LONDON, Nov 13:
Facing attack back home over the issue of intolerance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India’s diversity was the country’s “strength and pride” and underlined the importance of peaceful co-existence.
Modi also said that there is no reason for India to remain poor, asserting. “we harbor poverty for no reason.”
“India is full of diversity. This diversity is our pride and it is our strength. Diversity is the speciality of India.” he said, adding that despite the country being home to diverse religions, over 100 languages and 1,500 dialects Indians have proved how to live together.
Modi was addressing thousands of people, almost all of Indian origin, at a Grand Community reception in his honour at the iconic Wembley Stadium, home to rock concerts and England’s national soccer team. The event was themed ‘Two Great Nations, One Glorious Future’.
Courting the Indian diaspora with rock star-style tour on the second day of his three-day visit to the UK—the first by an Indian Premier in 10 years—, Modi got a rapturous welcome when he reached one of Britain’s most famous sporting venues this evening. An estimated 60,000 people were present at the event, according to the organisers.
“Your warm welcome makes me feel home,” Modi told the biggest gathering of Indian diaspora he has ever addressed since assuming office in May 2014.
Modi was introduced to the gathering by British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose wife Samantha, draped in a saree, was also present.
Cameron greeted the assembled audience with a “Namaste” which drew loud cheers and followed up with another greeting “‘kem cho’(How are you?) Wembley” in Gujarati. He renewed his pitch for India getting a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
“When it comes to UN we know what needs to happen- India with a permanent seat at the UN Security Council,” Cameron said.
Britain has a 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora population. The event was held in a carnival atmosphere following celebrations for Diwali festival.
Performers included Indian-origin pop star Jay Sean, popular Bollywood singer ‘Baby Doll’ Kanika Kapoor and Alisha Chinai, who belted out her famous ‘Made in India’ Hindi number of the 90s, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
A dynamic cultural show showcasing dance styles prevailing across India besides a variety of dance mixes with Bollywood songs was on display. The audience also heard classical, folk art and contemporary music performances. There was also a performance by Scottish bagpipers.
Special ‘ModiExpress’ buses were deployed to transport the attendees from across the UK.
Modi, who acknowledged that terrorism is a challenge to both India and the UK, asserted that the Sufi tradition is the best antidote to terrorism and anybody who understood the message of this tenet would not have picked up the gun.
“Kabir and Rahim have been our inspirations. Sufi tradition is the best antidote to terrorism,” he said, adding the two main challenges facing the world today are terrorism and global warming.
Addressing the issue of terrorism, Cameron said this is a threat to the very existence of the two countries and they stand shoulder-to-shoulder to tackle it, reminding the gathering about the Mumbai and London attacks.
Modi said that his experience in the office in 18 months has made it clear to him that there is no reason for India to remain poor.
“There is no reason for India to remain poor, we harbor poverty for no reason. I wonder why we have started pampering povery” he said, adding that India’s demographic profile is predominantly of youth and hence nobody can stall the country’s development.
“65 per cent of the population of the country consists of people below 35 years. India is full of youth and a country which has so many youth cannot continue to lag behind. Nobody can halt its march to development,” he said.
On Indo-UK relations, Modi said, “Between two vibrant democracies we are celebrating this very special relationships in this very special venue,” Modi stated.
“I was told London will be cold but not so cold. Your warm welcome makes me feel at home. I am grateful to PM Cameron for his kind words,” Modi said.
“I want to thank PM Cameron and acknowledge the affection he has towards India,” he added.
Earlier, top CEOs from India and the UK today pitched for a more transparent and consistent decision-making regime as also a uniform treatment of corporates across the world, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to “ceaselessly” work towards Indian economy’s integration with the world.
A reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum, during its first meeting today, identified six overarching themes as important areas of collaboration to take forward — smart cities and the digital economy, healthcare sector, education and skills, engineering, defence and security, and financial and professional services.
The meeting took place in presence of Modi as well as his British counterpart David Cameron.
“We are confidently, consistently and ceaselessly working to integrate our economy with the world,” Modi told the gathering at 11 Downing Street, next door to Cameron’s office in London.
Cameron encouraged the company chairs and chief executives to identify the “best ways to build new trade partnerships and investment opportunities and use the strength of existing commercial relationships to identify and build more partnerships between innovative Indian and UK companies”.
The forum was co-chaired by Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry on the Indian side and Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone on the UK side.
“The common ask of the industry in both countries is a business environment characterised by simplicity in structures and processes, clarity and transparency in decision-making and uniformity and consistency in the treatment of corporates and people across borders,” Mistry said.
“The new UK-India CEO Forum provides a powerful foundation with which to implement initiatives that will bring our two countries closer together, based on mutual respect and shared values,” said Mistry, who was joined by the likes of Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tata Consultancy Services CEO & MD N Chandrasekaran and Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani.
