Marriage à-la-Modi

IT SHOULD be a welcome like no other. On November 13th India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is due to get the rock-star treatment at Wembley stadium in London when about 55,000 people turn out to hear him speak. The organisers claim that this will not only be the biggest overseas reception so far for the jet-setting premier, topping even last year’s appearance at Madison Square Garden in New York, but also Britain’s largest-ever welcome for a visiting leader (minus popes). The warm embrace is not surprising: of the 1.5m or so people of Indian origin in Britain, almost half are Gujarati, hailing from Mr Modi’s home state.

David Cameron will be hugging Mr Modi pretty tight as well during his three-day visit. Mr Cameron has made efforts to forge better relations with India, visiting the country three times since 2010. Comparisons will be made with the enormous fuss made of China’s president, Xi Jinping, during his visit to Britain last month, but the Indian diaspora shouldn’t have much to worry about. Despite the fact that Mr Modi’s is not a state visit, unlike that of Mr Xi, he will still be getting the full works: a Buckingham Palace banquet, an address to Parliament and even a chance to chillax with Mr Cameron in the prime minister’s country house, Chequers.