- Thursday, May 09, 2024
The opposition leader recently said his party had committed mistakes in its approach to relations with the South Asian nation and that it would seek closer ties if elected to power.
By: Shubham Ghosh
UK OPPOSITION leader Keir Starmer has vowed to reset relations between his Labour Party and India after years of tension that existed between the two.
On Monday (26), he said that his party had committed mistakes in its approach to relations with the South Asian nation and that it would seek closer ties if elected to power in the general elections next year.
The party’s reputation in Delhi and among British Indian voters in the UK has taken a beating in recent years, thanks to factors such as taking a critical position on India on the question of Jammu and Kashmir and allegations by some British Indians that it has focused more on poorer inner-city Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities.
Speaking at the UK-India Week conference, Starmer said the Labour Party gave an impression in the past that it could only see the lives of people in communities that needed its support. He then said that it now understands what working people in every community need — success, aspiration and security.
“There are lots of issues in the Labour party where, over the last two years, we have openly taken the decision to change our party to look out to the world in a different way – and to recognise when it comes to India, what an incredible, powerful, important country India is … and to ensure that we have the right relationship as we go forward,” Starmer was quoted as saying.
The Labour Party’s ties with India and with its voters has suffered in recent years as the Narendra Modi government has pursued a Hindu nationalist agenda. The British party, on the other hand, has been accused of taking sides with Pakistan in the dispute over Kashmir.
There are nearly two million British Indians, making them the largest ethnic group in the UK, and a potentially important source of votes in constituencies that are known for their swing tendencies.
In August 2019, days after the Modi government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two Union Territories, the Labour reacted saying New Delhi’s decision threatens stability in the region and the possibilities of a peaceful resolution.
In September the same year, the party passed in a conference in Brighton a resolution backing “international intervention in Kashmir and a call for a United Nations-led referendum.
As the British Indian voters swayed away from Labour, a study in 2021 showed that the party’s support among UK Indians slipped from 60 per cent to 40 per cent in the previous decade with Muslim voters more likely to back it than the Hindus.
