Britain’s foreign office minister Jeremy Browne, who is the lead minister in the FCO on India, said on Thursday that “political factors” had led the UK not to consider upgrading its trade mission in Gujarat to the status of a deputy high commission.
Britain recently announced it would set up two new deputy high commissions in Hyderabad and Chandigarh in India, increasing the total number of missions to seven. The main reason for expanding the diplomatic presence, Mr Browne, a Liberal Democrat MP, said was to improve trade relationship with India and to develop a deeper understanding of regulatory and political scenario in India.
Gujarat, with the presence of a large diaspora in the UK, was not considered as a potential venue for a new deputy high commission, Mr Browne indicated, due to the chief minister Narendra Modi.
“His presence in the political context is relevant to the decision,” Mr Browne said, without naming the Gujarat chief minister.
“We have held back from having a deeper and meaningful relationship due to the political impediments,” Mr Browne said, indicating that the UK would rethink its decision if “these impediments” to having an upgraded mission are removed.”
The UK, he said, has had no engagement with Mr Modi since the Gujarat riots. “The position we have taken since the 2002 riots especially with regard to the human rights abuses as they gave us sufficient cause for concern that we have not engaged with him as the chief minister since then,” Mr Browne said.
The UK be in a position to change its mind one the ongoing judicial process is resolved.
“We are not saying that his presence in the political landscape is an automatic trigger, it’s not as if we are waiting with a flag rolled up in a box, ready to unroll it as soon as there is a political change,” Mr Browne said, conceding that political changes in the state would lead the UK to consider an upgrade if it was consistent with their plans at the time.
The new missions, which will start functioning in the next few months, were described by Mr Browne as a vote of confidence by the UK into the growth potential of India.
Commenting on the Vodafone issue, Mr Browne said the concern that businesses have is about the moving of regulatory and tax goalposts retrospectively. It is self-defeating for any country to send out a message, which is not favourable about the investment potential there, he said.
Britain, he said, was very enthusiastic about the trade agreements between the European Union and the major growing economies.
However, the India-EU FTA was still on the negotiating table, he said, and is not at a stage where a deal is imminent in the next few months.
On the issue of liberalisation of the retail sector in India, Mr Browne said that Britain understood the sensitivity around smaller retailers and added that even in the UK similar concerns have been raised about the suture of high streets and smaller retailers. However, he said that the rationale for change was pretty compelling in India as the development of the supply chains and better efficiency would bring benefits for the Indian consumers.