LONDON – In an unusual event, India gets a diplomatic snub from UK overinterference in country’s internal affairs.
A before the U.K. election which resulted in a big majority for PrimeMinister Boris Johnson, the British government sent a message to theMinistry of External Affairs and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) toexpress its concerns that the party was taking a partisan stand on theelection.
*The Hindu* has learnt that a senior British diplomat met the BJP’s ForeignCell Head in Delhi to express the concerns, after interviews given byBJP-affiliated OF-BJP (Overseas Friends of BJP) leaders, includingpresident Kuldip Singh Shekhawat, that indicated that the Indian rulingparty would prefer a Conservative party win.
“We raised concerns over remarks made in London by OFBJP that the BJP wassupporting Conservative candidates”, a source said about the matters raisedduring the meeting, adding that they “received assurances that [the BJPwas] not.”
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The interviews referred in particular to the Labour Party Conference’s“emergency motion” on the “human rights situation” in Kashmir, which itsubsequently regretted, where OFBJP officials spoke of the need to defeatwhat they called the “anti-India” Labour party.
