India set to stage an epic show, with Trump as the star
AHMEDABAD, India — The roads are a hive of activity: women hoisting buckets of sand, work crews laying down fresh tar, an army of sweepers attacking debris and a new wall going up in front of a slum, apparently to hide it from passersby.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to land in the western city of Ahmedabad on Monday for his first presidential visit to India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has planned an epic spectacle. The city is being scrubbed clean, and thousands upon thousands of Modi loyalists have been drafted to stand for hours on the sun-baked streets, there to shake flags and cheer for a president who loves nothing more than to draw a crowd.
It is the second act of a budding friendship between the two men, leaders of the world’s most populous democracies. Last year, Trump and Modi shared a stage in Houston at a rally called “Howdy, Modi!” This one is called “Namaste Trump,” which translates roughly as “Hello Trump.”
But beneath the projected bonhomie lies a pricklier reality. The United States and India are strategic partners, in no small part because of a mutual concern over China, but they still can’t agree on crucial issues. Even a small trade deal that was supposed to be the centerpiece of this trip has collapsed.
“They’ve been hitting us very hard for many, many years,” Trump said last week of India.
But he was quick to add: “I really like Prime Minister Modi.”
Modi seems to have enticed Trump to fly 8,000 miles and spend two days in India by his promise to stage a huge, tightly controlled show, with Trump at its center. The president has repeatedly claimed that he has been guaranteed a crowd of 5 million to 7 million people lining the roads to greet him, and on Thursday he upped that to 10 million.
Ahmedabad officials said it would be nowhere near that, more like 100,000 along the road and another 100,000 waiting for Trump in a new cricket stadium, where he will hold a rally.
Trump is popular in India, where he is seen as a strong leader, tough on terrorism, pro-business and friends with Modi. The two share a similar brand of divisive, populist politics. Still, Modi is taking no chances, fielding tens of thousands of police officers and packing the crowds with people he can trust to cheer enthusiastically for his guest.
Just to stand along the road that Trump’s motorcade will travel for a few minutes on Monday requires a special pass, given to carefully vetted party members, their allies and special groups hand-picked by the government. This is a level of control Modi can deliver in India that is very different from Britain, for example, where Trump treaded carefully to avoid the optics of hostile crowds.