From spinning 'Charkha' at Gandhi's Ashram to bulldozer plant visit: UK PM Boris Johnson's India trip in pics

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in India on Thursday (April 21) touting job-creating investment and strengthening bilateral ties. 

Johnson arrived in Gujarat, the western state of the country and the home state of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gujarat is also the ancestral home to half of the United Kingdom's British Indians. 

The India trip has been twice postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in each country. This visit was also in doubt as the vote was announced, with opposition leaders insisting Johnson stand down. 

But UK sources said it was seen as too important to put off again. Downing Street said it would seal two-way investment deals worth more than $1.3 billion creating almost 11,000 jobs in Britain. 

"What we're focusing on today is the incredible opportunities to deepen this partnership," Johnson told reporters while visiting a factory in Gujarat. 

Johnson became the first prime minister of the UK to visit the Sabarmati Ashram here, the place from where Gandhi led India's struggle for freedom from the British colonial rule for more than a decade. 

In fact, the Tory politician is also the first British prime minister to visit Gujarat post-1947.

UK PM Johnson tweeted, "It’s fantastic to be in India, the world’s largest democracy. I see vast possibilities for what our great nations can achieve together."

"Our powerhouse partnership is delivering jobs, growth and opportunity. I look forward to strengthening this partnership in the coming days."

Johnson termed Mahatma Gandhi an "extraordinary man" who mobilized the principles of truth and non-violence to change the world for the better. 

"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 better," Johnson wrote in the visitors' book at the Gandhi ashram. 
 

During his visit, prime minister Johnson tried his hand at the charkha at Hriday Kunj, the hut where Gandhi lived. 

A replica of charkha, a potent symbol of the anti-colonial struggle, was also presented to him. 

During India's freedom struggle, Mahatma's call to use the charkha (spinning wheel) and boycott foreign goods including cloth hit the textile industry in Manchester. 

In this picture, Boris Johnson can be seen waving from an excavator during his visit to the bulldozer factory in Vadodara.