Currently on a five-day-long tour to United Kingdom, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is once again making headlines both in India as well as Britain.  British Prime Minister David Cameron even released a one-minute video on Twitter welcoming Modi.


However, the response from some sections of the UK press has been somewhat less excited.

 

Even as the two prime ministers agreed to sign commercial pacts worth nine billion pounds related to defence, manufacturing and trade, major British newspapers ran with comment pieces that questioned Modi's “dubious human rights record”.


The Independent said that the visit is an effort to strengthen ties between Delhi and London but comes amidst “concerns over freedom of expression in India and the country's human rights record, handling of sexual violence against women and alleged religious persecution”.


On the other hand, the Daily Telegraph chose a milder headline saying “All is forgiven, Mr. Modi” on its front page. But inside, it had a story criticising the British government for playing host to the man it had boycotted for a long time for his alleged involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

“This afternoon, Mr Modi not Mr Cameron will be the main draw for tens of thousands of members of the Indian diaspora,” it said, referring to Modi’s scheduled address at the Wembley Stadium on Friday. "Our Prime Minister [David Cameron] will simply deliver the star-speaker’s introduction. And the price of the prime-ministerial warm-up act? About 9 billion."


The Guardian on its front page led with a story about writers urging the British prime minister to challenge Modi on free speech.

The newspaper has also been carrying op-eds questioning the Indian prime minister about his human rights record. While one went as far as calling the Indian dispensation of the Bharatiya Janata Party government a “Hindu Taliban”, another one claimed that trade has become more important than human rights to the British who are busy rolling out the red carpet.


“India’s prime minister is a Hindu extremist who fails to condemn lynch mobs. Yet it seems that trade deals matter more to our government,” it said.

Just a little earlier, the Mirror had caused ripples with a report suggesting that the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn would question Modi on his human rights record when he meets the Indian leader on Saturday.


“Indian PM Narendra Modi lands in Britain for a state visits and flies into a storm on human rights,” the newspaper announced.

Not all coverage, however, has been negative. The Guardian also carried an opinion piece by the British politician Keith Vaz hailing the visit as a “historic moment” for the “special relationship” between the two countries.


“Cameron has welcomed a “modern” UK-India relationship, but this is bigger than politics,” Vaz wrote. "All of us want our relationship with this dynamic, culturally buoyant country to grow ever stronger. From diplomats to businessmen to the diaspora, Modi’s visit is our chance to seize this opportunity."


The Telegraph carried a report calling Modi a “rock-star world leader” before the visit started and hailed him for going from being persona non grata for the British just a few years ago to a statesman being “feted by Downing Street amid a packed three-day schedule of high-profile events”.

Meanwhile, The Guardian’s South Asia Correspondent Jason Burke summed up Modi’s “belated visit” to the UK as an indication to where his priorities lie.
“Britain is not “just another country” for India – and, given the past, never will be so – but the new emerging India is less in thrall to its erstwhile colonial overlords or their legacy than ever before. The gulf between how Modi’s visit will be viewed in India and how it is seen by British officials and media will only underline that shift.”