As Vice President Hamid Ansari embarked on a four day visit to Rwanda and Uganda beginning on Sunday, he said that the Modi government's outreach to the African subcontinent went beyond "competing" with China in offering "developmental assistance" to the central African countries.
Vice President Hamid Ansari talking to media on board the flight to Rwanda
Instead, it is India's assertion of its wide ranging interest in the development of the Central African states where Indians have survived a bitter onslaught only to bounce back and contribute to the bubbling economy which is growing at nearly eight percent today .
"The clock has turned full circle, 360 degrees . There was a time when Uganda had a ruler who wanted to throw out every Indian, lock stock and barrel. But now again, they welcome Indians . Many Indians have gone back. There is a large community of 30,000 Indians in Uganda and their economic contribution is being highly appreciated," he said.
Without naming former ruler Adi Amin, infamous for his despotic rule as President of Uganda in the 1970s, Ansari touched a raw nerve as Indians in that part of the world had suffered the worst kind of suppression during Amin's eight year term. According to figures with the ministry of external affairs, 300, 000 to 500,000 people were suspected to have been murdered under Amin's regime where he further ordered the expulsion of around 800,000 members of Uganda's Asian community, many of whom ran major industries and businesses there . These businesses collapsed due to mismanagement after he expropriated them to his supporters crippling the economy and sending it into free fall.
Today, India's export to Uganda stands at 1.3 billion dollars and the economic policies of both Uganda and Rwanda are welcoming business, said Ansari addressing a press briefer enroute his two nation visit.
He said India's approach towards its African friends stands apart because "the road they are travelling on is a road we have already traveled. " To questions on China developing stronger ties with Africa by lending greater financial assistance, Ansari asserted that India is in no way competing with China to grab Africa 's attention . " We are not in competition with China or anyone else . They have their own capacity and style of work. We have left it to our developmental partners in Africa to decide the assistance they require from us, from education, medicine, capacity building and training and so on."
Like Uganda, Rwanda is a country which has also had in its living memory an unpleasant experience. "If you go back to 1993-94 there was massive infighting and genocide. But somehow they came out of it and they have made remarkable progress. We hope Indian business people will look at this destination," said MR Ansari. In fact, Indian business delegations are visiting the two countries at the same time, he said.
Ansari recalled how Rwandan Prime Minister Paul Kagame's visit to India to participate in the vibrant Gujarat summit recently displayed the strategic partnership the two countries share. He said India has assisted the nation in building a hydro-electric dam and electrifying 35 schools in rural areas among many other projects. As the four day visit kick-starts with meetings lined up with the business and Indian community apart from signing MoUs enhancing bilateral ties, Ansari, a two term vice president, gave some lessons in diplomacy and friendship.
"No friendship can be taken for granted . Like a plant, it has to be watered every time. So this exercise of renewing our partnership and evolving newer areas of cooperation has to be a continuous process," he said. This explains the conscious decision taken by the Modi government to strengthen its friendship with south, east and west African countries. "It was a result of this conscious decision of the government, that the president has visited Africa three times, the prime minister has visited four countries on the east coast and South Africa and I have visited five countries since the 2015 India -Africa summit," said Ansari.
The visits over next two days to Rwanda and Uganda are part of the same effort because so far the Central African states had not been touched, he said.
Meanwhile, the episode of attacks on African students in India is something that both the nations have put behind them. "The government had made it clear that those were localised sporadic incidents by anti-social elements. The issue has been addressed at the diplomatic level," said Ansari assuring safety and security of African nationals in India.
