Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Britain agreeing to facilitate the return of thousands of illegal Indian immigrants because the UK is not offering Indians easier access to its visas, it has been revealed.
Narendra Modi signed a series of new agreements when he visited Britain during the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, but a draft deal to streamline removal of illegal Indians from the UK remained unsigned amid irritation in Delhi about whether more Indians will be allowed visas to Britain after Brexit.
Sources at the Indian high commission in London told a news daily that the bilateral agreement on the return of illegal Indians, which junior home minister Kiren Rijiju had pencilled in January, was not signed in April when Modi visited London because India “did not see any progress on the British side of the agreement”.
The breakdown came at the height of the Windrush scandal, with the UK Government accused of wrongfully deporting people back to the Caribbean. Up to 100,000 people of Indian origin are thought to be living in Britain illegally, the highest number by nationality. The number removed either forcibly or voluntarily from the UK fell by 45 percent from 7,724 in 2014 to 4,254 last year, Home Office figures reveal. Britain proposed a new process to streamline the system but Mr Modi refused to sign the deal at the last moment.
A senior Indian high commission official said, “When May went to India she said progress on returns would help progress on UK visas for Indians, but we are not seeing that. We are seeing the denial of spousal visas and cancelling visas on small pretexts and a hostile environment. We need to see some easing of migration, especially of short-term visas such as for Indians students and those coming to work for companies.”
A spokesman for the British high commission in Delhi told a news agency that they would negotiate looser rules on legal immigration after Brexit but only in return for better systems to return illegal migrants.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
