LONDON: A delegation of 13 young Indian politicians completed a UK Foreign Office-sponsored week-long trip to Britain on Saturday, where they learnt about its parliamentary and political system, institutions, education and economy.

British Government representatives in India, with the help of local politicians, handpicked those they believe to be rising stars from the student wings of seven major political parties. The student politicians, aged 20 to 32, came from Madhya Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal , Manipur, Bihar , Karnataka, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand , Delhi and Kerala.

The stated aim of the trip was to “provide a platform for them to promote political, parliamentary and economic reforms in India and support India’s reform and growth priorities.”

The students went on a guided tour of British Parliament, a briefing at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, met with officials working on the UK-India bilateral economic relationship at the Foreign Office, and visited the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, the BBC, the Electoral Commission and the Institute of Economic Affairs.

The students also visited the India Office Records at the British Library, which contains archives from the government of India before 1947. The group also went on a tour around Southall, known as Little India, with its MP Virendra Sharma.

Anupam Kumar, 32, state president of the students’ wing (CYSS) of Delhi’s AAP party, said, “We learnt more about the economic relationship between UK and India. Brexit is definitely an opportunity for India to make a strong relationship with the UK in terms of economy, defence and different sectors.”

“The public is not in complete agreement with UK policies and that is why they voted for Brexit,” added Abhijeet Dwivedi, 29, vice-president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) JNU Unit.

“I was impressed by how much they respect Indian culture and preserve it. They see it as their history as well,” said Dakshita Garhwal, 20, State Girls’ Head of the ABVP in Madhya Pradesh.

Garhwal, while commenting on India’s relations with the UK post-Brexit, said, “The British government is really seeing India as a strong partner post-Brexit. Britain will be able to decide its own trade policy after Brexit and it is easier to negotiate as one country than in a bloc."

“In India the majority of the population think of Britain in terms of its colonial rule but when you come to the UK you see what a diverse country it is,” said Hardik Nain, 23, senior leader and strategist for the NSUI Congress Students’ Wing in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana.

