England sells asylum in the name of democratic legal processes to all sorts of money-laundering thugs whom we seek. Our bilateral political relations have been on a roller coaster for several years. The British government tolerates (possibly even encourages) anti-India sentiments among the Indo-Pakistani diaspora, as a means of pressuring us.
New Delhi: If he does come, then why is Boris Johnson coming to India, his first major international visit after running away from Europe? The number of European leaders making a beeline for India despite the virus reminds one of the rush to Beijing in times gone by.
The citizens of Great Britain, as it used to be called (note the Great) were the world’s greatest empire builders, with almost one quarter of the planet under Britain’s sway at one time. We, Indians, were the world’s greatest empire busters, as we began the process of decolonization that saw the empire collapse. Deep down, many ex-colonials never forgave India for inaugurating the dismantling of the British empire, foremost among them the fellow named after a church on a hilltop, “an unashamed imperialist at a time when imperialism is on its last legs”, as Sardar Patel described him.
Britain, reeling today under its self-goal of quitting the European Union, is desperately seeking an enhanced independent international profile and has still not accepted its dramatically reduced role in global affairs. Fantasy has no cure. Boris Johnson famously said about Africa: “Africa’s problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are no longer in charge.” As long as it retains a permanent seat in the United Nations, it will continue to fantasize that it is a great power. If UK were not a member of the UNSC, its global influence would be about the same as Somalia’s.
We may expect more nonsense such as the recent discussion on Kashmir or the Citizenship Amendment Act or the farmers’ agitation in the House of Commons and possibly the House of Frauds, sorry Lords.
Times change quickly, mindsets more sluggishly. As the legendary Bob Dylan sang in his 1960s classic:
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
Britain refuses to accept the new road.
In 1947-48, we were attacked by tribal lashkars and soldiers from Britain’s illegitimate child Pakistan led by British officers. In November 1947, under the command of a renegade called Major W.A. Brown who had sworn loyalty to the Maharaja of Kashmir, the Gilgit Scouts overthrew the Maharaja’s Governor in Gilgit, and declared accession to Pakistan. Instead of being court-martialed, he was knighted by the Queen.
By 1956, our foreign exchange reserves held in pound sterling in the Bank of England, had been decimated by the sterling’s devaluation as Britain was in severe financial distress, and we had to pay pensions and make lumpsum recompense to retired British army officers. I recall that in 1965, when we were under pressure on the Kashmir front, we crossed the Punjab border and moved swiftly to Lahore, giving a rude shock to Pakistan, Britain denounced this “naked aggression” against Pakistan, and made similar noises in 1971. In 1991, our Foreign Exchange reserves were just enough for a couple of weeks of imports. We asked our dear former rulers for USD 600 mn to finance some essential imports and were told that we would need to pledge our gold to the Bank of England, which we did.
Till a few years ago, I used to see advertisements in Indian magazines about properties in England. Their property market was sustained by shady fellows from Pakistan, India, Russia, Africa, etc. A former Pakistani Prime Minister is still trying to explain how he was able to afford luxurious properties in London on his salary. So are several Indian businessmen.
England sells asylum in the name of democratic legal processes to all sorts of money-laundering thugs and hoodlums (involved in cricket, airlines and diamonds) whom we seek. This is ironic, considering that Britain pretended to be very active in forming the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in July 1989 at the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Paris. Our bilateral political relations have been on a roller coaster for several years. The British government tolerates (possibly even encourages) anti-India sentiments among the Indo-Pakistani diaspora, as a means of pressuring us. Britannia no longer rules the waves, but the waves of atavism rule Britannia.
In one of my postings overseas, my British counterpart complained that his principals were badgering him to get involved in peace negotiations with a rebel group, and to tag along with the US ambassador, so that London could claim some influence in its former colony.
Quitting the European Union will further erode the UK’s global relevance, if it has any left. But it will continue to delude itself that it still determines the destinies of hundreds of millions, as it did for two hundred years. Interestingly, while young India is bursting with energy and enthusiasm, Britain has a Minister for Loneliness.
Any former colony and the former colonial master need three generations to overcome the “colonized” mindset. The first is the transitional generation educated and trained by the masters, so there is an element of nostalgia (while the departing overlords fret over their lost glory). The second generation recalls the exploitation but is largely indifferent, and the third wonders what the “special relationship” is all about.
Those who rule England today had fathers or grandfathers or uncles in the British Indian Civil Service or the military. They have been brought up on stories of the white man’s burden and their glorious lives in British India with huge homes and dozens of servants for “chota hazri” and “bada hazri”
So, Shri Boris Johnson will look for:
- The huge Indian market for British products including defence equipment, and Indian vaccines for his country.
