Trump met by Modi’s promised pageantry on arrival in India

Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump received a red-carpet welcome in Ahmedabad on Monday, kicking off a two-day visit to India that is likely to be more about spectacle than substance.
In a day packed with pageantry for the American president — who’s made no secret of his predilection for large crowds and impressive displays — Trump was greeted on the tarmac by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders then travelled the 22 kilometres to a new, 110,000-seat cricket stadium packed with cheering crowds.
Both leaders were expected to speak at an event at the stadium billed as “Namaste Trump.” Modi and Trump appeared at a similar event — dubbed “Howdy, Modi!” — last year in Houston. All along the route performers from across India performed dances and school children and locals lined up behind barricades to wave American and Indian flags.
Modi is hoping the welcome in his home state of Gujarat will further solidify his friendship with Trump and strengthen bonds with the US that have frayed over trade disputes.

Numbers Game
Trump has repeatedly boasted about the crowds he anticipates for the India roadshow. “I hear they’re going to have 10 million people. They say anywhere from six to 10 million people are going to be showing up along the route to one of the largest stadiums in the world, the largest cricket stadium in the world,” Trump told a campaign rally audience in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
On February 23, as he departed the White House, he told reporters “millions and millions of people” would attend the event. “Some people say the biggest event they’ve ever had in India,” Trump said. “That’s what the prime minister told me; this will be the biggest event they’ve ever had.”
Indian officials estimated the crowd size would be closer to 100,000 — the entire population of Ahmedabad was 5.6 million as of a 2011 census — but still anticipated an impressive showing for the US leader.
Workers in the city have been furiously resurfacing streets and repainting overpasses in anticipation of Trump’s visit. Billboards along the route feature images of the two leaders emblazoned with slogans promoting the visit.
“We’ve travelled for more than two hours from our village this morning. We walked three kilometres after getting off the bus that brought us here,” said Chetan Patel, a farmer and a volunteer with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “The BJP party office issued passes,” Patel said, adding that at least one bus had come from every village in every district in the state.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to see Trump,” said Kriti Sinha, a teacher at a local government polytechnic institute.
Nimesh Barot, associate vice-president at Tata Consultancy Services, said excitement across the city. “There are lots of Gujaratis in the US,” Barot, 47, said in Gujarat’s largest city.
Between the airport and stadium, Trump stopped to visit the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati, a residence of Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement. Gandhi lived for years in a modest cottage at the site, famously departing in 1930 to lead the 24-day Dandi March in protest of the British monopoly on salt.
Following the rally at the cricket stadium, Trump will fly to Agra, where he’s planning to visit the iconic Taj Mahal.
Trump will then depart for Delhi, where he’ll spend the night before a series of meetings with government officials and business leaders on Tuesday.