Russia relationship relations between the 2 have been developing so far. How important do you think this partnership is for india, which is usually important about the shipping has been for a very long time in the when i busted visit mid to the, the, the soviet union and the old days and russia theyre off to, has been amongst and is a most reliable constant instead, foster friends in recent years and has been diversifying its sources of military equipment, which were heavily reliant on russia for many decades as recently as about 10 years ago. Oh, i understand as more of them that maybe about 15 years ago, russia, accountants, 85 percent of all of them does defense impulse of today thats gone down to more like 40 percent. I would say the of course, a lot of spare parts and so on for workers that are important to continue to come in as well as india, as diversified its sources. But despite the, as i think the friendship remains very significant, we have thought for a long time, enjoyed uh, should we say uh close a Mutual Understanding on a number of issues. We have called for peace and view, create and conflict time, but India Remains a voice for peace and most noble conflicts. So i would, i would probably leave it at that at this point of defense. As a major preoccupation of jo, global geo politics remains effect ups, but there are no major issues, dividing us and as you know of recent uh, in recent years, it has become of a major consumer of russian oil and gas products. And this has also been a very important occurred for russia at the time of international sections. So theres some, uh, chevy se, mutual a win win on both countries. Bob and i wasnt, stuff werent there when it comes to dealing with the west, especially when it has this relationship with russia. Well, the western countries have shown some understanding. I would say that india has its own Foreign Policy and is not, has always been historically allergic to freezing into any particular blog, a or a line specially in the likes that popular as rather than allies. And thats again being the case. Going back to the days of the Non Aligned Movement on the funding, there are lots as Prime Minister and this continued, even in the very different government, a Prime Minister movies, in the sense that he has he has stayed friendly for russia, even while being somewhere closer to the west, then previous in didnt governments may have been the most important feature of in this position on the russia, ukraine, complex disease in just kept its lines of communication open with both sides of for foreign minister love rob has been doing the a couple of times in the last year, he has in some cases of willing to listen to what he has to say. And i think thats something thats valuable to, to the russians. As far as india is concerned, india relishes being able to talk from a position of Mutual Respect with both with both the russians and the western countries. And indeed with the great so i would leave at this point. You said that you say in this future a staying friends with all countries, with every body across the board. Im just wondering where are the red lines for india because weve been covering this story recently about some kind of data and also a support. So 6 that for to do think this will play a large role in new delhi dealings with the west. That way certainly playing an odd size over to now relations with canada. It hasnt yet affected our relations. Any other wisdom country, because things havent gone quite as far as they have in canada, where the government is seen by many new delhi as being complicit in encouraging a Movement Based in canada that are openly locally secessionist, an extremist, and that dialogue. But having directly associated with acts of murder and mayhem in india, including the bombing of and get jet line in 1985 that took nearly 400 lives. So its not just the questions of supposing inflammatory rhetoric, which is the way the canadians prefer to see it for us uh the, the, the extremist elements in kind of that have cost in getting lives. And therefore, we have not been particularly sympathetic to canada as indulgent. Solve those elements on this or it in the future of india. It does indeed look very dried, however, synonymous still continues. A catholic wise indeed is a developing country, while others see it as a highly developed nation, though it had long state of declare the k as you was said yourself. What did you mean by that . Its a depiction of india and that point of view goes back to the late 19 ac is i would say that the cat has since been considerably repeated. And anyone visiting india today would be impressed by the its the widespread use us also computers and Digital Technology and even your, your, because the sellers with their carts on the streets would have a q r code on display so you can pay them by mobile. Okay. Its a country rushing impatiently to the 21st century. I said, why do you think ill have some other less . Theyll continue to call in the a, a developing country where it is. You see, because the fact is that in this has People Living in condition still of acute poverty and despair efforts are being made, of course to pull them out to which i think both the president government and the street assessments have claimed some success in actually pulling large numbers of indians out of poverty, but theres still a lot of people who live betty this side of the funeral pilot. And until every indian has, has the guaranteed assurance of decent lives and 3 square meals a day and roof over their heads, as well as access to Decent Health care. And the prospect of meaningful work is difficult to just life for the claim. We are developed country, even Prime Minister, mr. Moseley, who is not particularly known for tempering, is rhetoric has set the go all in denver coming and developed countries 4204700000 of us, rich about independence and thats still 23 years away. So i think even she didnt, Prime Minister will accept that. Its too early to call us to develop the country. Weve got to wait 7 to get someone out here, especially vocal about how portez colonial will that affected indeed. What do you say that that effect is still ongoing . Id love to know. To what extent do think the colonial rule handed the developments of india . Well it every conceivable respect, but its a bit its, its, i think its a bit lame today. 