HVK Archives: Gujral advises Queen to drop Amritsar visit
Gujral advises Queen to drop Amritsar visit - The Times of India
L. K. Sharma
()
18 August 1997
Title: Gujral advises Queen to drop Amritsar visit
Author: L. K. Sharma
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 18, 1997
The Queen's proposed visit to India in October has sparked a public
controversy, with Indian Prime Minister I.K. Gujral publicly asking her not
to go to Amritsar.
Amritsar Is unlikely to figure in her programme, although the British
foreign office on Sunday only stated that the contents of the Queen's
programme were still being discussed with the government of India.
The foreign office has taken note of the adverse reactions In India to the
Queen's proposed visit to Jallianwala Bagh where hundreds of civilians were
massacred by the British during the freedom struggle. There has also been a
demand for the Queen to tender an apology for the tragic Incident.
When the idea of a visit to Amritsar was mooted by the British high
commission in New Delhi, It was hoped that it would be taken as a symbolic
recognition on Britain's part of its guilt. But the proposal has misfired,
leaving the two governments to salvage the situation.
The Indian Prime Minister, in an interview to The Observer, said, "We have
suggested to the British that It would be much better If she did not visit
Amritsar, particularly when such issues have been raised." The question
which some may ask is whether the British high commission in New Delhi had
failed to heed this suggestion. The programmes of state visits or goodwill
visits are not dictated by the hosts but finalised through mutual
consultations.
Mr Gujral's interview was published by the newspaper as its lead story with
the headline 'Indian PM warns the Queen'.
The British have a great sense of history and normally do take into account
the local sensitivities arising from the historic past. The foreign office
routinely handles the Queen's visits to Australia, South Africa and several
other countries where the past has left behind minefields for British
diplomacy.
The interview also reflects some misgivings in the Indian Prime Minister's
office (PMO) about the way the new Labour government may respond to Indian
sensitivities relating to Kashmir, terrorism and nuclear disarmament. Mr
Gujral has been quoted as saying that sometimes Indo-British relations have
suffered due to a shadow cast by "indiscreet speeches".
Besides, the Indian government may not have forgotten that Britain was
quick to gang up with the U.S. while responding to India's position on the
CTBT. Although Mr Gujral has made no reference to any particular speech,
observers here have often found utterances by some of the Labour leaders
unhelpful.
The two governments will now have to work hard to avoid a diplomatic row in
the wake of the reaction In India to the Queen's visit and Mr Gujral's
newspaper Interview.
The row could have easily been avoided had the British high commission's
untimely proposal been shot down by the Indian government a little earlier.
Security reasons come in handy if the host government wants to be more
diplomatic about avoiding any leg of a state visit. Had New Delhi acted
decisively, the Prime Minister would not have had to comment on the
visiting dignitary's programme.
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