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Updated February 22nd, 2020 at 21:32 IST

Ahmedabad gears up for the arrival of the Trumps

India is pulling out all the stops to welcome US President Donald Trump on a state visit starting Monday - and nowhere will the welcome be bigger than in the western city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state.

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India is pulling out all the stops to welcome US President Donald Trump on a state visit starting Monday - and nowhere will the welcome be bigger than in the western city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state.

The streets are plastered with posters celebrating the friendship between Trump and India's prime minister Narendra Modi.

The state government has spent almost 14 million US dollars in advertisements to promote the visit.

Hundreds of thousands of police and security personnel have been drafted in to protect the two leaders when they appear at a 'Namaste Trump' event at a newly-constructed cricket stadium.

Ahmedabad, with a population of just over seven million people, is friendly territory for Modi - he was chief minister of Gujarat state for three consecutive terms before becoming the country's prime minister.

The visit will be win-win for both leaders, bolstering Modi's presence on the world stage and benefitting Trump's election campaign, according to Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, an expert on India-US relations.

But not everyone in Ahmedabad is in party mood.

Residents of a slum alongside Trump's convoy route say they've been made to feel invisible because authorities have erected a wall to keep their shanty dwellings out of sight.

"Whenever a big leader comes here, they construct a wall so that they can't see this slum," complains one of the residents, Mina Ben, 32. "But they should let us be seen, and show everyone how poor we are."

And the festive atmosphere in much of Ahmedabad isn't matched in Naroda Patia, a Muslim-majority district of the city where 97 people died during anti-Muslim riots in 2002.

Critics say Modi did little to stop the attacks, a charge he denies.

Salim Mohammad, 45, lost four members of his family during the riots.

He's not surprised that Trump and Modi like each other.

"Trump's ideologies are anti-Muslim," Mohammad asserted. "Their ideologies converge."

 

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Published February 22nd, 2020 at 21:32 IST

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