Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK’s Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has reached Delhi, India on Sunday for a week long visit, to foster a better trade relationship between the two countries, in the post-Brexit era. There has been a substantial increase in the ministerial visits to India over the last few months and Lord Ahmad’s visit is considered as a preamble to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit before G7 in June.
Lord Ahmad trip follows a visit by Liz Truss, Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade in early February and Alok Sharma MP, COP26 President-Designate in mid-February.
Reaching on Sunday 14 March 2021, Lord Ahmad’s meeting started on Monday in Delhi, followed by a trip to Chandigarh on Tuesday, Chennai on Wednesday, Hyderabad on Thursday and Mumbai on Friday, flying back to the UK on Saturday.
Speaking to Asian Voice, in an interview, Lord Ahmad said, “I will not be meeting Prime Minister Modi on this trip, but it is going to be a very important visit. I am meeting India’s Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and India’s Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad as well as a senior minister from Home Ministry."
Lord Ahmad, whose family roots lie in Punjab near Amritsar, is making his visit to India, amidst the Indian government’s strict message to UK Government to ‘keep off’ India’s domestic affairs.
Recently Foreign Secretary Shringla reached out to British High Commissioner Alex Ellis in New Delhi, to tell him that the recent debate in Parliament about farmers protests amounts to ‘gross interference’ in the domestic affairs of India. This debate took place on 8 March 2021 after more than 100,000 people signed a petition, compelling the Parliament to discuss the matter.
When Lord Ahmad was asked about his take on India’s reaction to ‘UK’s interference in their domestic affair’, he assured UK Government plans to stay out of India's 'internal affairs'. He said, “I have spoken to Indian High Commissioner to UK, Gaitri Issar Kumar. British High Commissioner Alex Willis had a very cordial meeting with Foreign Secretary Shringla. Mr Shringla expressed his concern over the debate (that took place on Monday).
"The Parliamentary schedule of the nature of these debates is not something the UK Government controls. In this case the petition sparked the debate. As a Government we are very clear, when it comes to the issues of farmers’ protest, this is an internal matter of India.
“There is a lot of Parliamentary interest that challenges us as a government, but in terms of accountability, we have made it very clear, the right to protest is a democratic right, and any response to any protest should be proportionate. Those who commit any acts which are against the means of the protest or law of the land, should be held to account. The Indian government has both sought arbitration and currently postponed the implementation to allow discussions to take place. But we regard the issue of the protest in terms of the principle of the issue, very much as an internal issue of the Government of India.”
