British PM David Cameron to take up Moody’s concerns on religious intolerance with Modi during his visit

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British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond said on Thursday that the Prime Minister David Cameron will take up the concerns expressed by Moody’s Analytics over ethnic tension in India.

He said Prime Minister David Cameron would take note of the assessment in the context of Modi’s plans for the development of the Indian economy.

He was responding on being asked whether the topic of ethnic tensions and human rights would figure in discussions.

“We always talk about issues of mutual concern. I am sure Prime Minister Modi will have issues he will want to raise around the Indian diaspora in the UK,” Hammond was quoted by the news agency PTI.

“…I am sure Prime Minister Cameron will want to ask about some of the issues mentioned [Moody’s ‘India Outlook: Searching for Potential’ report] because they are clearly relevant to Prime Minister Modi’s plans for the development of the Indian economy and the opening of India to the outside world and the securing of India’s sustainable development,” he said.

Moody’s analysis was contradicted by the India’s Prime Minister’s Office, which said the rating agency’s assessment was just a personal opinion of a junior analyst. But, Moody’s wasted no time in clarifying that the assessment on the growing intolerance was the agency’s official view and not the personal opinion of an analyst.

Moody’s had warned that Prime Minister Modi must keep BJP members in check or risk “losing domestic and global credibility.”

Some BJP leaders had suggested that the analyst in question, Faraz Syed, was the son-in-law of noted historian, Irfan Habib. Habib has been vociferously criticising the BJP-led central government for contributing to the ongoing atmosphere of religious intolerance. The historian of repute had recently compared the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor to the terrorist group IS.

However, the historian’s only daughter, Saman Habib, took to Facebook to expose ‘Sanghis” propaganda annlouncing that she was married to a Hindu, Amit Mishra.

Modi begins a three-day visit to the UK next Thursday, during which the UK government has indicated that rather than any one major announcement, there are likely to be a number of smaller and mediums projects to be unveiled.

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