But who is this boyish-looking foreign friend that Rahul hung out with? Miliband’s unsolicited advice on terrorism and Pakistan were so outrageous that not only India’s foreign office but even the Congress Party was left red-faced, leading to Arun Jaitley lambasting the British foreign secretary’s visit as the “greatest diplomatic disaster” in recent times. By saying that India must first resolve the Kashmir issue for terrorism to end, Miliband was clearly toeing the Pakistan line on terror from Indian soil. His advice urging India not to insist on the extradition of Pakistani masterminds behind the Mumbai terror attacks was a clear case of double-standards, since it contradicts Britain’s own vigorously pursued position in relation to crimes committed by foreign nationals on its soil.

In a front-page report, The Hindu quoted senior officials as saying that the Indian side was “irritated” by the “aggressive manner in which Mr. Miliband conducted himself in his closed-door meetings with Mr. Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In particular, South Block took offence to his strident arguments that the Mumbai terror attacks were really the result of the Kashmir issue remaining unresolved. He berated Dr. Singh and Mr. Mukherjee on this point... All told, say Indian officials, the two meetings with Mr. Miliband were ‘pretty awful’.”

Who has given Britain, one wonders, the right to advise us either on Kashmir or on development and poverty alleviation? After all, our erstwhile colonial master was one of the culprits who created the Kashmir problem in the first place. As our colonial history incontrovertibly shows, Britain was also responsible for the pillage and pauperisation of India—one of the important factors that pushed the families of Karma Devis and Shiv Kumaris into poverty. Of course, we cannot blame Britain for our own failures in poverty eradication in the post-Independence era. But who is responsible for these failures, if not those who have ruled India for the longest period since 1947?

... contd.