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

Gandhinagar, April 21 (IANS) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Thursday morning, commencing his two-day visit to India. He started by first visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram and tried his hand at spinning the 'Charkha'.

The British PM 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 Ahmedabad airport. Johnson was accorded a regal welcome with dancers and musicians playing along the four-km route from the airport to a hotel in the city.

Johnson started his visit to the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram where he spent nearly 30 minutes. He also tried his hand at spinning the 'Charkha'.

He later met city based billionaire Gautam Adani. The meeting between the two took place at the headquarters of the Adani Group located in Shantigram, Ahmedabad.

Johnson 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 Boris Johnson and Gautam 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 PM.

Boris 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 Bhupendra 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 as the varsity 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 PM visited the famous Akshardham temple of the Swaminarayan sect in Gandhinagar.