‘India-UK Ties Will Strengthen Post-Brexit’

NEW DELHI: Post-Brexit, India will find itself being wooed more assiduously by the UK and the European Union. As Ranjan Mathai, former foreign secretary and former high commissioner to the UK, points out in an interview with StratNews Global Opinion Editor Ashwin Ahmad, the formal exit of the UK from the EU on January 31 will see the UK turning more to global power centres, among which is India. Mathai believes that post-Brexit, the India-UK relationship will only get stronger with the UK likely to put greater focus on sharing defence technology then it has in the past. India must, however, continue to be watchful of the “Pakistani element” within the UK whose protests are likely to increase. Coming to Europe and the EU’s CAA resolution, Mathai says such anti-India resolutions are nothing new as pro-Pakistan lobbies have been pushing the European Parliament to take up resolutions on Kashmir, Punjab, Narmada dam etc. While he concedes that the CAA resolution is “bad optics” and India must work more actively to woo EU parliamentarians and the western media, many of whom have written many negative articles about it, he believes that PM Modi’s upcoming visit to Brussels will see both sides more willing to do business then has been the case in the past.