Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “change-maker” and the massive role played by him in advancing ties between India and the United Kingdom, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has revealed in his new memoir that he felt the Indian leader’s “curious astral energy” the very first time he met him in London, more than a decade ago.
Titled ‘Unleashed’, Johnson’s account of his time in politics has been labelled by the publisher as a book that shatters the mould of the modern prime ministerial memoir as it is written in the journalist-turned-politician’s inimitable style.
Devoting a full chapter on the India-UK relationship in his book, Johnson recalls significant meetings with PM Modi, in New Delhi and London, from his time as the Mayor of London to the UK Prime Minister.
Recalling their first meeting in 2012, which took place by the river Thames, Johnson said that he felt PM Modi’s “curious astral energy” as he held his arm and raised it in front of a crowd of Indian supporters.
Johnson, who had two terms as London’s Mayor, then went on to describe the Indian PM as the “change-maker” that India-UK relationship needs.
“With Modi, I felt sure, we could not only do a great Free-Trade deal but also build a long-term partnership, as friends and equals,” he writes in the memoir.
In the book, Johnson also recalls the “tremendous success” of his first visit to India as the Prime Minister of UK in April 2022 when he first landed in Ahmedabad and visited Sabarmati Ashram.
The visit, Johnson writes in the book, boosted his morale and proved to be “balm for the soul” considering the tumultuous political scene back home.
While the Joint Statement released after the meeting between the two leaders at the Hyderabad House on April 22, 2022, mentioned “in strongest terms” their concern about the ongoing conflict and humanitarian situation in Ukraine, Johnson writes in his book that he wanted India to have a rethink on its relations with Russia.
“… I wondered if it was not time for a modulation, a rethink. As I was to put it to the Indians, Russian missiles were turning out to be less accurate, statistically, than my first serve at tennis. Did they really want to keep Russia as their main supplier of military hardware?” he writes in his unrestrained style.