Pak is not as dominant… I keep saying it is Indo-Pac with a ‘c’ and not Indo-Pak with a ‘k’: British High Commissioner | Idea Exchange News,The Indian Express

British High Commissioner Alexander Ellis on India being a top priority for the UK, echoes of the past, the violence in Leicester and how there is no justification for Russian invasion of Ukraine. The conversation was moderated by Deputy Chief of Bureau, Shubhajit Roy

Alexander Ellis: I was here in 1986. I was 18 then and it was an overwhelming experience. India is a very old set of civilisations and so in some aspects, it’s a very identifiable country. What’s different is entrepreneurship and capitalism. There are big changes in terms of moving away from a particular economic policy into a different one. It’s a more prosperous country. Back then you could get Limca, Thums Up or Goldspot but no bottled water. The only foreign car was Maruti. And a lot more people on bicycles. In that sense, it feels quite different. But at the same time, it is an old complex country. So the same but very different.

Shubhajit Roy: India is celebrating 75 years of Independence. PM Modi in his speeches, especially at the Red Fort on August 15, and then later S Jaishankar at the UN, talked about ‘coming out of the colonial mindset’. How do you see that speech?

Ellis: I go to the Red Fort each August 15th and listen to that speech. First of all, it is a good test of my Hindi, which I probably fail, and second, I like to watch the physicality of a leader. I always think about the future whilst knowing and respecting the past. So what I really hear in PM Modi is him talking about India becoming a developed country by 2047, then the kind of long-term ambition which he sets and the path India is on. In Glasgow, at the climate change summit last year, he spoke about India becoming net zero by 2070. We are two sovereign equals, who are looking to the future and trying to do all the things which will develop our economies and societies in the next 25 years. I’m aware there’s a debate in India, about the past and so forth. That is for India to have. The British High Commissioner should be thinking about British interests and how they work and the UK-India partnership. Both my grandfathers lived in this country. My maternal grandfather was in the Indian Army. I still have echoes of that past. You have to know it and respect it. But I don’t want the UK and India to get stuck in it.

Shubhajit Roy: Do you get a sense of bitterness or hostility in some of your conversations with Indian politicians, interlocutors, and bureaucrats?

Ellis: It’s always going to be a more complex relationship because any post-colonial relationship is. When I was the British ambassador to Brazil, I could see the complex relationship between Portugal and Brazil. My wife is Portuguese but I was an observer. But here, you are in it. That brings great things. Look at the talent that has come from India to the UK in the last 75 years. That’s a product of a historic relationship from which the UK benefits enormously. Whether that is senior politicians on both sides of the two main political parties or ministers, whether it is intellectuals such as the president of the Royal Society (Venkatraman Ramakrishnan), who was born in Tamil Nadu, or the England cricket captain (Nasser Hussain) born in Chennai — that flow of people is a great thing. I have to be particularly conscious of what I say and do because I represent a country, which was once a colonial power. Sometimes, miscommunication can grow fast. What I’d like to do more of is to update people in the UK to really understand the reality of India today. I’d like more British people to come here not just as tourists, but also as tech entrepreneurs or researchers. It’d be great for people to see how fast India is changing.

https://indianexpress.com/article/idea-exchange/alexander-ellis-interview-indo-pak-relations-8186522/


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