75 years. Nice, thats to blame is i wrote a work of history. I bought a bought today. I think we have to take responsibility for our own problems. The british took one of the richest economies in the world, one of the most prosperous countries in the world. And system as it keep, Elizabeth Newton is transformed into a post a child for 3rd world poverty and dispense with one of the newest life expectancies on the planet and the highest rates of poverty of the planets when they left. So there is nothing good that one can say for 200, you as a british colonialist of the same time that was 75. Yeah. 77 years ago now that made it left and i think wed have to stand up and say, wed take responsibility for taking off future in our own hands and making it work. Obviously many of the past ones left behind by the berkeley still in deal with it. So im the administrator of frame with orlando during passions. All population issues about the fact still remains that we now are responsible, and we will take responsibility is also shaping our own dest, you out of the pass code for the prisoners government to pay reparations to its former colonies. Is that something that you still think should be done and how to move like the benefit india now is that or even a some race enough that ive been slightly misrepresented on that . What i said in that particular speech that went viral with several multiple millions of people watching it, was that i dont agree with the notion that financial reparations out and on. So, as i said that any amount of credible reparations would not be payables. Indeed, an economist has said, thats the actual monetary value of business exploitation. Theyve indexed. Genuinely, we estimated that 45 trillion boats. And since the person has a, a bug cap that has a total of g, d, p, a 5 trillion, i think 45. 00 trillion is impossible to pay. So any credible setup would not be payable. And any payable say, go would not be credible because whatever, uh, brittany can pay in the end. Reparations would, pale by comparison with the vaux damage done the lives on necessarily last around the, the simple expropriation and exploitation of india libraries put in your groups. All that doesnt mean that con space, reparations to smaller calling these ready songs wouldnt be more affordable and more realistic. And im not presuming to speak for barbados. So diana, ill see it. I live in saying that they dont need reparations. They may well do the funding to i think the, the moral and told him by the british is far more important. The british of never to apologize for 200 years of colonialism. And i think its high time they did. So its a distance, a Good Opportunity for them to do so. But since in any of the egregious and tragic jelly, im all about messic up. But when thats and tina retain that british Prime Minister was not able to go beyond an expression of redirect, which most people would consider the mild. And we also feel that i also feel and have been advocating passionately that originally would do well to teach unvarnished canadian history and that schools. So you dont have a lot of the spectacle oppose as recently as the last couple of yes, showing the majority of british people claiming to be proud of the empire. And one thing a back, which was such an i also think it was almost like, uh, can you imagine the situation where the germans would want the nazi regime back . And yeah, thats what some people have written out of. Well, for the notes, because the british dont teach the truth about, couldnt it as well dont teach college. And i told the history classes and schools and that should be rectified. And the other thing i suggested is, with that capital london being a, was the capital of museums. They should think seriously of constructing a Serious Museum of colonialism that would show visits as from around england and around the world. What they did to Foreign Countries and how they gained from is as well as what damage they did to others. That would be a useful history lessons. Just as german students today, a bus to the concentration camps. Museum of colonialism in london. What do i think that was also good . Those are far more important than monetary reparations. But starting off with a simple, sorry, would take us a long way. And that i couldnt agree more. Now in the ninetys, instead of especially you and assistance of peacekeeping operations, could you give us an idea of what that experience was like especially, and then went up to the cost of a war of 99. 00 . Well i, i worked for a long time, but not terribly long. Had mentioned 9, you agree or the United Missions during which time i spent a very meaningful of 70 a student in the United Nations peacekeeping department during which i was the team leader for the former yugoslavia. So i was the person was up rising. The reports of the secretary general attending the Security Council meetings visiting your beside be a more times than is entirely wise and safe, a boxing through mine fields of and facing snipers and all that fun. Why did the same time having to of having to do the diplomacy in new york with the countries, particularly the members of the Security Council of the troops contributing countries on peacekeeping operations. By this, im comfortable happened. I had left to be sleeping to serve in the office of sector general coffee under which is where i was when the bombing of the initial bombing of 99. 