UK PM cancels India visit Congress leader suggests cancellation of R day parade

By IT Correspondent
New Delhi, 07 Jan:
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has suggested cancellation of the Republic Day festivities after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his India visit due to the coronavirus situation in the UK. “Now that @BorisJohnson’s visit to India this month has been cancelled due to the COVID Second Wave, & we don’t have a Chief Guest on Republic Day, why not go one step farther & cancel the festivities altogether?” Tharoor asked Twitter on Tuesday night. Getting crowds to cheer the parade as usual would be “irresponsible” step, Tharoor said.Johnson, who was scheduled to attend the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi as chief guest, has cancelled his visit to India later this month due to the growing health crisis created by the new coronavirus variant in the UK. During a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, Johnson  reiterated his thanks for India’s invitation for him as the chief guest of the Republic Day celebrations, but regretted his inability to attend. “In light of the national lockdown announced and the speed at which the new coronavirus variant is spreading, the prime minister said that it was important for him to remain in the UK, so he can focus on the domestic response to the virus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to be able to visit India in the first half of 2021, and ahead of the UK’s G7 Summit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to attend as a guest. The two leaders underlined their “shared commitment” to the bilateral relationship and to continuing to build on the close collaboration between our countries, including in response to the pandemic, Downing Street spokesperson said. Johnson would have been the sixth leader from the UK to be Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations. The last British leader to be Chief Guest was Prime Minister John Major in 1993. In December, visiting British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that Johnson would be chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January. Following the announcement, Johnson had written to Modi to formally accept his invitation to visit India, which was to mark his first major bilateral visit since taking office in 2019. “I am absolutely delighted to be visiting India next year at the start of an exciting year for Global Britain, and look forward to delivering the quantum leap in our bilateral relationship that Prime Minister Modi and I have pledged to achieve,” Johnson had said at the time. Britain has been among the countries worst-hit by COVID-19, with the second highest death toll in Europe. On Monday, Johnson said the highly contagious new coronavirus variant first identified in Britain was spreading so fast the National Health Service (NHS) risked being overwhelmed within 21 days. The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by several countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.