Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister, visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi with his wife Akshata Murty amid tight security on Sunday morning.
Sunak is in Delhi to attend the two-day G20 Summit. It is his first official visit to India since becoming Britain’s Prime Minister.
Security has been tightened in and around the temple where Sunak reached to offer his prayers. On Saturday, a senior police officer said that pickets were placed in the area and checking is being done due to the ongoing G20 Summit. Adequate security personnel will be deployed for the UK prime minister’s visit, he added.
A few pictures of Sunak with Murty and the priests of Akshardham Temple were also shared on Instagram.
"It was an honour to welcome Prime Minister @RishiSunakMP and
akshatamurty_official to @BAPS #SwaminarayanAkshardham for darshan and prayer. The Prime Minister and his wife performed the arti ceremony during the early morning visit. It gave them an opportunity to offer their prayers at a Hindu place of worship during the #G20 summit in New Delhi," the caption read.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Sunak on the sidelines of the G20 Summit on Saturday and discussed ways to deepen trade linkages and boost investment. Sunak also said that he had “enormous respect” for PM Modi.
On Friday, Sunak talked about his Hindu roots and expressed his hope to visit a temple during his stay in India.
“I'm a proud Hindu, and that's how I was raised. That's how I am. Hopefully, I can visit a mandir while I'm here for the next couple of days. We just had Raksha Bandhan, so from my sister and my cousins, I have all my rakhis, and I didn't have time to celebrate Janmashtami properly the other day," Sunak told news agency ANI.
He also said that he and his wife plan to visit some of their favourite Delhi restaurants that they used to frequent.
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