British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is unlikely to lecture New Delhi publicly on the need to cut ties with Russia during his two-city India visit — beginning Thursday — while continuing to work with other like-minded countries to provide India alternatives to Russian procurements in defence and energy sectors.
Ahead of his arrival in Ahmedabad on Thursday, British newspapers on Wednesday reported that Boris had told his cabinet that Britain “would not seek to lecture other democratically elected governments on what course of action was best for them’’, echoing a stance taken publicly in New Delhi by his foreign secretary Liz Truss last month.
Sources here sought to draw a distinction between how the UK and the US conduct diplomacy: the former preferring quiet diplomacy to Washington’s more patronising nature. “Truss had said that ‘I am not going to lecture India on what it should do’, and I don’t think the Prime Minister will do it either. It is not his style. We are not in the business of telling other countries what they should do,’’ sources said.
They added that Boris can be expected to explain UK’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during his bilateral engagement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In London, the Daily Mail quoted Downing Street as saying that “the PM told Cabinet ministers this morning that the UK would ‘continue to work with other countries to provide alternative options for defence procurement and energy for India to diversify supply chains away from Russia’”.
India over the past month has seen a series of visitors from western capitals come to New Delhi to make the Modi government change its position on the conflict. On this crisis, the Modi government has fallen back on the Nehruvian policy of strategic autonomy much to the disappointment of the western world.
Asked if Boris was likely to raise human rights issues with Modi given the escalation in violations in different parts of India during the run-up to the visit, sources said talks will cover a broad range of subjects but did not go into specifics.
On Sunday, Boris himself had laid out his priorities for this twice-cancelled visit in a series of tweets. “This week I’ll be travelling to India, to deepen the long-term partnership between our countries. As we face threats to our peace and prosperity from autocratic states, it is vital that democracies and friends stick together.
“India, as a major economic power and the world’s largest democracy, is a highly valued strategic partner for the UK in these uncertain times. My visit to India will deliver on the things that really matter to the people of both our nations — from job creation and economic growth, to energy security and defence.’’
Boris was to travel to India in January 2021 as the guest for the Republic Day Parade but had to cancel that visit because of the Covid second wave.
It was rescheduled for April by which time India was in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic.
