Blair, Straw to visit India to cement ties

On conservative member Peter Luff’s contention that Britain should remind the new Indian government the importance of maintaining their commitment to open markets and liberalisation, Straw recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was one of the pioneers of the economic liberalisation programme that began in the 1990s.

He said this has laid the foundation for India’s remarkable economic progress since then.

Describing the new Indian government as ‘‘broadly based,’’ Straw said it has a ‘‘Sikh Prime Minister, a Muslim President, a Hindu External Affairs Minister and a Christian leader of the largest party. That emphasises the triumph of Indian democracy and its secular society’’.

About the observation made by Labour Party member John Cryer that the secular future always sought by Congress being ‘‘undermined and sabotaged by the neo-fascists of the BJP’’, Straw said ‘‘May I make it clear that we had very good relations — close personal and close institutional governmental relations — with the previous government of India and high level respect for their leaders.’’

Straw made it clear that he would not get involved in the internal affairs of the Indian government or political parties in that country.

‘‘The important thing is that there was a free and democratic elections; the people of India made their decision and we should respect it,’’ he said.