British media gives PM unique welcome
It isn't very often that the British focus on visiting Indian leaders but Times published a long interview of Dr Manmohan Singh.
Having degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge, Dr Manmohan Singh is unique among the world leaders today. It is no wonder that the Times published a long interview of his along with rare words of praise with the heading "The leader with a mission to put his country at the top".
It is not very often that the British media focuses on visiting Indian dignitaries, and it is even more rare that it interviews them even before they land here. The daily emphasised on his statement that his visit to Downing Street would be a "sentimental journey" back to a land where he spent years studying.
The long interview and a clinical assessment of his vision for the future of India and his plans for a global powerhouse provided the perfect backdrop for Dr Singh's luncheon meeting with Tony Blair on Monday noon. He expressed his determination to forge closer ties with Britain, be more active in the fight against terrorism and stake a claim to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. "That's my vision, that's my commitment to steer the country in the direction in which India is taken seriously." He is also looking to the huge diaspora in Britain and the US to promote a more vibrant image of India overseas.
Dr Singh, who arrived in London for a brief stop-over in the evening of September 19, will also spearhead the campaign for permanent Security Council seats for India, Japan, Germany and Brazil. He also takes up the cause of Indian students who are charged seven times more tuition fee by British universities than the local ones. He is the first PM to have taken up the issue in real earnest. "He appears genuinely hurt that his intellectual mentor seems to be turning its back on Indian talent" was the Times comment. Dr Singh has gone to the extent of saying that the high fee is "jeopardising" Britain's historic relationship with India.
His warning that the curb on outsourcing of jobs to India will blunt the competitive edge of the companies here would go down well with his British counterpart who recognises the "economist" in Dr Singh.
The most crucial and significant outcome of the publication of his views and assertion to lead the country from the front was to put an end to the doubts here about his supremacy as Prime Minister. Since the elections a wait and watch sort of ambience could be detected in the Foreign Office, but the clear and emphatic expressions by Dr Singh, published before his talks with Blair, built up the right ambience for the meeting of "equals".