“Today’s meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate the success of the UK-India commercial relationship. India is the third largest investor in the UK, and the UK is the largest G20 investor in India,” Gerry Grimstone said.
“This forum will forge deeper collaboration in areas where there is scope to take relationship to the next levels,” said Grimstone, whose UK team included leading British company representatives like Vodafone chief executive Vitorio Calao, BAE CEO Ian King and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East.
The UK is the largest G20 investor in India, with 535 UK businesses employing 691,000 people across the country in sectors as diverse as retail, infrastructure, construction, information and communications technology, creative industries and healthcare.
In the UK, around 800 Indian businesses employ 110,000 people.
“The two Prime Ministers welcomed the first meeting of the reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum. This Forum will be tasked with advising the Prime Ministers about the trade and investment opportunities and challenges,” a joint statement issued by Modi and Cameron said.
The forum is backed by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Modi had sought to pre-empt some of the issues around taxation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and intellectual property rights (IPR) that were expected to feature in the closed-door talks today during his speech at the Guildhall in the City of London on Thursday evening.
“We have taken very decisive steps to remove a number of long pending concerns. To give you some examples, we have expedited regulatory clearances including security and environmental clearance…,” Modi had said.
“We have clearly articulated that we will not resort to retrospective taxation and demonstrated this position in a number of ways. This includes not going for imposition of Minimum Alternate Tax on FPIs…We have rationalised the capital gains tax regime for Real Estate Investment Trusts. We have taken several initiatives for transparency and online processing in IP administration,” the Prime Minister added.
“A comprehensive National IPR policy is being finalised,” he told the gathering in the heart of London’s financial district.
On the second day of Modi’s three-day visit, deals worth nearly 9.2 billion pounds have already been announced that include 28 business-to-business agreements.
“It was a full day of engagement which included the conclusion of a civil nuclear agreement. Details of this will become clear over time but it involves a full chain agreement which will cover research and exchange of best practices… It opens up a whole world of opportunities for both countries,” an MEA spokesperson said.
Vodafone’s announcement of a 1.3-billion pounds investment package for India has been highlighted as a “big positive story” of the visit as the company has been at the centre of taxation rows in the past.
Other key investment announcements include King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Indo UK Healthcare Pvt Ltd’s agreement to open King’s College Hospital in Chandigarh, which will lead to the creation of jobs for 2,500 nurses and 500 doctors.
Genus ABS will be investing 1 million pounds in India, providing the latest dairy genetics and constructing a state-of-the-art facility near Pune in Maharashtra.
The largest Solar PV generator in the UK and Europe, Lightsource have announced 2-billion pounds investment in India.
E-commerce cloud platform provider, cloudBuy, is signing a contract with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for an online business to business marketplace.
Over the next five years, the platform is projected to facilitate transactions worth 3.5 billion pounds and increase trade further between traditional business partners India and the UK, with an estimated boost to the UK economy of 70 million pounds.
In a deal worth 20 million pounds, Holland & Barrett International are announcing that they have partnered with Apollo Hospitals, and are to open 1,000 Holland & Barrett outlets in India over the next five years, creating an expected 1,500 jobs in India.
Modi is expected to conclude his visit to the UK with a tour of one of the biggest success stories of India-UK collaboration – Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover’s plant in Solihull, in the West Midlands region, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Modi today met Queen Elizabeth II over a luncheon at Buckingham Palace for the first time during his high-profile visit to the UK.
Modi arrived at the Buckingham Palace in a Jaguar – built by the Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – on the second day of his maiden three-day official visit to Britain.
He was welcomed by the Master of the Household, the Queen’s representative, as he entered the Palace with the words “A very warm welcome to you, sir.”
The 89-year-old Queen greeted Modi, shaking hands with him before they moved on to inspect items from the Royal Collection, brought out specially for the Prime Minister’s visit.
These included photographs of the Queen dating back to her India visit when she was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in 1961.
Meanwhile, Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will undertake their first visit to India in the first half of next year, Kensington Palace announced today coinciding with Modi’s maiden UK trip.
The announcement came soon after Prime Minister Modi was hosted for lunch by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be visiting India in spring (February-June) next year. This is their first visit to the country and has been planned on the request of the British government,” a Kensington Palace spokesperson told PTI.
It is believed the couple, both aged 33, will visit the Taj Mahal among other tourist destinations in the country.
Whether the couple will be accompanied by their children — Prince George and Princess Charlotte — along with other details of the tour will be known by early next year.
The visit is set to be their first official overseas tour together since their three-day tour of New York in December 2014.
It will be the first time William and Kate have visited the region, and as such they will undertake a broad range of engagements during their time in India, reports said.
Although Prince William has never visited India before, his father Prince Charles has carried out eight official royal tours to the nation, the most recent being a nine-day tour of Dehradun, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Kochi in November 2013.
William’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, also visited India in 1992.
Queen last travelled to India in 1997. (PTI)
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