THERE is a strong belief in India’s democratic values and growth story in the UK, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament, said in London during a visit last week.
Addressing a community gathering at the High Commission of India in London last Wednesday (8) evening, Om Birla shared insights from his dialogues with his UK counterpart – Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and other members of parliament.
He said his interactions highlighted the strength of the India-UK parliamentary cooperation and the bilateral partnership of both sides.
“I had a good dialogue with leading UK parliamentarians, and they displayed a strong belief in India’s democratic values and growth story,” Birla said.
“Our electoral process is transparent, reinforcing belief in democracy worldwide. We take pride as the largest democracy, dubbed the ‘mother of democracy’, and I invite you to visit India’s new parliament as we mark 75 years of our constitution.”
He added, “The scale of our country’s progress is outpacing many other nations and in the coming years, India will make its mark as the topmost country to attract investments. The coming decades of the 21st century belong to India.”
Birla was greeted by a large contingent from the British Rajasthani community at the India House event last Wednesday.
He highlighted the important role of the Indian diaspora in promoting the Viksit Bharat (Developed India) mission of Modi’s government.
“Indians based in different countries around the world have an important contribution to make towards a Viksit Bharat. The efforts and love of the diaspora will play an important role towards this goal set by prime minister Modi,” Birla said.
He was on an official UK visit covering England, Scotland and the island of Guernsey.
Birla began by honouring the principal architect of the Indian constitution at the Ambedkar Museum in north London last Tuesday (7).
“This visit marks a very special start of the year for us because for the first time in 17 years, we have the speaker of the Lok Sabha of India visiting the UK. [It is] a long overdue, but very important visit,” said India’s high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami.
He noted that both the House of Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay, and the Lok Sabha speaker are on their second term, following general elections in the UK and India last year.
“An unusual achievement in an era in which more often than not you have one term speakers in not just India, but also in the UK. So, we have many things to celebrate together and the thing that really binds us together is what prime minister Modi had described in 2015 as the living bridge. This is the encapsulation of what makes our relationship special,” Doraiswami added.
During his meeting with Hoyle, Birla shared perspectives on strengthening bilateral ties through capacity building of legislators and discussed other issues of mutual interest, including people-to-people connections.
His meeting with Pat McFadden, UK minister for intergovernmental relations, covered topics such as free trade, strong economic ties, information technology, artificial intelligence, and creativity.
“Our historic relations have evolved into a robust, multifaceted and mutually beneficial partnership covering multiple sectors including defence, health, education and climate change,” Birla said, on the India-UK bilateral ties.
“The resilience of our relations was evident in our cooperation during the Covid-19 pandemic including on development of vaccines… hope that India-UK relations will receive a fresh impetus under the new government in the UK.”
In Scotland, Birla chaired the Commonwealth Speakers’ Standing Committee meeting in Guernsey as host of the 28th CSPOC in India in 2026.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK StalinGetty images
