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UK
www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 8th February 2014
Keith Vazwith MP
Keith Vaz MP
Steve Mody
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date? My business partner and university, Peter Millington, who has always helped to provide steady support through difficult times.
Steve Mody was born in 1957 in India, the youngest child of three brothers and two sisters, and came to England in 1965 with his family to settle in Leicester. Steve graduated with an accountancy degree and went on to train as a chartered account. Unfortunately he didn’t manage to qualify as an accountant and decided to start his own business, Gandhi Wines, in 1985. He married his wife in 1990 and they have two kids, who are now aged 21 and 20. 1) Please tell me about your current position? I am the managing director of Gandhi Wine Suppliers (Imbibe) Ltd, a drinks distribution company. I am also the chairman of Mongoose Partnership. 2) What are your proudest achievements? In business terms, my proudest achievement has been managing to break into the mainContinued from page 1 The row over how much the British knew and helped in the incidents 30 years ago threatens to derail the Tory party attempts to attract Sikh voters, who play a major role in marginal seats in London, Birmingham and Leicester in any election. Hague's words are likely to provoke a strong reaction from Sikh groups in the UK who have been saying that they're shocked by the idea that Britain may have been involved in the attack. In a letter to PM Cameron, Sikh Federation UK Chairman Bhai Amrik Singh reportedly said: "We are dismayed the terms of the review were only formally made available almost three weeks after the review was announced and only days before an announcement of the results of the review are expected in Parliament." Revelation by the Government In his speech Mr William Hague informed that on Tuesday the Cabinet Secretary has concluded that there is no evidence of British Parliament being misled. He emphasised that there is no record of a specific question to Ministers about practical British support for Operation Blue Star, and he added that there was one instance of a Written
stream market; a task which was proving very difficult until a change of the company name from Gandhi Wines to Imbibe. On a personal note, seeing my two boys get into Eton and Harrow secondary schools. 3) What inspires you? The greatest inspiration is seeing people from humble beginnings and backgrounds being successful and achieving great things in their life despite adversity.
6) What is the best aspect about your current role? As the head of the company, the freedom and ability to make decisions and lead the challenge of taking the business through the current challenging environment. 4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career? The biggest struggle has been to find enough of the right people to help drive the company forward.
7) And the worst? The worst issue is having to deal with the everyday nuisances and distractions that come with having to run a company leaving me less time to
Hague confirms Thatcher's involvement in Operation Blue Star
Question to Ministers related to discussions with the Indian government on behalf of the Sikh Community after the Operation. However, in sum, the Cabinet Secretary’s report found that the nature of the UK’s assistance was purely advisory, limited and provided to the Indian government at an early stage; that it had limited impact on the tragic events that unfolded at the Temple three months later; that there was no link between the provision of this advice and defence sales; and that there is no record of the Government receiving advance notice of the operation. An analysis of nearly 200 files and 23,000 documents has confirmed that a "single British military adviser" travelled to India between February 8 and 19, 1984, to advice Indian intelligence services on contingency plans that they were drawing up for operations in the temple complex, including ground reconnaissance of the site. "The cabinet secretary's report includes an analysis by current military staff of the extent to which the actual operation in June 1984 differed from the approach recommended in February by the UK military adviser. Operation Blue Star was a ground assault, without the element of surprise, and
without a helicopter-borne element," Hague said. Hague further said "The adviser had made clear that a military operation should be put into effect only as a last resort when all attempts of negotiation had failed. It recommended the inclusion in any operation an element of surprise and the use of helicopter forces in the interests of reducing casualties and bringing about a swift resolution." "This giving of military advice was not repeated...and the cabinet secretary found no evidence of any other assistance such as equipment or training," he added. "The Cabinet Secretary's report concludes that the UK military officer's advice had limited impact on Operation Blue Star. This is consistent with the public statement on 15th January this year by the operation commander, Lt Gen Brar, who said that 'no one helped us in our planning or in the execution of the planning'," he said. Hague said this conclusion is also consistent with an exchange of letters between former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Thatcher on June 14 and 29, 1984, discussing the operation. While admitting that some military files covering various operations
were destroyed in November 2009, as part of a routine process undertaken by the ministry of defence at the 25-year review point, copies of at least some of the documents in the destroyed files were also in other departmental files. The report by Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood includes the publication of the relevant sections of five extra documents that shed light on this period, but which would not normally have been published, the minister told MPs. British Prime Minister David Cameron had ordered the inquiry after documents released under the 30-year declassification rule here implied British SAS commanders had advised the Indian government as it drew up plans for Operation Blue Star in February 1984. Sikh groups in the UK have criticised the scope of the inquiry and claim it focuses on a very "narrow period". Britain's only Sikh MP, Paul Uppal, reportedly said that the revelation makes clear that the UK played no "malicious" role in Operation Blue Star and called on the government to work with Sikh groups and the Indian High Commission in the UK to work towards a "process of truth and reconciliation so that the
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focus on more important matters. 8) What are your long term goals? My long term ambitions are to establish Imbibe as one of the leading national drinks distributors and to develop brands to a high level, such as Mongoose beer. 9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change? I would provide more financial support and make funds more readily available to small and medium sized businesses. 10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why? A tough choice but I’d pick Nelson Mandela. I have always greatly admired his character, his perseverance and the way he never gave up fighting for the causes for which he stood.
community can finally begin to feel a sense of justice". A few months after Operation Blue Star, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards in an apparent revenge attack. Indira Gandhi's letter to PM Thatcher The Economic Times reported that the Former Indian Prime Minister wrote a personal letter to her British counterpart Margaret Thatcher soon after the 1984 Operation Blue Star in an attempt to justify her decision to send army to flush out militants from the Golden Temple, Amritsar. The letter, dated June 14, 1984, was made public for the first time on Tuesday. "It is never easy to undertake security action involving a place of worship... but this place, so sacred to the people of the Sikh faith, had been converted by terrorists into a base of operations," wrote Gandhi just days after the operation that left more than 1,000 people dead. "We did know that arms were being collected there. But only after last week's action did we realise how vast and sophisticated these weapons were... For months a reign of terror was unleashed from the
temple complex, holding all Punjab to ransom. We had no choice but to send an army unit which exercised the utmost restraint, using a minimum of force," she added. The former Indian PM also shared her regrets over the fallout of the military action with Thatcher, one of her close political allies. "Many in the Sikh community have been shaken by this traumatic event. The process of healing and conciliation will take time but we shall persevere," she wrote. Damage control efforts The Foreign Secretary said, that the government is keen to discuss concerns raised by the Sikh community. "The Minister responsible for relations with India, My Rt Hon Friend (Hugo Swire) the Member for East Devon (and Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), will speak to the Sikh organisations on Tuesday to assure them about the strong, positive relationship the government has with the British Sikh community which plays such a positive role in so many areas of our national life." He also hopes that the investigation and the open manner in which it has been conducted will provide reassurance to the Sikh community and to the public.