The fight against racism is never entirely won
NEW DELHI: The rise of populist and extremist political forces in the West and racist attacks on minorities such as Indians can be countered by addressing the concerns of people who feel they did not benefit from globalisation, former British prime minister David Cameron said on Saturday.
Cameron acknowledged at the 14th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit that he lost his job this summer because of a “populist upsurge” in Britain.
“I think the answer is you have to condemn the racism, the xenophobia, the discrimination, but you have to take away from the populists the mainstream issues that give them a proper platform,” he said, responding to a question on extreme views of leaders such as the UKIP’s Nigel Farage about minorities.
The fight against racism and intolerance is “never entirely won” and has to be fought by every generation, he added.
Cameron also made a strong pitch against terrorism, saying terrorists cannot be segregated into “good” and “bad” camps and all countries have to ensure they are brought to justice.
In a wide-ranging conversation with HT’s editor-in-chief Bobby Ghosh, he called for the strengthening of the India-UK partnership he had overseen along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An essential element of this modern partnership was the “appalling threat” faced by Britain and India in “fighting and defeating terrorism, particularly Islamist extremist terrorism”, he said.
“I admire what your prime minister has said about wanting a clear and common definition of terrorists. There are no more good terrorists or bad terrorists, there are simply terrorists and whatever country they are in, all countries have a responsibility to stand up to them, to bring them to justice and put an end to what they do,” Cameron said.
During a post-session interview, Cameron acknowledged that Pakistan was among the countries he was referring to when he spoke about the need for action against all terrorists.
He responded to a question on the Indian government’s controversial demonetisation drive, saying it could help address key issues such as corruption, getting more people into the banking network, growing the digital economy, and increasing the tax base to fund infrastructure, which he described as one of the “greatest constraints” for India. DAVID CAMERON, Former British Prime Minister DEEPAK CHOPRA, Spiritual guru NITISH KUMAR, Bihar chief minister DANIEL TWINING,
Director and senior fellow, Asia Program, German Marshall Fund of the United States SACHIN TENDULKAR, Indian cricket legend DAVID SEDLAK, Environmental expert PIYUSH GOYAL, Union power minister N CHANDRABABU NAIDU, Andhra Pradesh chief minister ALYSSA AYERS, Senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations JEFFREY SACHS, Professor,
Columbia University