Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praises changemaker Modis' astral energy – ThePrint –

London, Oct 12 (PTI) Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is full of praise for changemaker Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a new memoir that looks back on his turbulent political career and recalls a curious astral energy that he felt during his very first meeting with him. the Indian leader.

“Unleashed,” which was released this week in the United Kingdom, devotes an entire chapter to relations between Britain and India, as good as they have ever been. Repeatedly highlighting the strong friendship between India and the UK in the context of the Indo-Pacific, the former Prime Minister takes credit for paving the way for a genuine free trade agreement with India thanks to having found “exactly the partner and friend” he needed in Modi.

He raised my arm and sang something or other in Hindi, and although I couldn't follow him, I felt his curious astral energy. Since then, I have enjoyed his company because I think he is the changemaker our relationship needs. With Modi, I was sure, we could not only conclude a great free trade agreement, but also build a long-term partnership, as friends and equals, he wrote.

Johnson reveals how a particularly sniffy British Foreign Office warned him not to meet the Hindu nationalist leader during a previous mayoral trade delegation to India in 2012, an issue quickly resolved to pave the way for a relationship which “reached a record level”.

The 60-year-old political author says how much he loves India, being a “veteran” of many Indian marriages because his children, including ex-wife Marina Wheeler, of Sikh origin, trace their roots there. country.

While he proudly writes of a similar “Anglo-Indian syncretism” in politics with his diverse cabinet as Prime Minister, including many British Indians such as Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel, Johnson laments the slow growth of bilateral trade due to unnecessary trade barriers that let British visitors fool around with duty-free booze for Indians hungry for Scotch whiskey at decent prices.

He remembers the huge success of his visit to India as Prime Minister in January 2022 as a much-needed morale boost and balm for the soul, away from increasingly domestic politics belligerence that would eventually end with his unceremonious exit from 10 Downing Street just a few months. later.

He says he had also wanted to use the visit to make a gentle remark to Narendra on the issue of relations with Russia at a global inflection point with its conflict with Ukraine.

He writes: I knew the whole history and sensitivities, the reasons for India's non-alignment with the West after the war, the seemingly unbreakable relationship with Moscow. I understand the dependence of both India and China on Russian hydrocarbons.

But I wondered if it wasn't time for a modulation, for a questioning… As I had to tell the Indians, the Russian missiles proved less precise, statistically, than my first serve in tennis. Did they really want to keep Russia as the main supplier of military equipment? It is in this context that in another section of the book, where he praises the late Queen Elizabeth II for her deep personal knowledge of history and history's creators, he refers to her efforts to get India to take a tougher line towards the Russians. .

She remembered something former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told her in the 1950s. He told me that India would always stand with Russia and that some things would never change. They simply are. I cite this as an illustration of his astonishing ability to reassure and contextualize, he shares, in reference to his usual weekly audiences with the late monarch as Prime Minister.

Johnson then congratulates himself on having injected a broader vision of the Indo-UK partnership to go beyond trade, climate change and educational partnerships and embark on a whole program of military and technological collaboration.

Overcoming the reluctance of the Ministry of Defense, still worried about India's proximity to Russia, we agreed to work together on all kinds of military technologies, from submarines to helicopters to marine propulsion units, he declares proudly.

With Unleashed, Johnson seems to want to emphasize the lack of bitterness over his undignified removal as Prime Minister following the partygate scandal of parties breaking the Covid law, but it is clear that it was Rishi Sunak, his eventual successor at 10 Downing Street, who precipitated the problems by resigning as chancellor of his cabinet in June 2022.

This was worse than a crime, I thought, it was a mistake for both Rishi and the party, not to mention the country. This is what turned out, he writes, referring to the recent disastrous general election results for the Conservatives.

I don't blame Rishi for wanting to become prime minister prematurely; in fact, I don't blame any of them, really, for trying to kick me out. That's exactly what Tory MPs are doing… Needless to say, if we had all stuck together, I have no doubt we would have won in 2024, and many more of my friends would now have their seats, says -he. PTI AK AMS

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