London: Britain favours closer engagement with Gujarat and its CM Narendra Modi to realise the country’s wide-ranging objectives in the state, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.“In the last 12 months, there have been significant developments in the legal process following the 2002 Gujarat riots, including convictions in many high profile cases,” Cameron told The Eastern Eye, a weekly by the Garavi Gujarat Group of newspapers.“We believe that closer engagement with Guja-rat, including Chief Mi-nister Narendra Modi, is now the best way to achieve our wide-ranging objectives there — including on human rights — and ensure that the UK can provide a full, consistent range of services across India,” Cameron said.Asked whether the UK will issue a visa to Modi if he wins the general elections in 2014 for BJP, Cameron said “any visa application is assessed on its merits. We are committed to a strong bilateral relationship with India, and that includes welcoming the Indian Prime Minister here for bilateral meet.”Modi was named as the NDA’s candidate for the top job in India on September 13.
Although many nations including Britain and the US, distanced themselves from Modi in the immediate aftermath of the 2002 riots, there has been a shift in their position in the past year. In March this year, Britain’s foreign office minister Hugo Swire met Modi in Gujarat, saying it was “a logical next step” in Britain’s relations with the Indian state.