes, there is some trade, and various other non-economic links, but the brutal reality is that, particularly for Modi, who won power at a landslide election in May last year, the UK is hardly a priority. | Yes, there is some trade, and various other non-economic links, but the brutal reality is that, particularly for Modi, who won power at a landslide election in May last year, the UK is hardly a priority. |
| London is Modi’s 29th overseas destination. The 65-year-old politician was supposed to visit in spring, but the trip was postponed as the UK was in election purdah (a word, like so many other things, appropriated by Britain in colonial times). The delay makes little difference however. Modi’s priorities in his push to raise his nation’s profile on the world stage were evident very early. | |
| Related: Rock star reception lined up for visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi | Related: Rock star reception lined up for visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi |
| One key focus has been rebooting regional relations. Modi has also flown thousands of miles to summits with the Brics nations. The US has seen a particular effort, while China was ticked off the list in May. | |
| All foreign policy reflects domestic compulsions, however, and this belated trip to Britain comes at a useful time for the visiting leader. | All foreign policy reflects domestic compulsions, however, and this belated trip to Britain comes at a useful time for the visiting leader. |
| First, Modi, if not struggling at home, is finding the going harder than he may have anticipated after his landslide election victory last year. Major measures aimed at stimulating growth have been difficult to push through parliament and senior opposition lawmakers, speaking to the Guardian this week, said they will continue to use their power in India’s upper house to block new legislation over the winter. A swath of new contracts from big UK firms will not do any harm here. | First, Modi, if not struggling at home, is finding the going harder than he may have anticipated after his landslide election victory last year. Major measures aimed at stimulating growth have been difficult to push through parliament and senior opposition lawmakers, speaking to the Guardian this week, said they will continue to use their power in India’s upper house to block new legislation over the winter. A swath of new contracts from big UK firms will not do any harm here. |
| There are other problems too. India’s infamous bureaucracy has also proved more resistant to reform than anticipated. Farmers are feeling marginalised. Then there is some concern at the government’s perceived intolerance of religious minorities and dissent. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party lost an important provincial election last weekend. | There are other problems too. India’s infamous bureaucracy has also proved more resistant to reform than anticipated. Farmers are feeling marginalised. Then there is some concern at the government’s perceived intolerance of religious minorities and dissent. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party lost an important provincial election last weekend. |
| Related: Narendra Modi retains core support at home as world tour reaches UK | Related: Narendra Modi retains core support at home as world tour reaches UK |
| Taken together, this means that the rapturous welcome from the diaspora in Wembley stadium on Friday, the eager chumminess of Cameron, lunch with the Queen, a batch of nice-looking new military jets (albeit merely trainers) and the inauguration of a new museum dedicated to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, an icon of those at the very bottom of India’s tenacious caste system, will help Modi return to Delhi with renewed confidence. | Taken together, this means that the rapturous welcome from the diaspora in Wembley stadium on Friday, the eager chumminess of Cameron, lunch with the Queen, a batch of nice-looking new military jets (albeit merely trainers) and the inauguration of a new museum dedicated to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, an icon of those at the very bottom of India’s tenacious caste system, will help Modi return to Delhi with renewed confidence. |
| It is also a nice way of pointing out differences with China. If one senior Indian official refused to compare the recent visit of Xi Jinping to the UK with that of India’s prime minister, he couldn’t resist pointing out that there had been no popular mass meeting cheering the Chinese premier. | |
| But the reasons for Modi’s lack of real interest in the UK run deeper. They are cultural rather than economic or purely diplomatic. | But the reasons for Modi’s lack of real interest in the UK run deeper. They are cultural rather than economic or purely diplomatic. |
| A former tea seller who rose through the ranks of a Hindu nationalist and revivalist movement, the Indian prime minister is very different from the many Oxbridge-educated, or Temple-trained, or at least anglophone leaders who have previously made their way to No 10. British literature, language, values and lifestyle do not resonate with Modi in the way they did with previous generations of Indian politicians and the elite from which they were drawn. | A former tea seller who rose through the ranks of a Hindu nationalist and revivalist movement, the Indian prime minister is very different from the many Oxbridge-educated, or Temple-trained, or at least anglophone leaders who have previously made their way to No 10. British literature, language, values and lifestyle do not resonate with Modi in the way they did with previous generations of Indian politicians and the elite from which they were drawn. |
| This is true more broadly. Britain is not “just another country” for India – and, given the past, never will be so – but the new emerging India is less in thrall to its erstwhile colonial overlords or their legacy than ever before. The gulf between how Modi’s visit will be viewed in India and how it is seen by British officials and media will only underline that shift. |