Arun Jaitley made a visit to the UK last week. He not only visited the UK to unveil Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament Square on 14th March, along with Amitabh Bachchan, but he also inaugurated the 95 year old bank, Union Bank of India in London. Along with Jaitley, Arun Tiwari was also at the inauguration as he is the Managing Director of the Union Bank in India.
At the event for the inauguration of the Union Bank of India, Jaitley spoke about various subjects, one being the unveiling of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament Square. “For all those who are Indians, living in India or British indians, as also for many others world over, this is a great occasion. If we look at the last century, they've broadly been three persons who represented a cause of their own. And historically got accepted by even the most fierce of the their adversaries. Dr Martin Luther King got accepted in that manner. Nelson Mandela was the second one and Gandhiji would certainly be the third person in that category. All three had the strength to use their moral power in order to drive over point. And this was particularly the greatness of Gandhiji that he used his moral power in getting us that independence.”
Jaitley went on to speak fondly about the relationship between Britain and India and similarities in ethos and values between the two cultures, in terms of politically as well as economically as well. “I see a lot of very successful British Indians in the galaxy of this audience today. And it's this relationship between Great Britain and India which is probably one of the most paradoxical relationships. For a country which agitated against the British for its freedom, and I always believe that we got freedom almost by mutual consent. We got freedom without bitterness. And almost 1.5 million Indians accepted Britain today as their own home, have done exceedingly well. Our political systems and our faiths in various institutions which strengthen and preserved democracy is almost identical. Economic integration of the two countries to trade is yet another area where we've grown.”
Over the decades, the relationship between Britain and India has proven to be fruitful, especially in terms of investments and with further developments in the UK by Indian organisations, such as the recent opening of the Union Bank of India and the honouring of Mahatma Gandhi at Parliament Square shows that further prolificness and eminence is definitely certain.
Photo courtesy: Raj D Bakrania, Prmediapix
