The Central Hall in Westminster echoed with cheers and applauds as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a little more than 1500 people, who were chosen through a ballot, to come and participate in his 'Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath'. The audience sat surrounding the centre stage, where Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification, lyricist, screenwriter and poet Prasoon Joshi interviewed Mr Modi in a town-hall-style meeting.
NaMo openly spoke about his journey from a tea seller to a Royal visitor. He talked about his government policy making and love for his motherland, terrorism, inside stories of surgical strike on Pakistan, poverty, foreign policy and even urged people to change their outlook towards problems in order to solve them.
With little anecdotes, he praised Indians for willingly giving up subsidy, established how his strength lay in his countrymen and how they inspired him to work even harder. He even joked calling the 'interview' staged, but was successful in touching the hearts of the diaspora present in this iconic hall, who occassionally shouted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.
Mr Modi also took his non-supporters by surprise, when he indirectly addressed the unrest in India about the Kathua rape case of an eight year old. He said, “A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate this torture with our daughters? You are always questioning your daughters, why don't you ask the same questions to your sons? I believe this is the evil of not just the individual but also of the society.
"This is a matter of great concern for the country. The people who are committing the sin are someone's son.
"Any time a small girl is sexually assaulted, it is painful for all us.
"But can we compare the number of rapes in different governments? We can't say there were this many rapes in our government and that many in yours. There cannot be a worse way to deal with this issue."
More than 500 people gathered at the Parliament Square and outside 10 Downing Street, protesting against him, demanding justice for the victims of rapes in India and several other issues.
Was this visit historic?
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting the UK, participating in the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London along with 52 other heads of government. His visit to the UK has been marked as a breaking of a decade of Indian indifference towards Commonwealth.
It has been historic in many ways. First the Queen sent a personalised letter and an invitation to India's Prime Minister that was personally delivered by Prince Charles during his visit to India last year. The Aryurvedic Centre of Excellence, that was inaugurated by Prince Charles and Mr Modi, was a symbol of the future king's commitment to his relationship with India. The Prince of Wales also personally took responsility to show the Prime Minister around in London's Science Museum.
The Queen held an audience with PM Modi and he was among three people to have that exclusive meeting with Her Majesty this time.
When the 91 year old monarch, who has ruled out long-haul travel, showed keeness to pass on the baton to the 69-year-old Prince of Wales, an Indian senior official said, "India has no objection to Prince Charles as the next Head because he has worked hard for the institution. However, we are also clear that there should be no institutionalisation of the post.” This particularly sealed the fate of having Prince Charles as the Commonwealth Head.
This visit has also laid ground for a possible post-Brexit bilateral free trade deal and signed off on a series of commercial agreements upto £1bn. Of course chances of Britain securing a trade deal with India, that is greater than India-EU deal, will only be possible if UK makes major concessions on Indian skilled labour accessing the UK market. He has had a lengthy bilateral meeting with Mrs May with a commitment that British intelligence will help fight Pakistan-based militant groups.
He also met several other heads of government, and his 30 mins meeting with Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh caught much attention.
Modi's flight was greeted at Heathrow by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. British Ministers said a free trade deal is in the pipe line, but cannot be issued until Brexit transition happens. The EU has also tried to secure the same, therefore Mr Modi stopped by in Germany to meet Chancellor Merkel, on his way back to India.
