Culture connect

India and the UK can forge a common future, and racism and hate crimes need not come in the way, says Lisa Nandy, British secretary of state for culture

- BY K. SUNIL THOMAS

GREAT BRITAIN SIMPLY cannot have enough of India. The countries just signed a cultural pact, while a larger and comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) is in its final stages. More consulates, more flights, more tourists, more students and more cultural, fine arts and sports exchanges are on the anvil. But the big question is, is the UK safe for Indians any longer?

“The UK is a divided nation,” admitted Lisa Nandy, secretary of state for culture, media and sport in the Keir Starmer government, who recently was in India. “We went through a period in the last decade of losing our self-confidence as a nation. But we've got a new government and we are at the start of a decade of national renewal. We are recovering our self-confidence.”

If the increasing number of Indians looking to Britain to study, work or migrate would still need stronger assurances from the Labour government, they cannot be blamed. Hate crimes have regularly been reported from across the UK in recent years, peaking in the race riots of last summer. Though not specifically targeted at the Indian or South Asian diaspora, the incidents did shake up not just Indian-origin residents, but students and those who aspire to move there.

Add to that the increasing Hindu-Muslim diaspora tensions, hitting a crescendo with the Leicester unrest of 2022 following an India-Pakistan cricket match, the very image of the UK as an attractive destination for studies and work seemed to have taken a knock.