Modi's grand UK welcome

Media reports had suggested that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would receive an unprecedented welcome on his UK visit. Besides bilateral talks, the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for which he had received a personal invite from Prince Charles. Even Queen Elizabeth II had written a personal note to the Indian Prime Minister to invite him to the CHOGM summit. In London, he has been given a limousine to travel between different venues to attend official engagements. Other leaders will be commuting in a coach. These are just some instances of the preferential treatment that the Indian Prime Minister has received in the UK. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Britain on Wednesday and he met British Prime Minister Theresa May and Prince Charles on the same day. PM Modi also met Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. Modi had a breakfast meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May and, together with her, he inaugurated the Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence in London. Britain has also become a member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the two leaders held bilateral talks on a range of issues. After the meeting, Modi said that the talks will bring new energy into the relationship between the two countries. He said that the association in ISA will work not merely against Climate Change; this is a movement for the future generation. After the meeting, British Prime Minister May said that the two leaders can now work together for the benefit of the people of the two countries. Modi and Prince Charles visited a museum where an exhibition on 'Illuminating India: Science and Innovation' is currently underway. The exhibition displays major achievements of India's contribution to the field of science and innovation in the last 5,000 years. In the exhibition, scientific discoveries and innovations that have played a major role in changing the world have been featured. The exhibition kicked off on April 4 and will continue till April 22. In order to underscore the technical cooperation between the two countries, Prince Charles came to meet Modi driving the first electric Jaguar car made by Tata Motors. Modi and May talked about a range of issues including terrorism, visa and immigration. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has said that the two countries will take action against international terrorist organisations such as Laskar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hijbul Mujahidin, Haqqani, Al Qaeda and ISI. At a diaspora meeting at the historic Westminster Central Hall, he said that Pakistan was informed about the surgical strike before it was revealed to the media. He said that he always tries to do something new and that gives him the drive to work more. There were more than 1,500 people in the hall when Modi began his 'Bharat Ki Baat' at the diaspora meeting. He spent about two and a half hours talking to the people of Indian origin who had gathered from around the world. The programme was moderated by Censor Board chairman Prasoon Joshi. The programme was organised at Westminster Central Hall where stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King had attended similar events. The programme was organised by Europe India Forum and it was telecast across the globe. In 2015, Modi had addressed a crowd of 60,000 people at the Wembley stadium in London. 'I do my work. If I don't do my work, people will question me,' he said at the diaspora meeting. The Indian Prime Minister and 52 other heads of government will attend the CHOGM in London on Thursday. The Commonwealth meet will be organised at the Buckingham Palace and the event will be formally inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. This is for the first time in a decade that an Indian Prime Minister will attend the event. The CHOGM meeting is organised every two years. India will invest over a billion pounds in the United Kingdom. The two countries have signed multiple agreements and MoUs on Wednesday and decided to deepen ties, especially in technology, trade, and investment. The CHOGM meet is a two-day event in which the first day will be devoted to the agenda of the summit and, on the second day, all the heads of state will reach Windsor for a retreat, where they will interact freely and informally.