LONDON, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ate lunch with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday at Buckingham Palace after agreeing to $13.7 billion in commercial deals with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Modi’s visit to Britain, the first by an Indian prime minister in 20 years, has been busy and overshadowed by protests. He and Cameron announced plans for a civil nuclear agreement to encourage training and construction in India, reinforce their country’s commitments to addressing climate change and jointly committing $100 billion in public and private funds by 2020 for climate finance.
Modi also spoke before Britain’s House of Commons in Parliament on Thursday, had dinner at Cameron’s 16th-century Buckinghamshire mansion and Friday, was greeted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace.
Friday evening he is set to address about 60,000 people from India’s expatriate community in London’s Wembley Stadium.
The trip has been the flashpoint for protests by groups who say Modi has installed an authoritarian agenda in India. Thursday Cameron received a letter signed by 200 writers urging him to challenge Modi on their concerns over free speech in India and its “rising climate of fear.”
In the past month, 40 Indian novelists, poets and playwrights from around the world returned prizes awarded them by India’s National Academy of Letters, the Sahitya Akademi, in protest of Modi’s silence regarding the deaths of writers and activists in India who have offered criticism of religious intolerance.
“India is the land of Gandhi,” Modi said Thursday, addressing the controversy. “It is deeply entrenched in our culture and tradition that we do not accept intolerance in any form. India is a vibrant democracy and we are committed to protect the rights granted to every citizen under the country’s constitution.”
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