Covishield controversy shows Britain needs a reality check as much as it does vaccine certificates

Britain on Thursday said that it would begin accepting India’s vaccine certificates from 11 October , ending a row that began with a 10-day mandatory quarantine for Indian travellers on arrival to the UK even if they were fully vaccinated. British High Commissioner Alex Ellis tweeted saying that there would be “no quarantine” for Indian travellers who were fully vaccinated with Covishield or any other UK-approved vaccine and thanked the Indian government for its close cooperation on the issue over the past month. The UK government, in its new travel rules that came into effect from 4 October onwards, said that it recognises Covishield but not the vaccine certificate given in India. Hence, people vaccinated with Covishield arriving in the UK after 4 October had to undergo 10-day mandatory quarantine. Once the British travel rules came into force on 4 October, India imposed “reciprocal measures” that apply only to UK nationals arriving in India from Britain. India also pulled out of the hockey event in the July 2022 Commonwealth Games. Also read:  COVID-19 vaccine certificate controversy: Britain can antagonise India at its own peril Interestingly, in January 2021, the UN Secretary-General famously said that India’s vaccine manufacturing capacity was the world’s best asset against the pandemic, besides thanking us for donating 200,000 vaccines to UN peacekeepers. He had no issues with certification or quality. The whole world accepts India’s medical capabilities, but Britain has to be different! It’s inherent in its nature. Some years ago, I was invited for dinner at a British diplomat’s residence in New Delhi. I duly received the invitation with a proviso that I should bring a government-issued identity document with me! My Secretary asked her counterpart in the British High Commission to send us the British diplomat’s birth certificate as well as the marriage certificate of his parents. Of course, I did not go for dinner. In the 18th century, when the French Revolution was changing the course of political evolution, the British were mildly amused. They became positively hostile when the revolution turned to republicanism with the overthrow and execution of Louis XVI, and Britain allied itself with other European monarchies against the French Revolution. The ‘perfidious albion’ (deceitful British) became a common saying in France. It has come alive again when the US/UK recently overrode France’s multi-billion-dollar submarine deal with Australia and established AUKUS , an acronym for Australia, UK and US. In 2018 France gifted India 31 Jaguar airframes to replace the ageing platforms while England sold us two. I recall that in the late 18th century, French revolutionary Bertrand Barere described ‘Angleterre’ (the land of the English) as a “nation of shopkeepers”. The wheel of history rolled, and colonialism came. The citizens of Britain became the world’s greatest empire builders, with almost one-quarter of the planet under their sway at one time. The sun was supposed to never set on the British Empire since even God did not trust the Englishman in the dark! We Indians were the world’s greatest empire busters, as we began the process of decolonisation that saw the empire go bust. Deep down, our former colonial masters never forgave India for inaugurating the dismantling of the British empire. No wonder, Britain has a soft corner for Pakistan vis-à-vis India. In 1947-48, India was attacked by tribal Lashkars and soldiers from Pakistan led by British officers. In November 1947, under the command of a renegade called Major WA Brown, who had sworn loyalty to the Maharaja of Kashmir, the Gilgit Scouts overthrew the Maharaja’s Governor in Gilgit, and declared accession to Pakistan—he was knighted by the Queen and posthumously awarded Pakistan’s highest accolade! It needs to be recalled that during the 1965 war, when India crossed the Punjab border and moved swiftly to Lahore, giving a rude shock to Pakistan, Britain denounced this “naked aggression” against Pakistan! It made similar noises in 1971 as well. Times change, mindsets remain frozen. If the UK were not a member of the UNSC, its global influence would be about the same as Somalia’s. As long as Britain retains a permanent seat in the United Nations, it will continue to fantasise that it is a great power. As the legendary Bob Dylan sang in his 1960s classic, “Your old road is rapidly agin’… For the times they are a-changin’.” In my postings overseas, more than one Head of Government pointedly asked me if London still had influence in Indian affairs, as this was the claim of my British counterparts. Yes, I would respond, — about as much as you have on Mars! Britain, reeling today under its self-goal of quitting the European Union, is desperately seeking an enhanced independent international profile and has still not accepted its dramatically reduced role in global affairs. Quitting the European Union will further erode the UK’s global relevance if it has any left. But they will continue to delude themselves that they still determine the destinies of hundreds of millions, as they did for two hundred years. In January 2020, the UK announced a fast-track visa to attract the world’s leading scientists, without any cap on the numbers of suitably qualified people able to come to the UK. The announcement followed a pledge the previous year by Boris Johnson to turn the UK into a “supercharged magnet to attract scientists like iron filings”. As of date, less than six “iron filings” have moved to the UK. The 4 May 2021 virtual summit between the two Prime Ministers established an “India-UK Roadmap 2030” looking to the future, but Britain has not let go of the past. There has been a series of British governments that dream of a one-way special relationship with India. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raabpompously says, “Your politics are our politics”, meaning that we will continue to harbour anti-India fellows, do little to stop violent attacks on India’s High Commission in London, give sanctuary to all sorts of shady financial offenders, and hold parliamentary debates on the farmers’ agitation or the regularisation of Kashmir’s status in the House of Lords. He forgets that Britannia no longer rules the waves — the US does, India does. According to official estimates, as of 2020, Indian companies in the UK have a turnover of some 50 billion pounds and employs several hundred thousand people. Tata Group alone employs almost 65,000 people in the UK. All hell broke loose in 2011 when Ratan Tata complained in a newspaper interview that British workers at Jaguar Land Rover and Corus (companies that he had acquired) could not be found in their office after 3.30 pm on Fridays! In 2021, England needs India more than India ever needed England. India is the fourth-largest foreign investor in the UK as of 2020. In recent years there is more Indian money invested in the UK than the other way round. It’s time England realises that it’s no longer an imperialist power it thinks it is. With the recent Covishield controversy, India has shown it a mirror. One hopes it takes a lesson from the incident and stops punching above its weight. Ambassador Deepak Vohra is Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, Lesotho, South Sudan, and Guinea-Bissau; and a Special Advisor to Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils, Leh and Kargil. The views expressed are personal.