Britain held talks Monday with Indian regional leader Narendra Modi, ending a 10-year boycott over deadly religious riots in Gujarat state that left more than 2,000 dead, including three Britons.
Modi, a Hindu nationalist who is tipped as a possible future prime minister, came to power in Gujarat shortly before the 2002 riots and is accused of doing little to prevent India’s worst religious violence since independence.
Since the riots, British officials had been banned from dealing directly with Modi but the government this month changed its policy and announced that its ambassador to India, James Bevan, would travel to Gujarat.
“Had a great meeting… to strengthen Guj-UK ties in economic and social sectors,” Modi said on Twitter after the meeting. Gujarat is one of India’s flagship states for attracting foreign direct investment, and Modi’s office said the discussions included opportunities for British companies.
A British embassy spokesman said the ambassador was due to give details on the meeting in a press statement later in the day. The riots in 2002 were triggered by the deaths of nearly 60 Hindu pilgrims in a train fire that was initially blamed on a mob of Muslims.
Modi is accused of failing to halt the orgy of revenge that left more than 2,000 people — mainly Muslims — dead, according to rights groups. The government figures put the death toll at about 1,000.
Among the dead were three British nationals who were burnt to death in Sabarkantha district of the western Indian state. When Britain announced it would end the boycott, junior foreign minister Hugo Swire said the government wanted “to support human rights and good governance in the state”.
“We want to secure justice for the families of the British nationals who were killed in 2002,” he added. Swire also stressed the well-established ties with Gujarat due to large numbers of Indian-origin families who migrated to Britain from the state.
The sentencing of Maya Kodnani, who served as minister from 2007-2009, was seen as a setback for Modi’s prime ministerial ambitions as India looks to general elections due in 2014. Despite the scars of the sectarian violence, Gujarat in recent years has lured foreign firms with its reliable power supply, good infrastructure by Indian standards, and the availability of educated but cheap labour.
