US President Donald Trump on
Monday had a brief but busy stay in Ahmedabad, where he arrived to a grand welcome, attended a 22-km-long roadshow, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram and addressed a mega gathering with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Along with Trump, the city also hosted the US First Lady Melania, daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and several top officials who were part of the high-level delegation accompanying the American leader on his maiden India trip.
Trump's arrival in the city, where he spent a little over three hours, marked the beginning of his two-day visit.
To welcome Trump and the First Lady, Modi arrived at the Ahmedabad international airport around 10:30 am.
The US president's official plane 'Air Force One' landed at theairport around 11:37 am. Modi personally received Trump and Melania upon their arrival.
Both the leaders then embarked on a 22-km-long 'India Road Show' from the airport in separate vehicles.
The Gujarat police had deployed over 12,000 of its personnel on strategic locations on the entire roadshow route and at the cricket stadium at Motera, the venue of the 'Namaste Trump' programme.
This massive police deployment was in addition to personnel of the United States Secret Service, the National Security Guard (NSG) and the Special Protection Group (SPG) who were also part of security arrangements.
The police had also used anti-drone technology to identify and neutralise any suspicious flying object on the route.
An anti-sniper team of the NSG was deployed along the route of the roadshow that started from the airport and concluded at the cricket stadium.
To showcase India's rich culture and heritage, artistes from almost all the states were allotted stages on the entire route to perform in their traditional attires. In all, around 50 stages were erected on the route.
Authorities claimed over one lakh people had line up along the route of the roadshow to catch a glimpse of Trump and Modi.
Halfway to the roadshow, both the leaders visited the Sabarmati Ashram, where Mahatma Gandhi spent 13 years during India's freedom struggle.
Modi, who reached ashram a few minutes before Trump, showed the American leader and Melania Trump 'Hriday Kunj', a cottage where Gandhi and his wife Kasturba once lived.
Trump and Melania also tried their hands on the charkha or khadi spinning wheel.
In the visitor book at the ashram, Trump wrote "To my great friend Prime Minister Modi - Thank you for this wonderful visit".
Among other things, the Trump couple was gifted Gandhi's autobiography, khadi stoles and a wooden charkha by the trust managing the ashram located on the banks of the river Sabarmati.
The VVIPs then resumed their roadshow till Motera stadium.
Though the much-awaited 'Namaste Trump' event was scheduled to start after 1.30 pm, people from across Gujarat besides local residents started arriving at the cricket stadium, touted as the world's biggest, since 8 am and were eager to see both the leaders.
For security reasons, each invitee was given a personal invitation and police conducted their background checks.
Bollywood singer Kailash Kher and local Gujarati singers entertained the audience for a couple of hours before Trump and Modi reached the stadium, which has the capacity to accommodate 1.10 lakh people, the highest for any cricket arena in the world.
Gujarati singers like Kirtidan Gadhvi, Geeta Rabari and Kinjal Dave also entertained the audience at the venue where over 1.10 lakh people were present.
The invited guests included Non-Resident Indians and business persons.
For security reasons, no one was allowed to carry any banner or flag inside the stadium.
Though the audience was enthusiastic to see and hear both the leaders, sweltering heat forced some of them to leave the venue even before Trump ended his speech as the guests were sitting in the open stadium since morning.
The stadium, owned by the Gujarat Cricket Association, has been rebuilt after demolishing the old one, which was built in 1982 and had a seating capacity of 49,000.
The entire stadium complex is spread across over 64 acres and has a club house and an Olympic-size swimming pool.
The construction of the new stadium was completed in two years at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore.
After the mega show and spending a little over three hours in the city, Trump and Melania left for Agra around 3 pm.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
