Gujarat forms committee to oversee Trump event
AHMEDABAD: A day after an obscure committee called the Donald Trump Nagarik Abhivadan Samiti was identified as the organiser of the Namaste Trump event in Ahmedabad on February 24, the Gujarat government hurriedly put together a team on Friday to oversee the jamboree, similar to the Howdy Mody show in Houston last September.
Ahmedabad mayor Bijal Patel was appointed chairperson of the nine-member committee that includes members of parliament, artistes and head of a city-based university, officials familiar with the development said.
Ahmedabad MPs Kirit Solanki (Ahmedabad west) and Hasmukh Patel (Ahmedabad east); Durgesh Buch, president of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Navin Sheth, vice chancellor of the Ahmedabad- based Gujarat Technological University; and folk singer and Padma Shri awardee Bhikudan Gadhvi are on the committee, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
Hindustan Times couldn’t ascertain the names of the three other members of the panel. On Thursday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had first dropped the name of the panel, which he said was taking “all decisions on whom to invite” to the event. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala wondered who heads the committee and when it had extended an invitation to Trump
Motera, the largest cricket stadium in the world, is hosting the Namaste Trump event, which will also be attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was similarly feted at the Howdy Modi event that was also attended by the US president.
State government officials said the formation of the committee had been necessitated because the inauguration of the Motera stadium is not a part of the February 24 programme.
“The Gujarat Cricket Association, therefore, cannot invite guests or design the programme. So a committee was created from the highest level,” one government official said.
Hasmukh Patel said the role of the committee would be to organise the Namaste Trump event. “The committee is under the mayor, but the main role would be to chalk out the event, decide the invitees and send out invites,” Patel said. HT couldn’t contact Bijal Patel despite several attempts.
The creation of the committee was so sudden that Solanki, a member, said he was not aware of its ambit. “I was told this afternoon that I am on the committee. There has been no meeting yet nor a meeting is scheduled,” Solanki said. Asked the reason for the sudden formation of the committee, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Bharat Pandya said: “It is an opportunity for Ahmedabad to host the US president.”
Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said all preparations were in final stages. “A grand roadshow will be organised. He will go to the Motera stadium for Namaste Trump programme where two top leaders of the world (Trump and Modi) will be present,” he told reporters.