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
Cheering PAK against india is wrong. But Anyone can celebrate any team. There is no law.
@milan u sound like, terrorism is wrong, but anyone can be terrorists. there is no law. :P
shame on jihadist muslims who back stab our motherland , shameless beggars .kick them out of india or hack them .
How cheering for Pakistan Cricket Team is wrong? Can we then support England team when the British had ruled and looted India for 200 years? There are numerous England supporters in India but no one is against them! Can we support France in football when French had looted and invaded India? Why do Indians support Brazil or France or Germany in FIFA when Indian team is not playing in it? Indians only need to support Kabbadi instead... Come on guys, just keep aside your enemity atleast in sports.. Support whichever team you like..
They should not have celebrated Pak win openly...if at their home does not matter but not openly....their soldiers are killing our innocent soldiers....
Cheering for a team of enemy country, Celebrating the victory of enemy country against our own country is not at all justified. We all Indians should be ONE against such country in any activity. There is hard feeling or soft feeling PERIOD.
Are we going to celebrate victory of Bangladesh against India??? No one does that. Then, why Pakistan???
Some fools are celebrating pakistan victory and saffron b.fools are exaggerating it for political mileage
Its proved many times who z bloody anti nationalists , when rama sena hoisted pakistan flag in Sindagi, Mutalik gang s bomb blast in hubballi court , ABVP s Pakistan zindabad @ JNU and now one more allegation, grow up sangis this style bcom old
Soon after the match many of Indian team players wholeheartedly congratulated Pakistani team and shook hands with them. Are Indian team players also anti-nationals? Do they also face sedition case?
Good point Rajan Shetty. Keep commenting. Silence of nationalists will encourage anti-nationals.
These gandutva guys have a very little heart
Whole cricket team of india should be in jail including gavaskar and gambhir . They congratulated Pakistan and praised them...
Actually the fact is ...this is the result of Media propaganda by RSS since many years ......................they were taunting Muslim youths telling Pakistan which they have no connection and bond is real friend......then simply youths started to anger the Saffronists by supporting pakistan verbally ....but some youth still using the same tactic to anger RSS ...but Rss a anti national organization uses the same to polarize ...unlike RAMA SENE which hoisted Pakistan Flag in Sindhagi ...is out of the talk now ????????????
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