Cameron ignores the Indian in the room

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has delivered a speech at a British Indian awards ceremony — without saying a word about India or Anglo-Indian relations.

The Indian high commissioner to Britain, Ranjan Mathai, and Conservative Party politician Sajid Javid, who is tipped to be Cameron’s successor, attended the GG2 Leadership Awards dinner in London on Wednesday.

With general elections in Britain just six months away, Cameron tried to woo the British Indian community, saying: “Tonight is about celebrating all those pioneers and trailblazers, people who have done so well.”

However, most people of Indian origin who have settled in Britain generally vote for the Labour Party, with an estimated 65% choosing the left-wing political party in the last general elections.

Cameron’s Tory government has also cracked down on immigration, so fewer Indians are studying at Britain’s institutions of higher learning.

The prime minister’s speech was made on the day researchers at University College London revealed that immigrants from outside the European Union, the bulk of whom are Indians, cost the British exchequer £120-billion between 1995 and 2011.

These immigrants have drawn more in benefits than they have paid in taxes.

In his speech, Cameron said: “In Britain today, there are still too few ethnic minorities in top positions. The absence is glaring.

“First, we need to remove the barriers that stop people getting on.

“Second, we need to attack prejudice in all its forms.

“Let me be clear: there is no place for intolerance in this country.”

Five years ago, Cameron was enthusiastic about Britain’s “special relationship” with New Delhi and recently praised the change of government in India.

But on Wednesday night he made no mention of his country’s ties with its former colony, merely saying: “Indian diplomats are allergic to the term ‘British Asian’. They do not approve of India and Indians being clubbed together in a generic form.”

Cameron blamed this terminology on laziness among indigenous Britons, who “generalise South Asians as Asians”. — Indo-Asian News Service