• UK PM Boris Johnson visits Sabarmati Ashram, tries hand at charkha

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    UK PM Boris Johnson visits Sabarmati Ashram, tries hand at charkha

    According to reports, the British Prime Minister is expected to hold a closed-door meeting with important business executives from Gujarat during his day-long visit.


    Digital Desk: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was seen at Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram in Gujarat's Sabarmati on Thursday, trying his hand at the classic charkha, or spinning wheel.


    Moreover, he also wrote in the visitor's book, saying, " "It is an immense privilege to come to the Ashram of this extraordinary man, and to understand how he mobilized such simple principles of truth and non-violence to change the world for the better."


    The British Prime Minister arrived in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning to begin his visit to India and was warmly greeted along the four-kilometer walk from the airport to the hotel. Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel and Governor Acharya Devvrat received Johnson at the Ahmedabad airport. Senior state officials and ministers also greeted him.


    As his convoy headed for the hotel, troupes performing traditional Gujarati dances and music welcomed the British Prime Minister at the airport and along the road. Reportedly, the roadshow began outside the airport and proceeded down Ashram Road, via Dafnala, and to the Riverfront.


    On the four-kilometer route from the Airport Circle to the five-star hotel on Ashram Road, as many as 40 platforms were constructed at regular intervals, with troupes performing traditional Indian dances to welcome Johnson.


    According to reports, the British Prime Minister is expected to hold a closed-door meeting with important business executives from Gujarat during his day-long visit.


    Following that, he will travel to a British JCB manufacturing factory near Halol in the Panchmahal district. 


    According to a Gujarat government announcement, the British Prime Minister will then visit the under-construction Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar, which is being built in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.


    Before wrapping off his journey to Gujarat and departing for New Delhi, the British Prime Minister would visit Gandhinagar's iconic Swaminarayan Akshardham temple.


    On Friday in Delhi,  Johnson will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.