Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on India
And, more than 300 attended our event with Kavitha Kalvakuntla last week.
Hi there,
Thanks to everyone that attended our event with Kavitha Kalvakuntla (Former Member of Parliament, India and prominent BRS Party Leader, Member of Legislative Council, Telangana) on Friday, with more than 300 people coming along. She has emerged as a formidable force in championing the cause of gender equality through India’s historic Women’s Reservation Bill, passed last week, and
Read some of the coverage on NDTV and Hindustan Times.
Member news
Congratulations to STiR Education, whose founder Sharath Jeevan and CEO Girish Menon are both Members. Their partner in India, the Centre for Instrinsic Motivation, has signed a three-year MoU with the Karnataka School Education Department, to use their unique behaviour change approach to strengthen student learning and teacher motivation. This builds on their incredible work across India, Uganda, Indonesia and elsewhere.
Pop artist Ketna Patel is hosting her latest BRITINDIA exhibition at the Headstone Manor and Museum in London (10 Oct 23 - 28 Jan 24). If you’re interested in free artist guided group tours and talks, please call Ketna on 07982 654310.
Ram Gidoomal CBE did book signing last week about his new book in St James, Piccadilly in London. Some of you may have seen him at the Jaipur Literature Festival earlier this year talking about this book also. My Silk Road: The Adventures & Struggles of a British Asian Refugee is about a rich boy turned refugee, who tells the story of coming full circle to succeed in ways beyond his imagination. Born to a family that had recently fled British India during the partition of India and Pakistan, Ram's early life in Mombasa seemed charmed with wealth and success. However, losing all of this overnight through a second deportation, this time from Kenya to the UK, he saw the course of his life change beyond recognition.
James Cleverly on India
I’ve just had the pleasure of meeting the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, when he generously made time to attend a breakfast with me and a few dozen friends and colleagues, to celebrate the impending publication of my book The Indian Century.
He is a very personable man: he laughs easily – often at himself – and has a winning combination of seriousness and relaxed friendliness that few politicians manage.
He also combines a background as a British man of mixed heritage (his father is English, his mother comes from Sierra Leone), a military career, experience as a business owner and in local government. Even more unusually, he survived being appointed as Foreign Secretary by Liz Truss and remains in that role today.
The question of whether we can achieve a trade deal with India is of course on the top of people’s minds. Does Cleverly think it’s achievable?
“We have been making fantastic ground,” he said. “The EU, for example, have been trying to negotiate a trade deal with India since 2007. I believe we’ve made more progress since our departure from the European Union than I think a lot of our critics would have expected.”
Admitting that negotiations are likely to last some time further, he is quick to put any policy disagreements into context. “In various ways we have disagreements on policy issues with all our international partners. When I go over to Washington, part of the conversation I have with the US is where we have disagreements on their policy positions.”
Cleverly is a consensus politician, skilled at listening to what the other side has to say and looking to reach common ground, rather than trying to bulldoze arguments through. Asked whether Britain should be talking to China, when its people are accused of spying, he replies that it’s important to keep diplomatic channels open, and to look for reasonable people with whom to negotiate.
Equally, from Britain’s self-interest, it is crucially important to develop closer relationships with countries such as India that will be increasingly influential in the future. We should not rely on “the comfort blanket of our nearest neighbours,” says Cleverly.
The potential rewards of a trade deal between Britain and India, which include an estimated 300,000 new jobs in the UK and as many as a million in India, are among the benefits that he sees from this new focus on trade outside the European Union. Although I am a confirmed Europhile and opposed Brexit, I would love to see these advantages realised, especially relating to India.
If Indian politicians – and indeed its public – are reluctant to agree to a trade deal with Britain on account of historic grievances, it would be good for them to see more images of James Cleverly and Rishi Sunak together: one of Indian heritage and the other with African roots.
Whatever Home Secretary Suella Braverman might spout about the failure of multiculturalism, the optics of Sunak and Cleverly as the main negotiating force for Britain in the world are a powerful reminder of progress.
Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. His latest book, The Indian Century, will be published later this year.
Upcoming events:
UK tour of Prataya Saha short films (4 Oct [Manchester], 6 October [Bradford], 10 October [Birmingham], 13 October [London] | Book here)
Award-winning filmmaker Prataya Saha is touring the UK with his critically acclaimed short films, Just Another Day (2021), I am Mehmood (2022) and the recent worldwide film festival entry The Golden Cage (2023). Join ReelN to celebrate independent filmmaking with a rare opportunity to watch these unique films together, and discuss the important themes and questions they raise with filmmaker Prataya Saha.
Festival of Natural Fibres: Threads of Change 2023 (16-20 October | Nehru Centre, London | Book here)
From creators of the problem to leaders to the solution: could the fashion and textiles industry drive the change, thread by thread? Join Khadi London for the latest in a series of events aimed at everyone, from those in the global fashion and textiles community, to all of us as consumers who want to see revolutionary change and who recognise our collective power to make it happen.
Details:
16th October (5:30 - 8pm): Inauguration, exhibtion, keynote and networking (book here)
17th October (10am - 12:45pm): Climate Change and Social Justice group discussion and networking (book here)
19th October (1:30 - 6pm): Education, Heritage and Culture with craft demonstrations in the morning, followed by panels and networking, then music and film (book here)
6:30pm: Gandhi Foundation Annual Lecture: Becoming Gandhi by actor Paul Bazely who is currently starring in the National Theatre production The Father and the Assassin.
20th October (10am - 1pm): Culture and Inclusive Ecosystem group discussion and networking (book here)
Book launch of The Concert for Bangladesh: United friends of Bangladesh (5pm, 18 October, SOAS | Book here)
This book predominantly discuses not only the history of Bangladesh but also from a global perspective as to how the chain of events leading up to the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war impacted geopolitically. It was a great pleasure for both of us to have collaborated and worked jointly on this huge and vast piece of current history. The idea first to write about this book came about a few years ago when both of us were reading the pieces of the 1971 liberation war and in that context we came about some original pieces of advertisement and the LP vinyl disc records of the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.
Its authors are Abu Sayed, an imminent journalist from Bangladesh who works with special focus on the 1971 war of liberation, and geopolitical analyst Priyajit Debsarkar.
Ramayana: A puppet show (6pm, Fri 10 Nov | Strand campus, King’s College London | Book here)
The Ramayana Puppet Show is StoryHour UK flagship performance. A timeless piece of culture and art, this story narrates the epic tale behind the festival of Diwali, using uniquely hand-crafted puppets. Having been performed across many different audiences, this puppet show has been celebrated for capturing the essence of a classic. The show has been screened at various Indian embassies across Europe and schools in London while also being readily available in 6 languages here. It has been applauded by Indian Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, author Amish Tripathi and others.
Alongside a screening of the puppet show, there will be live puppeteers demonstrating scenes from the Ramayana, with an installation of the six puppets, followed by a talk and Q&A with producer Neelima Penumarthy.
When: 5 – 6:30pm, Wed 19 July
Where: Central London
Book: Bridge India Members: £10 | Others: £20 bookable here | Drinks and snacks provided
Why become a Member of Bridge India?
Well, because just in the last few months, we’ve won an Award for our work, launched our first university chapter at King’s College, being featured in The Daily Telegraph and hosted multiple events with change-makers in London and elsewhere. Not to mention we’ve some facilitated incredible connections between Members from Florida to London to Delhi.
Become an Individual or Corporate Member of Bridge India. Here’s what we offer:
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