Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit the UK in April, his second visit in less than three years, with a community event in central London planned alongside bilateral engagements and a Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM).

A publicity campaign for the Bharat ki baat, sabke saath event, scheduled for April 18, kicked off on Wednesday. “A unique niche event…it will be a one-of-its-kind live interactive conversation,” tweeted the BJP’s Vijay Chauthaiwale.

The event — a small affair with 1,500-2,000 people — will be held in central London. In his earlier visit, Modi had addressed a gathering of around 60,000 people at Wembley Stadium. Within the first hours of the website for free registration going live, the number of registrations had already exceeded this figure.

The planned format highlights the different tone of the current visit and the audience that Modi hopes to focus on. While the Wembley event was decidedly pitched as a “diaspora” one, with community performances, the CHOGM event is targeted at a more global audience, matching the aspirations of the visit, which is pegged around the ambitions of taking the Commonwealth to a new level.

India’s active engagement is seen as key to the revival of the Commonwealth during the April 19-20 meeting, and the preceding Commonwealth Business Forum.

Visiting London earlier this year, Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu had touted the leadership role that India could adopt in the organisation.

However, others are hopeful the visit will also provide an opportunity for the UK government to express concerns over a number of developments in India.

UK’s concerns

Earlier this month, Foreign Office Minister Mark Field, responding to a debate in the House of Commons Westminster Hall, during which MPs expressed concerns, said the government would raise the issue of the treatment of Christian and Sikh minorities in India in the “appropriate manner” during CHOGM to ensure that the British parliament’s voice is “properly heard.”

“He will appreciate that diplomacy sometimes needs to be done behind closed doors, rather than with megaphones,” he told MPs.

With the government of Prime Minister Theresa May touting a free trade deal with India as one of the ambitions of a “global” post-Brexit Britain, the visit will be a crucial, though sensitive one, for the UK. Earlier this year, Britain and India agreed to the terms of a memo on the swift return of Indian illegal immigrants from the UK — an issue that has repeatedly been raised by the British government and seen as an obstacle to immigration reform on the British side.

India’s action will park the ball back in Britain’s court and strengthen calls for change from the UK when it comes to immigration and visa issues, particularly for business travellers, students and those in professional services.

Protest and rallies

Protests and rallies are also expected to take place, as they did during Modi’s previous visit. The Sikh Federation UK said it expects large numbers to turn up for a protest rally during the visit, which will raise issues including the detention of UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal by Indian authorities last year.

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