NEW DELHI: PM Modi and his counterpart Boris Johnson held extensive talks on Friday with the latter committing to build fighter jets, in a bid to possibly wean India away from Russia arms.
Also – what remained unsaid -- it will help put UK back in the big league, having lost out to the French after India signed the lucrative Rafale deal. Further details of the fighter jet collaboration were unclear.
Britain will also issue an open general export licence to India, which Downing Street sources said would speed up its defence procurement -- in a first outside the European Union or the US.
With big business taking precedence, Johnson did not ask PM Modi to strengthen his position against Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine. Nor was there any discussion on India's professed neutrality on the invasion at the UN.
India and the UK are also working on closing the negotiations for a free trade agreement by the end of this year. This is surely a takeaway for Johnson who is hoping for such a post-Brexit free trade deal before Diwali, which would shore up his ratings during the raging ‘partygate’ scandal. Johnson’s optimism notwithstanding, PM Modi is looking at signing an agreement only by the end of 2022.
Speaking about the extradition of Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya, he said, “There are legal technicalities which have made it very difficult. The UK government has ordered their extradition. We don’t welcome people who want to use our legal system to evade the law in India.”
Talking about extremist groups in the UK which have an agenda against India, Johnson said, “We've a very strong view that we don't tolerate extremist groups threatening other countries. We've even set up an anti-extremist task force to help India.”
On the prickly issue of human rights, Johnson was guarded. “India is a great democracy and has constitutional protections,” he said by way of explanation. “Of course, we have these conversations (on human rights or democratic values). The advantage of our friendship is that we can have them in a friendly way. It's very important to realise that India has constitutional protections for communities,” he added.
Johnson was also open to the possibility of accepting Delhi's demands for more immigration to the UK, saying the UK is short of 'hundreds of thousands' of IT workers.
Johnson, who got a warm welcome, said that he felt like Sachin Tendulkar upon his arrival (in Ahmedabad) and also like Amitabh Bachchan, when he saw (his) hoardings everywhere during his visit to Gujarat.
Addressing a joint press conference with PM Modi at Hyderabad House, he said he had a fantastic two-day tour on the invitation of his 'Khas Dost'. His coming to India during 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' is historic, PM Modi said, returning the courtesy.
Modi said they discussed the developments taking place at the regional and global level. "We emphasized the need to maintain in the Indo-Pacific region a free, open, inclusive and rules-based order.’’ He further welcomed the UK's decision to join the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative.
