Trump’s India visit: Evictions spark anger
SLUM DWELLERS TOLD TO VACATE THEIR SHANTIES
Authorities in India’s Gujarat state yesterday served eviction notices to 45 families living in a slum area near the cricket stadium which US President will inaugurate while on India tour.
The residents said they were asked to leave because of the upcoming event, but the city’s civic body denied it. “We have been living here for the last 20 years and now we are suddenly being told to vacate because some important leader is visiting this city for a day,’’ said Sanjay Patani, a resident. “This is injustice.’’
Kishore Varna, a government official, said the land belongs to the civic body and evictions were done under the law. He didn’t say why the eviction notices were sent just days ahead of Trump’s visit.
Strained ties
The authorities are also hastily erecting a halfkilometre brick wall, with critics saying it was built to block the view of a slum area inhabited by more than 2,000 people.
“Since they are spending so much money on this wall, why not use that to improve our slum and provide better facilities for us,’’ said Keshi Saraniya, a resident.
Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along America’s border with Mexico to stop people from entering the US, is visiting India on Monday and Tuesday. His visit is aimed at smoothing ties strained by trade disputes and could also allow him to woo tens of thousands of Indian-American voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
Fifty-year-old Ashok Badjatya has been painting walls surrounding the Motera stadium as the city spruces up ahead of the US President Donald Trump’s maiden visit to Gujarat.
Badjatya and his fivemember team hope President Trump and Prime Minister Modi will see their wall paintings at least once while crossing the road.
Messages inscribed on the wall include ‘World’s Largest Democracy meets World’s oldest democracy’, and ‘Mera Swachh Motera’ along with portraits of Trump and Modi. The approximately 100-foot long wall also depicts Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Charkha’ (wheel) along with various athletic poses.
Message of cleanliness
“I want to fight against the usage of plastic. My message is to spread ‘swachhta’ [cleanliness] as much as possible,” Badjatya said.
Currently, the team of painters is working day and night as they have been given permission to complete the entire stretch covering by February 22 the Motera Stadium, venue of the welcome event for Trump and his wife Melania Trump.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Trump is expected to attend an event at the stadium in Ahmedabad on the lines of the ‘Howdy Modi’ function that was addressed by the US president and Modi in Houston in September last year.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Ahmedabad, the municipal corporation has asked the city’s slum dwellers to vacate their shanties. The families have been given seven days’ time to vacate the area.
However, city mayor Bijal Patel denied having knowledge in this regard. “I have not seen it. I do not know anything about it,” Patel said.