#India #Kashmir #Britain
U-turn just for show as Labour leaders will continue to attack India on Kashmir
The recent statement by Britain’s Labour party referring to the issue of Jammu and Kashmir as a ‘bilateral matter’ will come as music to India’s ears coming as it does after some particularly anti-India sentiments on Kashmir voiced by Labour leader and Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn. But while India will exult in this ‘victory’ brought about by British Indian and Hindu organisations such as the Overseas Friends Of The BJP (UK) who had threatened to campaign against the Labour party in key constituencies should it not tone down its rhetoric it will also be well aware of the fact that Corbyn remains fervently anti-Indian when it comes to Kashmir and that he could very well be Britain’s next PM should Boris Johnson lose the general election on December 12.
The questions then arise. How can and should India handle this? Will it be able to re-calibrate relations with a Corbyn-led government? Can the Labour party be persuaded to give up its long-held anti-India stance on Kashmir? SNI’s Deputy Editor Parul Chandra and Opinion Editor Ashwin Ahmad discuss the answers to these questions and what they mean for UK-India relations going forward.