Don’t want to remember bad things of colonial rule: British minister
February 16th, 2010 - 6:27 pm ICT by IANSChandigarh, Feb 16 (IANS) “Life has come full circle” with the re-launching of the colonial East India Company under its new Indian owner, British Minister Pat McFadden said Tuesday.
“Yes, I have also read about this, it proves that ‘life comes full circle’. It is an interesting development that an Indian businessman has now bought East India Company,” said McFadden, Britain’s business, innovation and skills minister.
Sanjiv Mehta, a Mumbai-born entrepreneur, who bought the East India Company in 2005, is now all set to re-launch this world’s first multinational, by opening a store in the upmarket Mayfair neighbourhood of London in March.
“If we look back at the relations of India and the UK, of the last many years, then we find many ups and downs. Even during the colonial period we had many good things between us. But now we do not want to look back and to remember bad things,” stated McFadden.
He added: “Now our only aim is to look ahead and dwell only on good things.”
The East India Company was started in 1600 when Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I granted a group of merchants a charter under the name ‘The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’.
McFadden was here Tuesday to attend a panel discussion on UK-India partnerships in education and to visit the IIT campus in Ropar town in Punjab.
He also attended a Punjabi wedding of his NRI friend’s son in Zirakpur town in Punjab, around 15 km from here, Monday night.
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Tags: british minister, business innovation, chandigarh, colonial period, colonial rule, east india company, east indies, indian businessman, mayfair, mcfadden, mehta, panel discussion, punjab, punjabi wedding, queen elizabeth, sanjiv, uk india, upmarket, ups, ups and downs