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UK foreign minister's lack of diplomacy raises hackles in India
David Miliband, the UK foreign minister, was at the centre of a diplomatic storm yesterday amid claims he affronted his hosts during last week's trip to India.
Mr Miliband's comments on Kashmir and his allegedly “condescending” attitude towards Indian ministers contributed to one of the most fraught UK diplomatic visits since India's 1947 independence from British rule.
A senior Indian official yesterday initially confirmed a local newspaper report Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, had written to Gordon Brown, his UK counterpart, to protest about Mr Miliband's behaviour.
But yesterday afternoon, the official said no such letter existed. In London, Downing Street said Mr Brown had not received a formal complaint. The Indian official left little doubt about New Delhi's anger at Mr Miliband. “He did not come across as the foreign minister of a friendly nation,” he told the Financial Times. He criticised Mr Miliband's “attention span” and “loud focus” on sensitive issues.
New Delhi was irked by 43-year-old Mr Miliband's de-meanour. In a society deferential toward elders, the UK minister repeatedly addressed Pranab Mukherjee, India's septuagenarian foreign minister, by his first name while Mr Mukherjee scrupulously addressed his younger counterpart as ‘Your Excellency', or ‘Mr Miliband'.
“He was totally tactless,” said Arundhati Ghose, India's former ambassador to the United Nations. “It was so familiar that it is almost condescending.”
With India reeling from November's terror attacks on Mumbai, Mr Miliband upset India's Congress party government with comments on regional terrorism and his demeanour towards Indian cabinet ministers. He raised hackles in an article saying India's conflict with Pakistan over the Muslim-majority Kashmir was aiding Islamist terror group recruitment.
