These are words of syrupy ingratiation …. Not true or heartfelt words of praise …
Boris is simply angling for good terms for a new long term Trade Deal with India … which is currently work-in-progress and under tortuous negotiations between the Governments.
Do not ever forget, O my Indian brethren, that the East India Company came to India first to trade and they were not shy of sucking up to Emperor Shah Jahan … they showered praise and gifts on him to issue a firmaan… a general licence — for them to carry on trade anywhere inside India on their own terms .
“The British are a nation of shopkeepers” said Napoleon. A shopkeeper is a salesman …. He will heap praise and any amount of compliments on a customer just to grab his wallet. Boris is no different from a quintessential “English shopkeeper”… but Modi is no Emperor Shah Jahan, is he?
Sudarshan Madabushi