00, it could and also was more on us forcibly separated from sub yes. That was a different experience. I was not in the peacekeeping department, but indeed, its fair to say that the peacekeeping did buffington 10 bucks to do with that. It was a new operations that resulted in that particular situation. But i was involved from the beginning of the civil war, 91 once the e u monitors pulls out in the u. N. Came in and in fact i was the person who led the 1st exploratory emission for the us. And along with a finished cults, we travel through the wall fields and the was owns between the subs and the trots in october 1991. And we were dubious about the feasibility of peacekeeping at the time. But the world had already decided this was going to be the u. Ns talk potatoes. And so the reports we wrote to the Security Council, wherever you said that there wasnt really an easy, viable peacekeeping concept to be suggested. Something that the policies put agree upon was the one that was, was chosen, and then subsequently as a whole, washington erupt in bosnia and so on and spread throughout the former yugoslavia. Iron meetings, the person in the Un Peacekeeping department, dealing with these problems with our all of a small team. But of course of the rather large operation on the ground that grew as it. Busy from a handful of observers, when i 1st got involved to Something Like 88000. So just by the time i left to the end of 9. 00 to 6. 00 on the election of kofi on them to be 2nd again said was a huge period of my life of one that showed i would say many of the opportunities and the limitations of applying the peacekeeping technique to places where there was no peace to keep. And thats something we could talk about the greater length. Then this particular format too much. I know the last week you saw the in the general election and through the 2nd phase of those, including in your constituency. What do you think about how the voting process is going the well, we had some issues in catalogue, where my states, with the turnouts could not be properly accommodated many boots, and a lot of voters, not only in my constituency, but swap my states. I. Busy tend to way off to way to in order to the long hours and cues to vote. And that shouldnt have happened. And we have complained to the Election Commission that this was mismanaged, but by law, you know, of, i think the, the election came across otherwise, as, as, as free and fair. Weve had our issues with some of the technologies used. We would id like to lodge a some pool of both of verified paper trail machines to be counted alongside the electronic Voting Machines and that sort of thing which is a pending ongoing issue and they didnt elections. But otherwise we had a new 70 percent. An option catalog and, and then other states like to this. But i would say that the 1st couple of phases have gone without any untoward incident. Certainly no violence or anything like this. People are coming out to vote. The campaign is progressing. Many of us, including me personally, feel that the process is far too long. It need not have required 7 phases. The Election Commission has identified to conduct these polls. I think it could have been disposed of quickly, but yeah, from the voting being cost in my constituency. Last friday to the declaration of results on the on the 4th of june. Thats more than 40 days, i think, tested to 48 days. And thats an awfully long time to wait to know the results, not terribly from the about that, but otherwise no complaint so far its gone. Its been recently well and we hope the remaining faces will go without incident as well. And the reason i say you identified the main goal is if the car in selections as preserving quotes, the main idea of india. Could you explain to as of what you meant by that, please, that we have cherished for the longest time, an idea of india, that those of an intrusive nation in which all religions all costs, all classes or creeds, all languages and people have all states lives in equality and hominy in our country thats. Thats what the idea of in depth in trying to the constitution by the way, is all about we have on fortunately a ruling policy for the last 10 years. That does not share the idea of indian. That indeed is our errors to a political move in the reject to the constitution, but it was framed because they believed india should be. I shouldnt do rough chuck, admission of induced english people of other states live on sufferings, either as guess or as im welcome into the we dont agree with that reading of in there. We dont agree with everything of history and we dont agree with the implied lack of social harmony that this work to do. So we believe that india belongs to all who are positive. Its culture of civilization and demography. And we believe everyone has survived in an india where he for rights have been a cherish principle for us. And, and i, for example, the, someone whos written extensively about this kind of in depths, im deeply frustrated to see in the being reduced to a land that comes across as bigoted. An intolerant. Which in many ways is, is fundamentally on india and, and what is worse. So theyre doing this in the name of, in books. Well, where is such as a choose . The fundamentally im into into ism, is up famously on embracing face, but accepts difference unexpected and takes all sorts of differences within its Belief Systems and between its and all the Belief Systems. So its, its a, its, its a bit complicated to basically the indian space. But essentially, if i would have simplified for the following audience, it is about into service. It includes civic death versus intolerance. India is what we see this election as being about. Just one final question before we die. If i may as a full minute an officer, how would you assess the will of bodies response to the car and what are we seeing in gaza . Is it comparable to any of your Previous Mission . This would you say . Unfortunately, im afraid the, the conflict in the middle at least has always been one that of you and has found difficult to deal with. Except on the rare occasions when all the principal pauses involved are willing to agree on a piece. We well as you know, instruments in the very 1st space. The 1948 you into supervision organizations in jerusalem. We woul