The visit to India by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is part of a growing trend of major powers stepping up their engagement with the Narendra Modi government before the new administration imparts decisive direction to its >external policies . Ahead of the arrival of the visitors from London, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was in New Delhi to give fresh direction to a deep-rooted but complex special relationship between Russia and India. Significantly, the guest from Moscow signalled Russia’s intent to rope in India as a strategic energy partner — as a consumer of Russian gas that would be transited through China.
The other visits have been less ambitious in scale, but the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, who followed Mr. Rogozin, pursued an ambitious agenda, pushing for the possible sale to India of Rafale fighter jets as well as French nuclear reactors. The high-profile >John McCain , the Senator from Arizona in the United States, also landed in the national capital — his visit preceded by his powerful advocacy for Washington’s active participation in India’s perceived military rise. The defence element also seemed strong during talks between the two British Ministers and their Indian counterparts. The British evidently have still not lost hope in upstaging the French by trying to convince their Indian interlocutors that the Typhoon jets that the British are involved in producing, would better protect Indian skies than the French Rafale. However, it will be erroneous to brand the Hague-Osborne visit as a window-dressed exercise in military salesmanship. Though trade between India and the United Kingdom has not picked up sufficient steam, and pales in comparison to New Delhi’s commercial relationship with many other countries, India along with China remains central to Mr. Cameron’s economic revival strategy. Besides, the terms of India’s engagement with the U.K. are rapidly evolving. Unlike as in the past, Indian companies have become major investors in Britain, the mutation amplified by the stunning success in the turnaround in Britain of the ailing Jaguar Land Rover venture by the Tata Group. Even during the latest visit, India’s Cipla announced it would invest $171 million for drugs research in the U.K., while the Mahindras will pump in a little over $34 million to develop electric cars in Britain. London remains a leading financial centre, and no country in the world can ignore its importance to global commerce. As India diversifies its diplomatic and commercial ties, a thriving relationship with Britain can be leveraged to bolster its finely nuanced relationships with other major constituents of a multi-polar world.
