‘Kind of ironic’: Senior UK Labour Party member told over ‘imperialism’ speech at Delhi conference

Peter Mandelson, who slammed ‘imperialist Putin’ at Raisina Dialogue, was also reminded by the Mauritius foreign minister of the UK’s unlawful occupation of its territory.

A screengrab featuring UK Lord Peter Benjamin Mandelson at the Raisina Dialogue | Youtube/Observer Research Foundation

New Delhi: A senior British Labour Party member was told at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi not to lecture the developing world over “imperialism”.

During a discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict at India’s flagship multilateral conference on Friday, Observer Research Foundation (ORF) President Samir Saran said it was “ironic” that House of Lords peer Peter Mandelson should issue warnings about imperialism.

Mauritius Foreign Minister, also on the panel, was heard arguing that international rules should be applied universally and not in specific situations.

Mandelson, who held several Cabinet positions under former UK prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, had called on the Global South to steadfastly back Ukraine. At the session, he said these countries must thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “imperialist” plans to recreate a “post-Soviet empire”.

Mandelson said everyone in the United Nations and “the so-called Global South” should rediscover the ideal of anti-colonial solidarity and firmly show their position against an “imperial war in Ukraine”. “They should stand absolutely foursquare behind people who are fighting for their freedom and democracy,” he said.

The former British first secretary of state’s remarks came days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine completes two years. Earlier this week, Moscow made its biggest gain in the last nine months of the war by capturing a key Ukrainian city, Avdiivka.

After Mandelson’s impassioned speech, ORF President Samir Saran said he wanted to respond to him, but he would  not.

When the House of Lords member asked if the host was making a case for colonialism, Saran retorted: “It’s kind of ironic where it comes from. It would have possibly suited Minister Gobin to be saying that and not necessarily a Lord from the UK.”

Saran heads the independent think-tank ORF that hosts the Raisina Dialogue in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The Mauritius minister also chimed in, saying: “Territorial integrity should apply equally to the Chagos Archipelago. Territorial integrity should not apply to one…particular area of the world and not apply with the same set of rules in another area of the world.”

After Mauritius gained independence in 1968, the UK retained possession of the Chagos Archipelago which served as a strategic asset for London in the Indian Ocean. The UK also carried out forced deportations of Chagossians.

However, in January 2021, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea backed Mauritius’ right to claim the Chagos Islands and instructed the UK to end its “unlawful occupation” of the territory.

(Edited by Tikli Basu)