‘Namaste Trump’: 100,000 People Turn Out To Welcome U.S. President At Start Of India Trip

Topline: Donald Trump’s two-day visit to India got off to a celebratory start, with more than 100,000 people gathered at a huge rally in which he talked up the prospect of trade and military deals with the world’s largest democracy.

• Trump’s first stop was a massive public rally at the new Motera cricket ground, the world’s largest cricket stadium, located in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The U.S. President heaped lavish praise on his host. Modi, delivered crowd-pleasing lines about pushing Pakistan to address terrorism, and promised to supply India’s military with the “best and most feared military equipment” as part of a $3 billion defense deal.
• Trump also paid tribute to Indian sports and Bollywood stars, but his fumbling pronunciation of names like that of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar raised eyebrows. The International Cricket Council didn’t miss it, either.

• The crowd at the stadium reportedly began to head for the exits at the midpoint of the president’s speech. 

• The president and Melania Trump later traveled to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. 

Crucial quote: “You have done a great honor to our country. We will remember you forever, from this day onward India will always hold a special place in our hearts,” Trump told the crowd at the Motera stadium.

Big number: 100,000. Trump’s political career has been built off playing to stadium-sized crowds but the 100,000 people gathered at the Motera stadium for Namaste Trump is likely to have been his biggest audience since his inauguration in 2016.

What to watch for: How the visit will play with Indian American voters. With Indian officials having hinted already that a trade deal was unlikely to be agreed upon until after November’s presidential election, the visit has effectively been a bid for Trump to boost his credentials with the 4.5 million Americans of Indian origin. 

Key background: The populist leaders of the world’s two largest democracies have developed a surprisingly close relationship with this trip marking their fifth meeting in eight months. The two-day visit will provide the president with an ego-boosting break from politics in Washington while Modi can briefly look like a statesman after a bruising year that has seen mounting protests over his handling of India’s economy, Kashmir and a controversial citizenship rule that his critics claims discriminates against India’s Muslim population.