A day after announcing that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January, the visiting British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday said that he has “discussed” the situation arising out of the farmers’ protests with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and underlined that “your politics” is, in some sense, “our politics” because of the Indian diaspora in Britain.
In an interaction with select Indian journalists in New Delhi after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Raab, however, said that India has a “vibrant heritage of peaceful protests”, the UK “respects it”.
After the meeting, Modi tweeted, “Excellent meeting with @DominicRaab, UK Secretary of State of @FCDOGovUK. Discussed the vast potential of the India-UK partnership in the post-COVID, post-BREXIT world. Looking forward to next month’s visit by PM @BorisJohnson as Chief Guest at our Republic Day celebrations.”
Responding to questions on the farmers’ protests, Raab, 46, said, “ I discussed the situation with Foreign minister Jaishankar and obviously, we respect the fact that the reforms going through your system here are domestic reforms. Of course, they have elicited the protests that you refer to, and your politics – in some sense – because of the Indian diaspora in Britain, is our politics. But I think, India, as well as having a market-driven economy also has a vibrant heritage of peaceful protests and vigorous debate, and we watch that with interest and we respect it.”