Ahmedabad, Feb 24: US President Donald Trump arrived in Ahmedabad on Monday for the first leg of his India trip.
The Air Force One plane carrying Trump and his wife Melania landed at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel international airport here at 11.37 am, officials said.
It was scheduled to land at 11.40 am.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached Ahmedabad over an hour before Trump did, was present at the airport to welcome the US president at the airport.
In Ahmedabad, Trump will visit Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram, take part in a roadshow with Modi and jointly address over one lakh people at a cricket stadium, before heading for Agra to see the iconic Taj Mahal with Melania.
Trump, who is also accompanied by daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and top brass of his administration, will get a taste of India's cultural melange during his high- optics Gujarat itinerary, after the bonhomie between the two leaders at the 'Howdy, Modi!' event in Houston last year.
The US president and Modi will participate in a roadshow from the airport to Sabarmti Ashram and from there to the newly-built Motera cricket stadium, where over a lakh people are expected to be present for the 'Namaste Trump' event.
Dance groups and singers from different parts of the country will be performing on stages that are dotting the 22- km route of the 'India roadshow' in the city.
Huge billboards of the two leaders and replicas of historic places in Gujarat have also been placed along the roads where people will greet the two leaders.
Over 10,000 police personnel, besides officials of the United States Secret Service, and personnel of the National Security Guards (NSG) and the Special Protection Group (SPG) have been deployed for the high profile visit.
The seventh US president to visit India, Trump on Sunday retweeted a video in which his face was superimposed on the hit Indian movie-character Bahubali, showing him as a great saviour.
Modi will accompany Trump to the Sabarmati Ashram, which was home to Mahatma Gandhi from 1917-1930 during India's freedom struggle.
Several world leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have visited Sabarmati Ashram in recent years.
Ashram secretary Amrut Modi said Trump will spend 15 minutes at the place.
"Trump will visit the 'Hriday Kunj'. If he wishes, he will spin a charkha (spinning wheel). We will also gift him a coffee-table book, and a book containing 150 quotations of Gandhi," the Ashram official said.
Hriday Kunj is a room on the Ashram premises where Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi had lived for 12 years between 1918 and 1930.
The official said the US President would be briefed about Gandhiji and the importance of charkha as a symbol of self-reliance.
There will be a cultural extravaganza at the Motera stadium during the 'Namaste Trump' event, where Trump and Modi will address the gathering.
Bollywood singer Kailash Kher and some Gujarati folk singers will perform at the stadium, officials of the Gujarat Cricket Association said.
Students of various government and private schools have also been roped in to perform at cultural events and they have been practicing for days, an official said.
Billboards with slogans hailing Indo-US relations and having pictures of Trump and Modi walking together, shaking hands, and waving at the crowd during the 'Howdy Modi' event are dotting the city.
Comments
hahaha muslims always find problem where they are ... In arab world they find enemy in the name of Israel , in west they scream that chummag ge gummah madthavre americans and christains antha ... bosnia dalli serbians mele ... burma dalli namma buddhist mele ... india dalli RSS mele ... hane baraha ashte ... no islamic country is peaceful as it is full of terrorists . Iran is an exception as they are shia ... 99.99% terror crimes , frauds , smugling , rapes are done by one particular community only ... still they scream they innocent anthe , mullahs give us a break ... we know what you are doing ... Hindus are well aware of what jihadist did for their culture , how indian women were raped and places of worships were destroyed . yaavano helidnthanthe RSS mukhta bharatha madthini antha ... adakke chummah gang namgobba leader sikkavne , madiji ge manja tinsona antha scheme haaktha idave ... hahaha ... RSS is not a local organisation ,it has so powerful lobby and very vast network across the globe ..next only to jewish lobby now . jewish and Indian lobby work together ...RSS is 100 times more stronger than these scums imagine .. nothing wrong in questioning muslims and if they are not found guilt send them out ... india must be free from terrorism ... so NIA must watch madrassas which are symbol of terrors and seminaries , which is a breeding ground for jihadist acts ...jai ho israel .. jai ho india ... long live Indo israel relationship ... death to enemies of israel and india ... hara hara modi .. jai jai modi ... jihadi gala pinkaan ge mirchi biddu ice mele koorlikke horadtha ive antha kanuthe ... yakku baba ... bholo bharath mata ki jai ... i heard one jihadi lady , pinkaan nalli 1 kg gold madikondu bandu namma police kaili sikki haakondavlanthe howda mullah gala .. hahahahha
Maulana thariq jameel is a scholar, his speech has changed many lives all over the world, and his speech CDs are commonly available in India and in gulf countries.
Kumar, if Muslims threw you out from India...we would not have seen you talking like this here in CD....it is because of your kind of people our country is not progressing...facing lot of problems now and then....Burma will suffering because of their wrong doing....
Muslims are not terrorists....RSS made them scafegoats
We Indians must stand up and voice and war against terrorists and terrorism. I salute Bihar CM Nithish Kumar's call for free RSS.
If we get rid of RSS then there will be peace everywhere in India.
RSS is the root cause of terrorism.
@ VENKI MANGALORE
YA YA BJP DPING THE WORK PROPERLY YES U R RIGHT
THEY TRING TO MAKE COW AS MOTHER AND BAN IN INDIA
BAGWATH GEETHA TO ANNOUNCE NATION HOLLY BOOK
THESE THEY DOING WORK RIGHT NOW
I feel sympathy for those CD anti muslim viewers who try to sling the mud on muslims stored in their backyard
@ KUMAR MANGALORE .
MIND UR WORDS.. DONT TALK AGAINST THE MUSLIM
TALK AGAINST THE TERRORISM
NEED TO CATCH VHP WE WILL GET THE PURE LINK...
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