India’s answer to ‘Howdy Mody’ to welcome President Trump renamed to give it pan India flavor.
India is pulling all stops to give a grand welcome to President Donald Trump on his Feb 24-25 maiden visit with a mega event in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
While what is billed as India’s answer to ‘Howdy Mody’ event in Houston, Texas last September was to be called “Kem Chho Trump’ or “How are you Trump?’ in Modi’s native Gujarati, it’s now simply ‘Namaste Trump’.
The name change for the mega event in newly built Motera Stadium, world’s largest cricket stadium, in Ahmedabad, according to political watchers is intended to give it a pan India flavor with ‘Namaste’ universally recognized as the Indian form of greeting.
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The Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad, the civic body of Gujarat’s largest city tweeted, “Hello #Ahmedabad Get ready to say #NamasteTrump,” as it invited people to join the biggest ever road show to welcome Trump.
Modi and Trump will be sharing the stage at the ‘NamasteTrump’ event at the Motera stadium just like they did at the Houston event on the day of his arrival in Ahmedabad on Feb 24. The event is expected to attract about 125,000 people.
Though Gujarat has played host to many world leaders in Ahmedabad by virtue of being Modi’s home state, it’s going to be one of the biggest ever state visits in the history of of the city.
Many locals see President Trump’s visit to India and more specifically Ahmedabad as a perfect opportunity to welcome the American leader after the success of ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston attended by some 50,000 Indian Americans and several top US politicians.
RELATED: President Trump to visit India on February 24-25 (February 10, 2020)
As efforts are underway to make the visit as grand as possible, the Bharatiya Janata Prty (BJP) led Indian government has also come under the scanner for building a wall along Trump’s motorcade route to hide some underdevelopment and present a rosy picture to the visiting President.
The visit is expected to lead to better trade relations between the two countries which have seen strained times in the recent past.
The high profile visit is also expected to give a political boost to Modi government that has faced international criticism for its revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).