BIRDS of a feather flock together. There’s no other way to describe the thriving friendship between Narendra Modi and some of the biggest warmongers walking this planet.

Last year, Modi welcomed Israel’s racist, warmongering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is responsible for dispossession and deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Earlier this year, he welcomed Saudi Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the man behind the disastrous war in Yemen that has created the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history. Then came Mike Pompeo, Trump’s head warmonger and the man cheerleading a war in Iran.

Then last month, Modi once again unapologetically laid the red carpet for former British prime minister Tony Blair, the chief architect of the catastrophic Iraq war, alongside other war and money-loving politicians in India as part of the meeting of JP Morgan International Council.

As a peace activist, it is absolutely disgusting to witness the coming together of the architects of modern warfare and even more so as they are brought together by an investment bank.

For almost a century, we have lived in a war-based economy where investment banks like JP Morgan have reaped the benefits of the soaring profits of the military-industrial complex. The foreign and domestic policies pursued by the aggressive administrations of Blair and Bush, under the rubric of the War on Terror, are in fact best understood as strategies for advancing neoliberal agendas.

And investment banks have played a key role in facilitating that by investing and managing the flow of money to and from the manufacturers of military and nuclear weapons — who build anything from guns to munitions, aircraft, artillery, tanks and bombs.

A report produced by Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) called “Don’t bank on the Bomb” found that “329 financial institutions had invested in the top 20 nuclear producers such as BAE, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Serco between January 2014 and October 2017.” This groundbreaking report reveals the extent of the ever growing power and influence of the financial industry on the military industry complex, and how and why they make it easier for militarism to thrive.

Amongst those attending this particular meeting in India with Blair was Henry Kissinger, the man who aided and abetted various wars during the Cold War era including the carpet bombing of Cambodia in 1969, the Pakistani genocide in Bangladesh in 1971 (which killed over 300,000 Hindu Bengalis) and the Argentinian dictatorship’s crackdown on peaceful protesters from 1976-83.

Alongside him was Condoleezza Rice who was George W Bush’s national security adviser during the time of the second Iraq war and a chief proponent of the US invasion, and Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defence under the Bush administration and a decorated curator of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

All three, including Blair, have pushed Britain and the US onto the warpath in the name of national interest and national security – it is not surprising that Modi completely overlooked their complicity in war crimes given that he himself has a track record of orchestrating violence, hatred and communal divisions in and around the Indian subcontinent, including his recent crackdown on Kashmiris.

Modi Tweeted about his meetings with the various dignitaries including a tweet about Tony Blair: “Great discussions with former British PM Tony Blair. He has made a long-lasting contribution to his nation and has insightful views on a wide range of global issues.”

Modi’s office should read a copy of the Chilcot Report and the recently released documentary   Official Secrets for a start. His audacity to glorify a man who single-handedly took the British state into an illegal war based on lies, creating havoc and unrest in the entire Middle East as a consequence, a man who is responsible for the deaths of a million-plus Iraqis is beyond appalling and should be condemned by anyone who cares about human rights, peace and social justice.

Amid the pomp and grandeur of events like these deaths of innocent civilians and soldiers who have fallen victim to the failed War on Terror for the last 18 years are forgotten.

Events like these are a platform for war criminals and banking elites to discuss arms deals and design future wars, and then sell their war machine propaganda under the banner of diplomacy, international trade and economic welfare.

India is the second largest arms importer in the world – the bulk of its weapons are from the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. India’s “look West” dominated foreign policy, and its shifting and evolving role in the geopolitics of the Middle East goes beyond the remits of ensuring energy security.

China poses a huge strategic challenge to India on multiple levels, and a major part of the West-leaning policies can be attributed to China’s alignment with Pakistan and the military threat that comes with it.

A “special relationship” with the United States and its allies like Britain, and forging regional partnerships with countries like Israel and Saudi, is the best way to counter the economic and military threats that China poses. Using the military to contain China’s growing economic influence is the only viable option and the profit-loving banking elites are the perfect friends to finance these military ambitions.

As the threat of wars rage on, making the world an increasingly dangerous place, the safety and security of the unarmed common man should not be left in the hands of warmongers with weapons of mass destruction.

A permanent restructuring of the war machine is needed and that can only come from a revolution by the working class spearheaded by someone like Jeremy Corbyn, a champion of peace and diplomacy, and the only politician who has, as my good friend and Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty says, the moral authority to challenge the prerogatives of these warmongers, and their investment banking and corporate counterparts.

If we can set a precedent in Britain by electing an anti-war government led by Corbyn, maybe we will inspire other countries to follow suit.