He The Labour Occasion has emerged victorious from the UK elections However the complications in India-UK relations return a minimum of 25 years. It was 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of India’s independence from Britain, and the UK Conservative Occasion and the Indian authorities had been planning a go to by Queen Elizabeth II for the celebrations.
Nonetheless, in Could, the Conservative authorities led by John Main misplaced to the Labour Occasion led by Tony Blair. Additionally in India, a coalition authorities led by Inder Kumar Gujral took energy.
Earlier than arriving in India in October, Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip stopped in Pakistan. In Islamabad, throughout a state banquet, the queen mentioned India and Pakistan wanted to resolve variations over Kashmir.
British Overseas Secretary Robin Cook dinner, who was accompanying the Queen, made issues worse by providing to mediate an answer to the Kashmir problem throughout a non-public assembly with Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The provide to mediate on the Kashmir problem drew sharp condemnation from India, with then Prime Minister IK Gujral calling Britain a “third-rate energy”.
The Queen’s go to misplaced its goodwill and have become a mere formality. It was a diplomatic catastrophe.
The Labour Occasion’s stance on Kashmir and its obvious assist for Pakistan have led to a deterioration in ties with India and the British-Indian group.
LABOUR’S STANCE ON KASHMIR UNDER CORBYN’S GOVERNMENT
Underneath the management of Jeremy Corbyn, the In 2019, the Labor Occasion handed a decision supporting “worldwide intervention in Kashmir and a name for a UN-led referendum.”
This got here after India abrogated Article 370, which granted particular standing to Jammu and Kashmir.
Corbyn’s motion was seen as a transparent indication of the occasion’s assist for Pakistan’s stance and anti-India management.
Greater than 100 Indian teams wrote to Corbyn in protest and British-Indian voters voted for the Conservative Occasion to punish the Labour leaders.
After the election defeat, Labour Occasion chairman Ian Lavery admitted that the Kashmir movement had offended India and British Indians.
In his letter, Lavery pledged that “the Labour Occasion is not going to take a pro-India or pro-Pakistan stance on Kashmir,” The Guardian reported.
UK LABOUR LEADERS AND THE KHALISTAN STANCE
One other problem that has contributed to strained relations between the Labour Occasion and India is the presence of pro-Khalistan views inside the occasion.
Some Labour councillors are recognized to have espoused these views, which have been seen as a menace to India’s unity and sovereignty. The occasion’s failure to adequately deal with these views has additional eroded belief between the 2 nations.
Sikh Labour councillor Parbinder Kaur was underneath investigation by the Labour Occasion for sharing a pro-Khalistani put up, which even supported terrorist and militant teams which have assassinated leaders in India.
Kaur represented Smethwick on Sandwell council. She praised Babbar Khalsa in her position, the group accountable for the Kanishka bombing on Air India that killed 329 passengers. It’s recognised as a terrorist group within the UK and India.
One other Labour MP who was additionally a shadow minister, Preet Kaur Gill, was demoted by Starmer due to her pro-Khalistani views. She has been linked to the Smethwick Gurudwara, which has a shrine for Khalistani terrorists.
Whereas these Labour councillors have proven pro-Khalistan affiliations, the occasion has clarified its stance that it doesn’t assist any anti-India sentiments.
“If there’s any proof of that (anti-India sentiment), no matter group of individuals, I’ll do one thing about it,” mentioned Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Occasion and shadow secretary of state for girls and equalities.
THE LABOUR PARTY’S POSITION ON IMMIGRATION
Within the early 2000s, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair needed to take care of the issue of asylum, as there had been an enormous improve in asylum purposes as refugees from Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Kosovo arrived within the UK. Blair feared that failure to sort out the asylum downside would make them look incompetent.
Underneath Corbyn, Labour’s stance on immigration was clear: “Placing arbitrary numbers on the desk, as successive governments have achieved, merely would not work,” Corbyn had mentioned.
He had known as the conservative plan to deport immigrants to Rwanda barbaric.
Even now, underneath Starmer’s management, Labour has mentioned it can use the cash at present used to ship migrants to Rwanda for a distinct goal.
Labour is looking for to arrange a brand new Border Safety Command to sort out gangs working through small boats throughout the border.
Additionally they need to velocity up deportations to protected international locations for these individuals who don’t have any proper to remain right here” and “negotiate extra agreements there.”
The occasion plans to hunt the assistance of public officers to debate return preparations.
They plan to scale back web immigration and prepare extra British employees, and to cross legal guidelines banning employers from hiring expert employees from overseas. They can even cross legal guidelines to coach British employees.
They may preserve the ban on well being and care employees shifting their households to the UK.
KEIR STARMER’S LABOUR GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO BOOST LINKS WITH INDIA
The UK’s ties with India have been bettering because the Conservatives got here to energy, particularly underneath former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Bilateral ties had been upgraded to a Complete Strategic Partnership in 2022.
With Rishi Sunak, a politician of Indian origin, as prime minister, relations improved even additional.
Nonetheless, the Conservative Occasion is out and the Labour Occasion, led by Keir Starmer, is forming a authorities within the UK after 14 years.
Starmer leads a totally completely different Labour Occasion, one which has moved far-off from Corbyn’s anti-India stance.
The Labour Occasion underneath Starmer’s management has He pressured the significance of sustaining shut ties with India..
“We’d by no means take any group of voters with no consideration, wherever they arrive from – we’re working onerous to get everybody’s vote,” mentioned Anneliese Dodds, Labour Occasion chair and Shadow Secretary of State for Girls and Equalities.
“Past heat phrases, we need to construct a sensible and strong relationship. The Labour Occasion has talked quite a bit a few strategic partnership with India overlaying commerce, however we additionally need to see cooperation in different areas, equivalent to new applied sciences, the surroundings and safety,” he added.
Starmer himself tried to woo British Indian voters and India.
He visited the Swaminarayan Temple in Kingsbury on June 28 to reiterate his dedication to constructing a “strategic partnership with India.”
“If elected subsequent week, we’ll try to manipulate within the spirit of sewa to serve you and a world in want,” Starmer mentioned, reiterating his pledge that “there shall be no place for Hinduphobia in Britain.”
The Labour Occasion has received a historic mandate and appears set to construct on the sturdy ties with India that had been cemented throughout 14 years of Conservative rule.
“Change begins,” mentioned Prime Minister-elect Starmer In his first response to the outcomes, the shift is prone to be pro-India.