New Delhi
5 September 2006
Conservative Party leader David Cameron has taken the running
battle with British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party to the blogosphere by
launching an online chronicle of his ongoing visit to India. The Conservative Party says
bloggers have so far responded well to his blog.
The "David Cameron in India" blog dwells at some length on the United Kingdom's
relationship with India and explains why he is travelling to Pune, Mumbai and New
Delhi. He also talks about a "dreadful" piece of news that filtered in just as he was about
to attend a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday.
"Just as I was about to go into a lunchtime meeting in Mumbai today, I received some
terrible news. A British High Commission minibus driving journalists covering our visit,
two members of my team, and High Commission staff, hit a woman who is now critically
ill in hospital. We're all deeply shocked by this dreadful accident and I know that the
High Commission is co-operating very closely with the police to help them with their
investigation, and is doing all it can to help the victim and her family," the Tory leader
writes.
This is Cameron's first visit to India in seven years. He believes India matters in the
modern world. "It's the largest democracy on the planet, its economy is growing fast, and
India is an incredibly diverse society with people of many cultures and religions living
together... for example, India has the world's second largest Muslim population. People
are free to be Indian and Muslim, or Indian and Sikh, or Indian and Hindu, without any
contradiction," he writes.
"Our relationship with India goes deep. But I think it can and should go deeper. Our
special relationship with America is well known. But as the world's centre of gravity
moves from Europe and the Atlantic to the south and the east, I think it's time for Britain
and India to forge a new special relationship for the twenty-first century," he observes.
David Cameron began his September 4 to 7 visit in Pune. He is accompanied by the
Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne. In New Delhi they will have private meetings with
senior political figures and attend a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
New Delhi on Wednesday.
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