Indians warmly welcome Trump
Pageantry marks trip’s 1st day
AHMEDABAD, India — President Donald Trump used the first day of his visit to India to reaffirm close ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and tease progress on a trade deal down the road. But the day was largely devoted to pageantry.
In the first hours of his 36-hour visit to the subcontinent, Trump received the adulatory reception that has eluded him on many foreign trips. The day focused on a trio of events: the largest rally of Trump’s presidency sandwiched between visits to a former home of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi and to the Taj Mahal.
More than 100,000 people packed the world’s largest cricket stadium for the rally, nearly all of then wearing white caps with the name of the event: “Namaste, Trump.”
But miles away in the capital, New Delhi, Trump was the focus of rallies by both supporters and opponents of the U.S. Anti-Trump street demonstrations also broke out in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Gauhati.
In another New Delhi protest, police used tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse a crowd of clashing demonstrators hours before Trump was due to arrive, as violence broke out over a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims.
Trump opened his rally speech in Ahmedabad on Monday by declaring that he had traveled 8,000 miles to deliver the message that “America loves India, America respects India, and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.”
He praised India as a place where different faiths
“worship side by side in harmony,” making no mention of the new law that has raised fears that the country is mov- ing toward a religious citizenship test. The president also emphasized his administration’s efforts to secure the U.S.’ borders and crack down on “radical Islamic terrorism.”
The sun-baked city bustled around him, its streets teeming with people eager to catch a glimpse of the American president. Trump’s motorcade traveled newly cleaned roads planted with flowers and featuring elaborately costumed dancers and musicians as well as hundreds of large billboards featuring the president, first lady Melania Trump and Modi. Tens of thousands of people lined the route, though that number fell well short of the prediction of up to 10 million that Trump had said Modi promised him would be on hand.
The first stop was Gandhi’s home, where Trump donned a prayer shawl and removed his shoes to walk through the humble ashram. He inspected the spinning wheel used by the famed pacifist and saw a statue of monkeys representing Gandhi’s mantra of “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” Then it was on to a far more boisterous setting: the mega-rally at the world’s largest cricket stadium.
Carefully chosen Modi loyalists and workers from his Bharatiya Janata Party lined the road to welcome Trump. Tens of thousands of police officers were also on hand to keep security tight. A new wall had been erected in front of a slum, apparently to hide it from the president’s motorcade.
Modi, a noted hugger, figuratively and literally embraced Trump at the start of the rally that was, in a way, the back half of home-and-away events for the two men. Both had attended a “Howdy Modi” rally in Houston last year that drew 50,000 people.
Trump on Monday lavished praise on both Modi and the democracy he leads, highlighting an effort to lift residents out of extreme poverty.
“India gives hope to all of humanity,” Trump told the crowd.
Modi also praised Trump. “President Trump thinks big, and the world knows what he has done to realize the American dream,” Modi said to the cheering crowd.
Trump drew some of the day’s loudest cheers when he mentioned India’s rival and neighbor, Pakistan, saying that he was working with that country “to crack down on the terrorist organizations that operate” along its border with India, and which New Delhi sees as a mortal threat.
“Every nation has the right to secure and controlled borders. The United States and India are committed to working together to stop terrorists and to fight their ideology,” Trump said.
The stadium was packed with revelers, many of whom wore Trump and Modi masks as they sat in 80-degree heat. Yet scores of attendees, particularly those sitting in the sun, streamed out before Trump had finished his 27-minute speech.
Before he arrived, the crowd listened to a medley of Bollywood hits and songs from Trump’s usual campaign rally playlist, including Elton John numbers that seemed to puzzle some in the chanting, colorful crowd.
TAJ MAHAL VISIT
Trump, whose foreign visits typically are light on sightseeing, told reporters traveling with him that he was eager to see the Taj Mahal, which he’d never visited. He later delighted in the immense white marble, 17th-century mausoleum in the city of Agra.
As daylight began to fade, Trump and his wife posed for photos, including some in front of the iconic bench where Princess Diana sat alone in 1992 in what became an enduring image.
“Really incredible, an incredible place,” Trump told reporters as he stood in the structure’s shadow.
Local media had warned of the dangers of the monkeys that inhabit the landmark and pester tourists for food and, on occasion, menace both visitors and slingshot-carrying security guards. But the animals were successfully cleared from the site before the Trumps’ visit.
Foreign trips offer powerful political imagery for presidents facing reelection: They can be feted on the world stage while their rivals in the opposing party slog through visits to diners in early-voting states and clash in debates.
This trip, in particular, reflects a Trump campaign strategy to showcase him in his presidential role and provide counter-programming to the Democrats’ primary contest.
The visit also comes at a crucial moment for Modi, a fellow populist who is saddled with a steep economic downturn and unfulfilled campaign promises on job creation.
Trump will spend today in New Delhi, a bustling, noisy, colorful capital that also is dotted with half-finished construction projects stalled because of disappearing funding.
The president also will hold meetings with Modi over stalled trade talks and attend a gala dinner. Their two nations are closely allied, in part to act as a bulwark against the rising influence of China. Trump announced at the stadium that India would soon buy $3 billion of American military equipment.
But trade tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum from India. India responded with higher penalties on agricultural goods and restrictions on U.S. medical devices. And the U.S. retaliated by removing India from a decades-old preferential trade program.
Trump voiced optimism during the rally that a deal could be reached. But he also lightheartedly said of Modi, “Everybody loves him, but I will tell you this: He’s very tough.”
INDIAN PROTESTS
As Trump was being feted by Modi in Ahmedabad, Hindu nationalist and communist groups held pro- and anti-U.S. street demonstrations in the capital.
One police officer was killed in the violence, officer Anuj Kumar said. Eleven police officers were injured as they were hit by rocks while trying to separate rival groups, the New Delhi police control room said.
The Press Trust of India news agency said three protesters were killed during clashes in several parts of the Indian capital. Police offered no confirmation of the news report.
A group of Hindu nationalists held a prayer meeting in which they put a vermilion mark on the forehead of Trump’s photograph on a poster, blessing him, while a priest chanted Hindu hymns wishing Trump success in his endeavor for strong ties with India.
Vishnu Gupta, president of Hindu Sena, said that “through a fire ritual we are invoking God to bless America and India.”
He said he wanted Trump and Modi to fight radical Islam and the spread of terrorism.
Elsewhere in New Delhi, dozens of supporters of the Communist Party of India carried a banner reading “Trump go back.” Anti-Trump street demonstrations also broke out in the cities of Gauhati in the northeast, Kolkata in the east and Hyderabad in the south.
Doraisamy Raja, the Communist Party’s general secretary, accused Modi of succumbing to U.S. pressure on access to the Indian market rather than protecting India’s interests.
Also in New Delhi, police fired tear gas as clashes broke out between hundreds of supporters and opponents of a new citizenship law that provides fast-track naturalization for some foreign-born religious minority groups but not Muslims.
The protesters were blocking a busy road in a northeastern district of New Delhi, replicating similar sitins in several parts of India since the law was approved in December.