State of the Union

Alpesh Patel Wednesday 31st January 2018 08:03 EST
 

I write to you the week President Trump makes his first State of the Union address. For over 20 years, I have stayed awake to watch this – even before I worked in the US Congress.

But this year, as I am in India, I can watch it in the morning UK time. And as I am in India, it makes sense to refer to India and the UK.

When Barak Obama made his inaugural speech upon election he specifically mentioned Hindus. Now the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament, upon the election of the coalition Government specifically mentioned India. It must be nice to be wanted.

‘Britons have made a national sport out of saying the country is going to the dogs since they handed India back in 1947,’ wrote a journalist for the National Post during the recent British General Election campaign.

Even before Brexit, back in 2010 I wrote in this paper during the financial crisis: “Given that the United Kingdom is in financial crisis, part of a European Union in even greater political and financial crisis, whose two major trading partners – the EU and US  - both fear ruin, will the new UK Government simply look inward, or will it realise the central part India can play in helping British interests?”

According to a recent Queen’s Speech in Parliament, on foreign policy, the Government will seek “lasting security and stability in Afghanistan” and “an enhanced partnership with Pakistan and India”.

David Cameron vowed to build a "new special relationship" with India, believing the country can become a major political and trade partner. And there is much reason to believe this is more than rhetoric.

Before he was PM, Cameron wrote ‘Our relationship with India goes deep. But I think it can and should go deeper. Our special relationship with America is well known. But as the world’s centre of gravity moves from Europe and the Atlantic to the south and the east, I think it's time for Britain and India to forge a new special relationship for the twenty-first century.

For too long, politics in this country has been obsessed with Europe and America. Of course these relationships are, and will continue to be, vital. But serious and responsible leadership today means engaging with much more energy in the parts of the world where our strategic interests will increasingly lie.”

David Cameron could not have realised that thanks to his Brexit Referendum, who true this would be. He has done more to make UK-India a closer relationship – out of necessity if nothing else than probably any PM since the Second World War.

And as the current PM heads to China – noticeably there has been no overt praise for the Chinese Belt project – something which India two sees very cautiously. It’s not about economic growth, but a power grab. And if someone must have power, I would rather first it was my country, second an ally and only third an adversary – and never an enemy.


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