- Indian investment in England.
- Indian students to save floundering British universities.
In 2021, England needs India more than India ever needed England.
England’s strategy paper released in March 2021, depicts Russia as an active enemy and China as a systemic foe. It promises to send its pitiable navy to the Indian Ocean and to spend money to increase its nuclear arsenal.
In the 1790s, Bertrand Barere, a French revolutionary had called England a “nation of shopkeepers”. Napoleon is supposed to have said to the British: “All your great riches…arose from commerce…It is not…mines of gold, silver, or diamonds…your shops and your trade have made you what you are.” The business of the UK is business. When we bought their fighter jets, everything was hunky dory, but not when we bought something else. India is a major investor in the UK. In recent years there is more Indian money invested in UK than the other way around. According to official estimates, as of 2020, Indian companies in the UK have a turnover of some 50 bn pounds, and employ several hundred thousand people. Tata group alone employs almost 65,000 people in the UK. All hell broke loose in 2011 when Ratan Tata reportedly complained in a newspaper interview that British workers at Jaguar Land Rover and Corus (companies that he had acquired) could not be found in their office after 3.30 pm on Fridays. For good measure he reportedly added that in India workers stayed in the office until midnight if necessary.
India’s Finance Minister’s description in Parliament in 2010 of British aid to India as peanuts, sparked furious media and political debate in England on why the aid was being continued when India preferred the French fighter jet Rafale to the Typhoon, which is partly manufactured in Britain. With considerable difficulty, India managed to persuade the British government to discontinue its assistance from 2015, much to the horror of some Indian NGOs (and their UK Department of Foreign and International Development bosses).
This kind of phenomenon, where non-Western countries impact the West, has been called “reverse colonialism”, and maverick Boris Johnson remarked at a dinner in 2017 (when he was Foreign Secretary) that: “We in the UK are the beneficiaries of reverse colonialism.” He pointed out that Jaguar cars made in UK and exported back to India “in ever growing numbers” incarnated the “commercial role reversal” between India and the UK.
In 2013, then Prime Minister David Cameron led the largest trade delegation with more than 100 representatives from multinational corporations, medium-to-small-sized corporations, and universities to India. Net result zero! A cartoon in the Economist in 2013 after David Cameron’s visit depicted him genuflecting before our then Prime Minister and chairperson of UPA and asking for Indian investment in UK.
Former British PM Theresa May came in 2016 to discuss post-Brexit relations with India, her first bilateral visit to a non-European country since becoming Prime Minister. Explaining the decision, May said: “It [the visit] matters now more than ever. India is the fastest-growing major economy.” Her business delegation signed several MoUs. Nothing happened.
While the two sides have discussed a bilateral free trade agreement, it has not yet been worked on.
In the early years of Independence, thousands of Indians studied in England. Oxford and Cambridge degrees were much coveted, but then were overtaken by US universities. Ten years ago, there was much hype over the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). Prime Minister David Cameron said that a higher quality of education would lead to providing opportunities for all, thus encouraging economic growth, and overcoming poverty for India (you see they still think they can alleviate the poverty that they caused in India!). However, the number of Indian students in the UK did not increase owing to tighter rules for international students.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Indians (especially from Punjab) and others from former British colonies went to the UK in search of economic advancement. They worked hard, with total dedication and determination. “Over-taim” helped them earn much more than their salaries. Today the Indian diaspora in UK is around 2 million and many of them have achieved eminent positions. Over the last 20 years, the number has been reduced to a trickle, thanks to labyrinthine British immigration laws that assume that half the world sees the UK as paradise and is dying to get there.
While researching a project, I came across this gem. At a meeting with his officials in 1946 in Lahore, the egregious and pompous Sir James Glancy ICS (1906 Punjab cadre), governor of Punjab, said: “We would leave very soon but remember that you would not be able to maintain those vaulting standards of fairness, honesty, efficaciousness and diligence in administration, which we maintained…despite difficulties of governing and numerous odds faced by us. Time would come when many of you would remember us with tears in your eyes.” Please, readers, do cry for the glorious years of the British Raj.
And yes, as a gift to India, we will be promised that Nirav Modi will soon be back in India, so Shri Johnson does not have to answer embarrassing questions.
Ambassador Dr Deepak Vohra is Special Advisor to Prime Minister, Lesotho, South Sudan and Guinea-Bissau; and Special Advisor to Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Leh and Kargil.