Australian PM thinks he will not be harassed to buy stuff in Delhi's Connaught Place this time

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thinks that he would not be harassed to buy stuff in Connaught Place in New Delhi when he would visit the national capital of India from Thursday to Saturday.

Albanese landed in Ahmedabad on Wednesday to commence his four-day visit to India. He will visit Mumbai before flying to New Delhi on Thursday.

“It'll be a bit different this time,” Albanese told Nova 93.7 FM radio channel at Perth in Australia before flying to Ahmedabad. He was recalling his earlier visits to India. “I don't think I'll be wandering around in Connaught Place in the middle of New Delhi, being harassed to buy stuff. I think it'll be a little bit more protected, I suspect.”

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Albanese will hold formal talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday before concluding his four-day-visit to India on Saturday.

Though this is his maiden visit to India after taking over as the Prime Minister of Australia in May 2022, Albanese had earlier spent six weeks in the country in 1991.

“Well, I spent in 1991, I spent six weeks backpacking around India, and that is when you get the real deal. When you're getting street food,” he told Nova 93.7. “I was staying in really cheap places,” he said, when the interviewer asked if he had stayed in hostels during his earlier visits to India.

“There's a whole lot of old rundown palaces as well that you can stay in for like five bucks equivalent, and we were catching trains, we were hitching. It was awesome. People are so friendly. It is such a different culture,” said Albanese, adding: “I enjoyed it so much.”

He also recalled his last visit to India in 2018 as a member of an Australian parliamentary delegation. “And that is a very different experience.”

Ahead of his visit to India, the Australian Prime Minister was also asked if he would like spicy food. “The great thing about being an Australian is we eat all sorts of food, we eat spicy food. I like hot food,” he replied.