‘America loves India,’ Trump declares at rally with Modi

President Donald Trump began a two-day visit to India by joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a campaign-style rally in a 110,000-seat cricket stadium that illustrated the populist bond between the two men and impressed a president who revels in spectacle.

“America loves India. America respects India,” Trump said. “And America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.”

The “Namaste Trump” rally, a daylong affair featuring popular singers, dancers and pounding music, took place under a blazing sun in the city’s Motera Stadium, which India calls the largest of its kind in the world. It was an unabashed homage to Trump, whose name and image appeared in dozens of banners and billboards throughout the stadium.

Trump looked out with satisfaction at the grand display and said it had made a lasting impression on him.

”We will always remember this remarkable hospitality. We will remember it forever,” Trump said to loud cheers, as his wife, Melania, sat nearby. “From this day onward, India will always hold a special place in our hearts.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb 24, 2020. The New York Times

But even as he name-checked famous cricket players and Bollywood stars, Trump betrayed unfamiliarity with the country — and even his immediate location — when he stumbled over several pronunciations, including those of Ahmedabad itself, as well as Gujarat, the state it anchors and Modi’s political home base.

And although Trump said with satisfaction that 125,000 people had turned out to see him, more than one third of the crowd appeared to leave before the end of his nearly 30-minute remarks, and another third was gone by the time Modi spoke after him.

The event was the mirror image of a “Howdy, Modi!” rally the two men held at a football stadium in Houston in September and catered to Trump’s taste for a giant crowd. It also made vivid an image the leaders are jointly cultivating as larger-than-life, unapologetically brash figures leading their countries to bright new futures — even as critics call them mutual enablers in parallel assaults on democratic and religious freedoms.

“Two dynamic personalities, one momentous occasion,” declared one billboard in Ahmedabad, highlighting a personal dynamic that, for now, overshadows more substantive hang-ups in the US-India relationship. Those included Trump’s efforts to strike a peace agreement with the Taliban and slow progress toward a trade deal.

Trump said that he and Modi would eventually be making “very, very major” trade deals but added that they are in the “early stages of discussion.” Modi was “a very tough negotiator,” he joked.

A person displays a mask depicting President Donald Trump, during an event with Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb 24, 2020. The New York Times

But that was about as critical as Trump got in remarks that hailed Modi for his “landslide” 2019 reelection, which Trump noted was the largest democratic election on Earth. Making no mention of a growing backlash against what critics call Modi’s anti-Muslim Hindu nationalism, Trump praised India for its unity and echoed the Indian leader’s own stump speeches by noting anti-poverty efforts that have provided more electricity, cooking gas and toilets to rural Indians.

It was further evidence that Trump and Modi have developed a personal bond, or at least a political partnership, one Modi has skilfully created with the glue of flattery. Before departing from Washington on Sunday, Trump told reporters that his appearance here would be “the biggest event they’ve ever had in India. That’s what the prime minister told me.” (The rally was likely not even the biggest Indian turnout for a US president: Dwight D Eisenhower drew a crowd of 1 million during a 1959 visit to New Delhi, according to an Associated Press report at the time.)

Onstage, the two men hugged repeatedly, and Modi lavished his guest with praise.

“President Trump thinks big, and the world knows what he has done to realise the American dream,” Modi said to the cheering crowd.

Although Ahmedabad did not deliver the 10 million well-wishers that Trump has also said Modi promised to turn out — the entire city’s population is less than 6 million, and television images suggested tens of thousands, not millions in the streets — the city feted him with costumed musicians and dancers, and even a marching band on camels.

Motera Stadium — formally known as Sardar Patel Stadium and still partly under construction — was full at the outset of Trump’s remarks, with tens of thousands sitting for hours in temperatures well above 80 degrees. Some Indians wore Modi masks and waved American flags while they danced to the popular Indian musicians who warmed up the crowd.

People fill the stands during an event with President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb 24, 2020. The New York Times

Trump departed from the event for Agra and a sunset tour of the Taj Mahal. From there he heads to New Delhi, where he will meet with Modi before attending a state banquet.

Major roads in the three cities were teeming with giant posters and billboards of Trump and Modi, along with inspiring slogans trumpeting the US-India relationship.

