When my constituent Jagtar Singh Johal was bundled into the back of a van by unidentified men who later turned out to be police in Jalandhar, Punjab, in November 2018, I can’t say I was much of an expert on Indian politics.
But in the intervening five years I’ve seen enough through following Jagtar’s case and the issues that it has raised to be continually amazed that we’re not hearing more about India and it’s increasingly important place in global affairs, or indeed what form the UK’s relationship with this rising power should take.
India’s surpassing of neighbour and rival China’s population earlier this year did not go unnoticed among foreign policy experts, and we have seen a slew of articles talking up India’s credentials as a potential partner for states hoping to hedge against Chinese dominance in the Indo Pacific region, along with those who point to India’s long-standing status as a non-aligned state that does not seek formal alliances, and instead seeks to pursue its own self interest at all costs.
Indeed, this month’s edition of the Washington’s global relations bible Foreign Affairs laid it on the line for readers: “It has refused to work with the United States on Iran, and it has made nice with Myanmar’s military regime. Most recently it has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
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This a complicated list of foreign policy complications with India that becomes more grave when we look at the domestic front. Foreign Affairs added: “Ever since Narendra Modi became Indian Prime Minister nine years ago, India’s status as a democracy has become increasingly suspect. The ‘world’s largest democracy’ has seen an upsurge of violence directed at its Muslim minority, often whipped up by prominent politicians. It is trying to strip citizenship from millions of Muslim residents. It is muzzling the press and silencing opposition figures.”
The torture my constituent says he suffered is not uncommon in a system defined by the state acting with impunity; his arbitrary detention is all too common in a legal system that is by most accounts filled with government cronies; and his status as a UK citizen of the Sikh faith has been used by both authorities and the media as grist to the mill of supposed foreign and neo-colonial interference in Indian politics to somehow stop its rise, facilitated by domestic minorities.
In this context, the haste with which the UK is continuing its quest for a Free Trade Agreement with the Indian Republic begins to seem a little unseemly. Continuing from the lack of attention paid to the UK’s supposed ‘Indo Pacific tilt’, it adds up to a lack of curiosity regarding a new post-Brexit reality where UK foreign policy needs to become more transactional and less focused on shared values and promoting democracy.
As a Member for the Defence Select Committee for five years, I recognise the important role India will play as a partner in the region: as a member representing a constituency that exports lots of whisky, I appreciate the opportunities that exist to do business with such a fast-growing and dynamic economy. But at what price?
India’s growing global role asks important questions of us all – and as long as Jagtar Singh Johal languishes in a maximum security prison I won’t be scared to keep asking them.
Martin Docherty-Hughes is the SNP MP for West Dunbartonshire
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