LONDON: It was a midsummer day in Downing Street in 2019 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked into the No. 10 residence of all British Prime Ministers since Benjamin Disraeli moved into the iconic building in 1877.
Boris as the 55th Prime Minister walked in the footsteps of 300 years of the longest continuous office of a head of government in the world. Ever since the first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole appointed by King George I all the way back in April 1721.
This stability and continuity of the office of the Prime Minister has been instrumental in powering British democracy just as the smooth transition of democratic power and mandate has been between the 14 Prime Ministers of India since 1947.
And whilst we in Global Britain and the people of New India may take this smooth functioning of democracy as a constant, given our natural order of democratic functioning, it is in fact a real testament to how our two great free democracies have matured to provide the people with the security, stability and reliability of living, thriving and prospering with the promise that democracy has their back and will deliver for them.
Be it the golden decade of Prime Minister Narendra Modi driving India forward with “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”, or the economic rejuvenation of the United Kingdom by Prime Minister David Cameron and the delivery of the biggest democratic exercise in British history, Brexit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, our Prime ministers have led with historic leadership, taking nation-defining decisions which have shaped our modern free democracies as global leaders.
Growing up seeing Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee take the monumental decision to propel India to take its rightful place in the international order in May 1998, our Prime Ministers are at the very heart of the foundations of our two countries and what defines us for who we are and where we are going. And this is why it is good to see India transforming the Nehru Memorial Museum to showcase and remember the history of all India’s Prime Ministers, as a record of Indian democracy and how it has come to flourish as the world’s biggest and most vibrant democracy.
We in the world’s oldest democracy, Global Britain, can take a leaf out of New India’s book to establish a similar national museum and etch in stone the great legacy of our free democracy.
Amandeep Singh Bhogal is the founding chairman of the Global Britain Centre, and a former Conservative parliamentary candidate. Born in Jullundur, based in England, Aman has long campaigned to strengthen the UK-India relationship and is determined to bang the drum for free democracies, free trade and free enterprise.