Boris Johnson visits Sabarmati Ashram, tries his hand at spinning on 'Charkha'

Ahmedabad, April 21, 2022

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived here on Thursday morning at the start of a two-day visit to India. He commenced the trip by first visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram and tried his hand at spinning the "Charkha".

The British leader was received by Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Education Minister Jitu Vaghani, Protocol Minister Jagdish Vishwakarma and top officials of the Gujarat government at the Ahmedabad airport.

He was accorded a regal welcome with dancers and musicians playing along the four-km route from the airport to a hotel in the city.

He later met city based billionaire Gautam Adani. The meeting between the two took place at the headquarters of the Adani Group located at Shantigram here, where he was accorded a traditional welcome.

Many important issues including energy transition, climate action, aerospace and defence technology and development in the field of human capital were discussed between him and Adani.

"Honoured to host @BorisJohnson, the first UK PM to visit Gujarat, at Adani HQ. Delighted to support climate & sustainability agenda with a focus on renewables, green H2 & new energy. Will also work with UK companies to co-create defence & aerospace technologies," Adani tweeted after the visit by the British Prime Minister.

Johnson thereafter inaugurated a new factory set up by a leading U.K.-based group to manufacture JCB machines at the Halol plant.

Gujarat Chief Minister Patel accompanied the British Prime Minister to Halol. Johnson also interacted with the workers at the plant before climbing up a 4X4 bulldozer at the newly inaugurated facility.

He then visited the campus of the under-construction Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar, which is coming up in collaboration with the UK's University of Edinburgh. He was accompanied by the Gujarat Chief Minister and the Science and Technology Minister.

Before winding up his Gujarat visit, the British Prime Minister visited the famous Akshardham temple of the Swaminarayan sect in Gandhinagar.

IANS