UK visit could widen the cracks in Narendra Modi reign

London: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark three-day visit to the United Kingdom beginning on Thursday is poised to divide opinion among his hosts and the estimated 1.7 million British Indians.

While some 60,000 adoring members of the diaspora are set to attend the controversial Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s glitzy rally at Wembley Stadium on Friday, a variety of problems at home and abroad have left Modi open to criticism on his first visit to the UK since becoming Prime Minister last year.

This week’s trip will see Modi complete his unlikely journey from pariah to rock star in the eyes of the British establishment, as the UK rolls out the red carpet to a man who was persona non grata between 2002 and 2012 after he was accused of failing to stop deadly anti-Muslim riots when he was chief minister of his home state of Gujarat.

Modi will receive an official welcome afforded to only the most heavily favoured dignitaries. During his stay, the 65-year-old will enjoy lunch with Queen Elizabeth, address both the House of Commons and House of Lords, and indulge in an overnight stay at Chequers — British Prime Minister David Cameron’s private country residence in Buckinghamshire, 65km north-west of London.

Politicians and business leaders alike are welcoming Modi with open arms, with trade and investment agreements worth billions of pounds expected to be signed during his 72-hour stay.

Former Labour trade minister Patricia Hewitt, who is now chair of the UK India Business Council, has called on British companies to open their minds and join the 500-plus firms already operating in India.

“[Mr Modi’s] visit is an opportunity to celebrate one of the world’s closest and most successful relationships,” she wrote in The Daily Telegraph. “But if that is all we achieve, it will be a wasted opportunity. Many British companies still view India as too difficult. I hope Mr Modi’s visit will cause them to think again.”

Modi, while particularly popular with Gujaratis, has a broad appeal to many expats who hail from all over India despite his Hindu nationalist party’s humiliating election defeat in Bihar last week and subsequent rebuke from within the BJP.

Suresh Selvaraj, manager of the Moore Spice restaurant opposite Wembley Stadium, believes the PM is capable of fuelling the growth of what is already the world’s ninth biggest economy.

“He is particularly popular with Gujaratis because of his time as chief minister there, but I am from Chennai and people from our state also support him,” Selvaraj told Gulf News.

“His record of development in Gujarat was very good and now he is Prime Minister for the whole nation — we are expecting him to do good things for all India. People see him as a good leader, hopefully for a very long time.”

Not everybody is happy about Mr Modi’s visit, however, with the Awaaz Network arranging for the message ‘Modi not welcome’ to be projected on to the Houses of Parliament on Sunday, while Muslim, Sikh and Christian groups are reportedly planning a mass demonstration outside Downing Street when he meets Cameron.

Some 1,500 people from Nepal are also expected to protest because of India’s role in the ongoing blockades at border posts between the two countries.

UK-based Nepali Sudeep Bikram Thapa told Gulf News: “I was a great supporter [of Modi], but since the problems with our new constitution no fuel or gas is getting through. We are trying to solve our own problems but some Indian people have blockaded the border.

“Modi can’t solve the problem, so if we bring this issue into international focus we can help Nepal.”

Joseph Prince, an expat from Kerala, had other reasons for shunning Britain’s ‘Modi-mania’. “People supported him for many reasons and had a lot of hope. He suffered in his life and experienced many bad things so people expected him to do good, but many promises are not happening now,” he told Gulf News.

“He is not a favourite of mine and his defeat in the Bihar elections [last week] could be very important.”

Friday’s rally at Wembley — which is more used to hosting England’s footballers or world-famous musicians than politicians — comes just three months after his historic trip to the UAE, where tens of thousands of expat Indians cheered his every move at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.

But whether his UK visit — the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister in almost a decade — is as successful remains to be seen.

— The writer is a journalist based in London