'India's best friend': Hero's welcome for Trump complete with new wall

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'India's best friend': Hero's welcome for Trump complete with new wall

By Jordan Fabian and Bibhudatta Pradhan
Updated

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump anticipates a hero's welcome in India on Monday, but the glitzy events filling his two-day visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will paper over growing frictions.

The visit is intended to strengthen the personal relationship between Trump and Modi, a fellow nationalist whose country is regarded by the US as an important regional counterweight against China. And for Modi, the visit may distract from controversies over a new citizenship law that his critics say discriminates against Muslims, as well as a souring domestic economy.

Indian folk dancers rehearse their performance next to a billboard featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the airport in Agra, India.

Indian folk dancers rehearse their performance next to a billboard featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the airport in Agra, India.Credit: AP

Trump, with his re-election campaign in top gear, has sought out large, friendly crowds at football games, professional fights and the biggest auto race in America to ensure he's never far from the minds of American voters.

Modi plans to provide Trump a similar spectacle in Ahmedabad in his home state of Gujarat. Trump says the Indian leader has promised that millions of people will line 22 kilometres of roads between the airport and a new 110,000-seat cricket stadium where both leaders were due to speak on Monday.

The event was billed as "Namaste Trump" and is to be followed by a presidential visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra, where billboards proclaim Trump "India's best friend", before official meetings on Tuesday.

Indians hold masks of US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they wait for the Namaste Trump event at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Indians hold masks of US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they wait for the Namaste Trump event at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.Credit: AP

Modi has made grand visits to his home state a signature of his time in power, with the leaders of Japan and China both taking similar trips to Ahmedabad, the state's largest city.

But the arrival of Trump, residents and officials say, is unprecedented in scale.

On Sunday, more than 10,000 police - some mounted on camels - fanned out across the city. At the Sabermati Ashram, the former home of India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, labourers watered lawns and painted walls.

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"A general facelift is being done," said Kartikeya Sarabhai, a trustee of the organisation. "[But] the beauty of the Ashram is in its simplicity."

Sarabhai said that should Trump visit, he was likely to be given a charkha, a traditional spinning wheel used by Gandhi, as well as a copy of his autobiography.

"We are also considering gifting a set of [Gandhi's] Three Monkeys, which stress on not seeing, hearing, or speaking evil," Sarabhai added.

Preparations have not been without problems. A 9-metre arch by the VIP entrance to the stadium expected to be used by Trump collapsed on Sunday morning due to high winds, police said, though it was quickly repaired.

And while there is enthusiasm among many in India for Trump's arrival in the city, others have been angered at the cost - nearly $US12 million for a three-hour visit, according to officials.

'Showy Distraction'

"The visit is a low-risk and characteristically showy distraction from domestic controversies" for the populist leaders, Ian Hall, professor at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, and author of the 2019 book Modi and the Reinvention of Indian Foreign Policy, said via email.

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said last week that "tens of thousands" of onlookers and artists showcasing performing arts from different states and territories are expected to greet the President in Ahmedabad.

Trump predicted that the crowds in India will make his domestic campaign rallies, typically attended by 10,000 to 20,000 people, "look like peanuts from now on".

Trump's visit might boost his appeal among Indian American voters, an emerging voting bloc in the US that has traditionally backed Democrats.

Trump's visit might boost his appeal among Indian American voters, an emerging voting bloc in the US that has traditionally backed Democrats. Trump compared Modi to Elvis Presley last year after "Howdy Modi," a Houston event arranged for the Prime Minister's visit that drew about 50,000 Indian Americans.

"Politically I'm sure there's at least a modest dividend to be achieved on that," Richard Rossow, an India expert at the US Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters at a briefing.

But India's red-carpet treatment of Trump, which includes the construction of a 500-metre-long wall to hide a slum from view along Trump's motorcade route, as well as a state dinner, belies a simmering trade dispute.

Slum residents have criticised the building of a 500-metre-long wall that hides their community and poverty from the Trumps.

Slum residents have criticised the building of a 500-metre-long wall that hides their community and poverty from the Trumps.Credit: Bloomberg

While their security and political partnership remains close, the US and India have slapped retaliatory tariffs on each others' imports.

Officials have tried to hammer out a modest trade deal opening up India to US agricultural products and medical devices in return for the restoration of preferential export status that Trump stripped from India in 2019.

Chances a deal would be announced soon appeared to dim when US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer scrapped a planned visit to India, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

"We're going to India, and we may make a tremendous deal there, or maybe we'll slow it down. We'll do it after the election," Trump said at an event on Thursday in Las Vegas.

Indian paramilitary personnel stand guard next to a billboard featuring US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

Indian paramilitary personnel stand guard next to a billboard featuring US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.Credit: AP

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday said he didn't expect "a big trade component in this visit," and called on India to open its markets to direct foreign investment and the "normal" trading of goods and services.

"I don't expect any details or much progress at all," Kudlow said on Fox News.

Rossow said Trump and Modi may announce an agreement on a few narrow trade issues. That could include a reduction of Indian tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a US company Trump has championed.

The leaders are expected to deepen their nations' defence ties, with the possible announcement of India's $US2.6 billion purchase of Lockheed Martin naval helicopters and of $US1.8 billion in arms, including air-defence radars and missiles, rifles and other equipment.

The US has sought to become a top arms supplier to India, the world's fourth biggest defence spender, and elbow out Russia. Washington has pushed New Delhi, unsuccessfully so far, to cancel a contract worth more than $US5 billion to buy Russia's S-400 air-defence missile system.

Citizenship law

Modi's domestic controversies are a potential minefield for both leaders. His new religion-based citizenship law sparked large protests, and his government has lost three consecutive state elections including in the Indian capital. He's also suffered criticism for an attempt to enforce Indian sovereignty over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

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The Trump administration has had little to say about the law, which allows undocumented immigrants from neighbouring countries to seek citizenship as long as they aren't Muslim. Modi may gain political capital if Trump remains relatively silent on both the law and Kashmir, Hall said. A senior administration official said on Saturday, though, that Trump planned to press Modi on the topic of religious freedom.

"Modi will derive a bigger dividend from this trip than Trump, because of the distraction it offers from the domestic controversies, but also because the Indian public simply cares a great deal more about international opinion than its American counterpart," said Hall.

But Trump could cause headaches for Modi if he repeats an offer to mediate over Kashmir, a region divided between India and Pakistan. India has rejected the offer, while Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed frustration over Trump's visit to India and meetings with Modi.

Bloomberg, with Reuters

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