“World’s oldest democracy meets world’s largest democracy,” proclaimed one. But sceptics of the two men say they have each undermined democratic traditions by demonising immigrants, promoting nationalism and seeking to suppress media freedoms.

Trump has shown little public concern for actions by Modi that have drawn international condemnation, including abruptly revoking the statehood of predominantly Muslim Kashmir and backing a law establishing a religious test for new migrants that critics call evidence of plans to turn India into a Hindu-centric state whose 200 million Muslims would be second-class citizens.

Sectarian-themed clashes erupted in northeast New Delhi on Monday, as people for and against Modi’s new immigration law fought in the streets. A policeman was killed amid rising tensions between Hindus and Muslims in that area, officials said.

Still, those contentious issues went unmentioned during Monday’s event, although Trump administration official told reporters Friday that Trump would talk during his visit “about our shared tradition of democracy and religious freedom both in his public remarks and then certainly in private.” Trump and Modi are scheduled to hold a news conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Trump drew some of the day’s loudest cheers when he mentioned India’s rival and neighbour, Pakistan, saying that he was working with that country “to crack down on the terrorist organisations that operate” along its border with India, and which New Delhi sees as a mortal threat.

“Every nation has the right to secure and controlled borders. The United States and India are committed to working together to stop terrorists and to fight their ideology,” Trump said.

People fill the stands during an event with President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb 24, 2020. The New York Times

Trump, who tweeted good wishes to India in Hindi before and after his arrival, was joined on his flight there by his wife Melania, his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. Before arriving at the stadium, Trump removed his shoes and donned a traditional scarf for a visit to an ashram where the former Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi once lived.

Ahmedabad is the biggest city and the main business hub in Gujarat, Modi’s home and political base. Many of the most influential Indian Americans are also originally from Gujarat, and a growing source of political and financial support for Trump as he heads toward reelection. Trump said Monday that 4 million Indian Americans live in the United States, including “titans of business” and “pioneers of science.”

Gujarat is also the place where Modi’s critics say that he, as chief minister of the state, played an unforgivable role during a wave of sectarian violence in 2002 that left more than 1,000 people dead — almost 800 of whom were Muslims killed by Hindu mobs.

Modi has been widely accused of at least tacitly supporting the violence. Much of the killing was done by members of his political party and other Hindu nationalist groups. Many witnesses said police officers did not intervene and in many cases joined in the killing.

Modi denies those accusations. But the George W. Bush administration was suspicious enough of Modi’s role to ban him in 2005 from visiting the United States.

When he became prime minister in the spring of 2014, the travel ban was lifted, and later that year, Modi made his first triumphant visit to the United States, where he had a private dinner with President Barack Obama.

Trump is popular in India, where 2019 polling by the Pew Research Centre found 56% of citizens expressed confidence in him to handle world affairs — one of just a half-dozen nations to register a majority on that question. In many other countries, he is more apt to draw crowds of protesters than admirers. Attendees at Monday’s rally seemed dazzled.

President Donald Trump with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Feb 24, 2020. At left is first lady Melania Trump. The New York Times

“If they don’t make any deals, that’s fine,” said Mahesh Banker, a 50-year-old doctor who attended the rally with friends. “But India is shining, and America recognises that, and that’s all that matters.”

Another attendee, Harsh Patel, a 21-year-old from Gujarat who now lives in Canada, drew comparisons between the two leaders.

“Modi is a strong leader, passionate about his people, and he works for them,” he said. “He’s unorthodox, and doesn’t care what people think. Kind of like Trump.”

In addition to hanging hundreds of banners and billboards, India’s government hurried in recent days to make cosmetic improvements to all three of the cities Trump is visiting. In Ahmedabad, a new wall appeared that happened to conceal a slum.

And in Agra on Sunday, a day before Trump’s arrival, workers were busy paving streets in and around the Taj Mahal compound. “Trump is coming!” volunteered one worker filling cracks in a sidewalk leading to the famous structure.

Local media reports chronicled efforts by officials to chase away the hundreds of monkeys who perennially roam around the structure and which can be hostile to people. No monkeys were visible on the grounds during Trump’s visit.

© 2020 New York Times News Service