Boris Johnson Calls PM Modi a 'Change-Maker' with 'Astral Energy' in New Memoir

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has revealed in his new memoir that he felt the 'curious astral energy' of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the very first time he met him in London over a decade ago, described the PM as a 'change-maker' and said the massive role Modi played in advancing ties between India and the United Kingdom.Breaks the mold of the modern prime ministerial memoir in the hands of journalist-turned-politician Johnson, who writes about his time in politics in his inimitable style.

He dedicates one entire chapter of his book to the relationship between India and UK by underlining the countless important meets with PM Modi in New Delhi and London during the time he was the Mayor of London to the UK Prime Minister.

Speaking about the first meeting that took place across the Thames River in 2012, Johnson said, "I can feel PM Modi's curious astral energy, even when he was holding his arm raised before a crowd of Indian supporters".

Johnson, who served two terms as London's Mayor, described Indian PM as the change-maker this relationship between India and the UK needs.

"With Modi, I felt sure, we could do a great Free-Trade deal and also build a long-term partnership, as friends and equals", he writes in the memoir.

The book recounts 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.

As is well known from Johnson's book, it was the morale boost plus "balm for the soul" it did for his moribund spirits contemplating the tumultuous political scene back home.

The joint statement after the meeting between the two leaders at Hyderabad House on April 22, 2022, expressed concerns over the "ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine in the strongest terms". On this, Johnson writes that he wanted India to have a rethink of its relations with Russia.

"I wondered if it wasn't 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.