"No single issue in recent years has generated so much anti-India sentiment in Britain as the Rafale deal which many Britons see as a calculated ‘snub' to their country."
Two entirely separate issues — India's decision to accept the French bid and the British aid to India — have been conflated to accuse India of “ingratitude” by suggesting that as a recipient of British money, New Delhi had a “moral” obligation to reciprocate and give it the contract. Crudely put, there were no free lunches. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Hell hath no fury like Britain 'scorned'.
The anger is palpable, cuts across party lines and — fuelled by the right-wing media — has percolated down to ordinary Britons on the street. Some of the reaction, especially on the Right, has a whiff of the hard-to-die old cultural arrogance: “how dare a country, a former colony to boot, and a recipient of our aid dare snub us?”
The fact is that India has been extremely reluctant to take British aid and has made it clear on more than one occasion that it does not want it describing it as ‘peanuts' in terms of India's massive development efforts.
Two entirely separate issues — India's decision to accept the French bid and the British aid to India — have been conflated to accuse India of “ingratitude” by suggesting that as a recipient of British money, New Delhi had a “moral” obligation to reciprocate and give it the contract. Crudely put, there were no free lunches. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Hell hath no fury like Britain 'scorned'.
The anger is palpable, cuts across party lines and — fuelled by the right-wing media — has percolated down to ordinary Britons on the street. Some of the reaction, especially on the Right, has a whiff of the hard-to-die old cultural arrogance: “how dare a country, a former colony to boot, and a recipient of our aid dare snub us?”
The fact is that India has been extremely reluctant to take British aid and has made it clear on more than one occasion that it does not want it describing it as ‘peanuts' in terms of India's massive development efforts.