Rajnath Singh To Visit UK, Becomes First Indian Defence Minister In 22 Years To Do So; Check 3-Day Itinerary

Rajnath Singh is set to visit United Kingdom for three-days, making him the first Indian Defence Minister in 22 years to do a UK Visit. Know about his itinerary.

New Delhi: Rajnath Singh is the Defence Minister of India and the Deputy Leader of the House, is about to make a milestone visit abroad. The Defence Minister is set to make a three-day visit to United Kingdom; this visit is being considered a milestone visit because in the last 22 years, no Indian Defence Minister has visited UK. Rajnath Singh was in the news for laying te foundation stone of ‘Gurukulam Evam Acharyakulam’ at Swami Darshanand Gurukul Mahavidyalay in Haridwar, Uttarakhand on Saturday, where he called for setting up more Gurukuls in the country to not only provide modern education but also protect India’s moral and cultural heritage. Read to know more about the Defence Minister’s UK visit…

Rajnath Singh To Make A Milestone UK Visit

As mentioned earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to embark upon a three-day visit to the UK from Monday, seen as significant to the bilateral partnership in the sphere of defence and security as the last ministerial level visit took place 22 years ago. Mr Singh’s previously planned visit to the UK in June 2022 was called off by the Indian side for “protocol reasons”, making next week’s tour a highly anticipated one.

Rajnath Singh UK Visit Itinerary

Besides wide-ranging talks with his UK counterpart, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Singh is expected to inspect a ceremonial Guard of Honour and undertake visits to Mahatma Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar memorials in London. A community interaction with members of the Indian diaspora in the UK is also expected to be part of his three-day itinerary. “This visit is significant in terms of both optics and substance. In terms of the former, this is the first visit of India’s defence minister to the UK in 22 years – the last visit was by then defence minister of a previous BJP-led government, George Fernandes, to London on 22 January 2002,” said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South and Central Asian Defence, Strategy and Diplomacy at the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

‘Defence Minister’s Visit Indicates Improvement In India’s Relationship With UK’

As a defence analyst who has been championing such a visit in his high-level discussions over the years, Roy-Chaudhury believes Mr Singh’s proposed visit next week indicates an improvement in India’s political relationship and the building of trust with the UK following British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s visit to India for the G20 Summit in September last year. “In substantive terms, the visit will seek to deepen military cooperation and defence industrial partnerships with the UK by building on the November 2023 Defence Consultative Group (DCG) meeting in Delhi at the level of Secretaries and the inaugural meeting of the 2 2 Foreign and Defence Dialogue at the level of Joint Secretaries in October 2023,” he said.

“The UK is no longer one of India’s top five strategic partners. However, the resumption of a strong India-UK defence technological and industrial partnership could take place through the delivery of ongoing projects on aero-engines with Rolls-Royce; naval electric propulsion with GE (Naval) UK and Rolls-Royce; and ground-based air defence system with MBDA (UK),” he said. “Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit one of these arms manufacturing sites during his visit to the UK,” he noted.

(Inputs from PTI)