AHMEDABAD: Britain said yesterday it would end a 10-year boycott of the leader of India’s western Gujarat state imposed because of deadly religious riots there in 2002 that left three Britons dead. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi (pictured), a right-wing Hindu nationalist, came to power shortly before the riots, triggered by the deaths of nearly 60 Hindu pilgrims in a train fire that was initially blamed on a mob of Muslims.
He is accused of doing too little to prevent the blood-letting, which left up to 2,000 mainly Muslims dead in an orgy of violence and arson. Government figures put the death toll at about 1,000.
Britain’s junior foreign minister Hugo Swire has asked the British ambassador to India to visit Gujarat and meet Modi, now tipped as a possible future prime minister, to discuss a “wide range of issues of mutual interests”, a statement said.
“We want to secure justice for the families of the British nationals who were killed in 2002 (riots), we want to support human rights and good governance in the state,” Swire was quoted as saying in the statement. Previously, British officials were forbidden to deal directly with Modi. But there were contacts with senior bureaucrats in Gujarat, where British companies have investments, an embassy source in New Delhi said.
“Better late than never,” Modi, a leading figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who is credited with drawing investment to business-friendly Gujarat, wrote on Twitter after the announcement.
“This is a significant announcement from the UK. It recognises the progress Gujarat has made in the past 11 years under the leadership of Modi,” added his official blog.
Most European Union countries were also initially part of the boycott, though some have since resumed ties with the Gujarati government given the state’s economic importance and Modi’s rising political fortunes.
Attention is now likely to turn to the stance of France and Germany, as well as the United States which has refused to grant him a visa since 2005. Britain’s move to resume links came less than two months after a court sentenced a former member of Modi’s government to 28 years in jail for her role in instigating the 2002 riots.
The August 31 sentencing of Maya Kodnani, who served as minister from 2007-2009, was seen as a setback for Modi, who has always denied any personal involvement in the riots and who has been cleared by inquiries.
Despite the scars of the sectarian violence, Gujarat in recent years has lured foreign firms with reliable power supply, good infrastructure by Indian standards, and the availability of educated but cheap labour. The three British nationals were burnt to death in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat along with their Indian driver. AFP
