United Kingdom media rakes up Modi’s past

Modi said that 18,000 villages in India that were not connected with electricity would get this basic facility within the next 1,000 days.

Addressing a massive gathering of the British-Indian Community at’ New Delhi: Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today said India’s huge diversity is its speciality, pride and strength.

“High security and Cameron’s praise for persona non-grata Modi” read the headline in The Guardian which also carried a critical piece by noted British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor.

“We completely reject his claim that he has restored India’s credibility”, Congress leader Anand Sharma told a news conference here, on the second day of Modi’s visit to Britain. “And when you’re taking India to the world’s top table, we are with you”, said Cameron.

A statement issued after the meetings between the two prime ministers said they looked forward to the first meeting of the reconstituted India-UK CEOs Forum, and had tasked it with advising them on the trade and investment opportunities as also challenges faced by the two sides.

“I think the highlight for me was having dinner together at Chequers and the ability to talk very privately about the challenges we both face. But we are united by something more important, the scale of our ambition”, he added. “There is a very specific project that they are pursuing to make India a country for Hindus only”.

Modi said, “You are the true ambassadors of India”. He said the Indian diaspora carries these values with it wherever they go, and hence they are great ambassadors for India. He said much water had flowed down the Thames since his last visit 12 years ago.

“We both govern in challenging times”.

Modi lunched with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Modi presented the Queen a few award-winning Darjeeling tea from Makaibari tea estate in West Bengal and fine organic honey from J&K. After visiting a Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover factory in the West Midlands region of England, Modi boarded a flight from Heathrow Airport to Antalya in Turkey to take part in the G20 summit, which opens tomorrow.

Britain and India welcomed more than £9 billion in commercial deals during PM Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to UK.