LONDON: External affairs minister S Jaishankar defended on Wednesday Indias purchasing of Russian oil despite Western sanctions, saying it had helped control global inflation and he was waiting for the thank you.While in conversation with former FT editor Lionel Barber at the Royal Overseas League in London, he also fought back against accusations by another journalist that New India had become illiberal, saying India did not need to curry favour before a global audience and India was simply more Indian.On the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated by India as a terrorist, Jaishankar said he had not seen any evidence in government that points to direct or indirect involvement of the Indian government in the killing.When asked by Barber why India had not condemned the war in Ukraine and bypassed Western sanctions on oil, he said, It is not automatic that if a country is perceived a certain way in the West that the same logic extends to the East.
We have a very powerful interest to keep our relationship with Russia good.
If we had not bought our oil from Russia, global oil prices would have gone higher.
We have softened the oil and gas markets and as a consequence managed global inflation.EAM S Jaishankar asks Canada to share evidence substantiating its Hardeep Singh Nijjar accusationsOn the Nijjar killing, Jaishankar said, We have told Canada if you have a reason to make such an allegation please share evidence with us we are not ruling out an investigation and looking at it, but they have not done so.
If any country believes they have reason to suspect something like this, they should present us with it.
I would not justify it.
I would look into it.
When Barber said other countries carried out extraterritorial assassinations, Jaishankar said: It doesnt justify everyone should follow suit.He said the issue India had with Canada was that Canadian politics gave space to violent and extreme political opinions which advocate separatism from India, including through violent means, and reminded Barber of the Babbar Khalsa 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 which killed 329 people.Barber asked him about the new Hindu majoritarian India and how it was going down with Gulf countries.
How our relations are with the Gulf? Far, far better than they have ever been in our history, Jaishankar said.When asked about the India of today being different to the India of the Nehru period, Jaishankar said he agreed.
He said secularism had guided the polity then but what began with equal respect for all faiths ended up as vote bank politics which created a backlash.
He said politics went in the direction of appeasement and people felt the biggest religion had to be self-deprecatory and play itself down, and a big part of the changes we have seen in recent years have been a reaction to that.As for journalist Martin Wolf describing todays India as less liberal, he said I would say we are more Indian, more authentic.
We are not currying favour before a global audience or trying to live up to some kind of left-wing liberal construct which a lot of Indians felt was not us.EAM raised raised delayed extradition of Indian fugitives Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya Jaishankar also raised the delayed extradition of Indian fugitives such as Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya with the UK government during his five-day visit as well as Khalistan extremism and the safety of the Indian high commission building and personnel.We have longstanding concerns about extremist, and sometimes even violent, activities of various forces, including those who propagate Khalistan, and we have been taking it up with the UK to try and get the government here to understand that, as a democracy, we do understand freedom of speech and expression but they should be on guard against the misuse of these freedoms to threaten diplomats in the UK and to advocate causes in a manner in which it could justify violence and extremism, Jaishankar said at a press briefing on Wednesday.He said that following the March incident, when the flag of the mission building was pulled down, the windows smashed and two security officials assaulted, We think the gravity of this situation is sharply recognised.
We have seen some steps taken as a consequence of that.
But he warned it was not a static situation as there were different aspects to it, referring to Indian high commissioner Vikram Doraiswamis travels in the UK.
In September, Doraiswami was prevented from entering a gurdwara in Glasgow by Khalistan activists who tried to open his car door.Our expectation is that the UK government would give the fullest protection to a foreign diplomatic mission and would do it in a manner that allows our diplomats to carry out their activities in an unrestricted manner, and also take a firm stance against advocacy of violence and extremists, Jaishankar said.He discussed these matters with home secretary James Cleverly and national security adviser Tim Barrow, but a Guardian report alleging he demanded details of the suspects of the March incident was not accurate, he said.He also discussed with Cleverly mobility and migration, specifically how to ensure unrestricted mobility of those who are legally entitle to move in an economy where the workplace has become seamless.Jaishankar also met opposition leader Keir Starmer and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.
I can assert with a high degree of confidence that our relationship with the UK is a subject of bipartisanship and I took away from those meetings that the Labour party position is very much in support of further growth of our ties, he said.