By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : L.M. Singhvi, who died in New Delhi Saturday, had the longest tenure here as the Indian high commissioner from 1991 to 1997 and had initiated several projects in British universities. He was instrumental in installing Indian social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy’s statue in Bristol in 1997.
As India’s high commissioner during the 50th independence anniversary celebrations in 1997, Singhvi was involved in several official and unofficial functions to mark the occasion. His tenure in London was widely noted for his fine record of diplomacy and interactions with the British government.
Among the projects the Cambridge-educated Singhvi initiated in universities was an annual lecture bearing his name at the University of Leicester and a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Wales.
The fund for the L.M. Singhvi Visiting Fellowship at the University of Wales is provided from the income from a bequest of 25,000 pounds made to the university in 1998 by the Trustees of the British Indian Golden Jubilee Banquet Fund.
Singhvi was invited to speak at various universities, including the University of Hull, De Montfort University, Luton University, North London University, and Buckingham University.
In 1995, a delegation from Bristol visited then West Bengal chief minister, Jyoti Basu in Kolkata, who presented a bust of Rammohun Roy, who died in Bristol in the 19th century. The bust was unveiled in the Council House in the city centre by Singhvi.
He was also the founding president and patron of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, London.