AHMEDABAD, India — The roads are a hive of exercise: ladies hoisting buckets of sand, street crews laying down recent tar, a military of sweepers a
AHMEDABAD, India — The roads are a hive of exercise: ladies hoisting buckets of sand, street crews laying down recent tar, a military of sweepers attacking particles and a brand new wall going up in entrance of a slum, apparently to cover it from passers-by.
President Trump is scheduled to land within the northern metropolis of Ahmedabad on Monday for his first presidential go to to India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has deliberate an epic spectacle. The town is being scrubbed clear, and 1000’s upon 1000’s of Modi loyalists have been drafted to face for hours on the sun-baked streets, there to shake flags and cheer for a president who loves nothing greater than to attract a crowd.
It’s the second act of a budding friendship between the 2 males, leaders of the world’s most populous democracies. Final 12 months, Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi shared a stage in Houston at a rally referred to as “Howdy, Modi!” This one is named “Whats up Trump.”
However beneath the projected bonhomie lies a pricklier actuality. The USA and India are strategic companions, in no small half due to a mutual concern over China, however they nonetheless can’t agree on essential points. Even a small commerce deal that was alleged to be the centerpiece of this journey has collapsed.
“They’ve been hitting us very arduous for a lot of, a few years,” Mr. Trump mentioned this week of India.
However he was fast so as to add: “I actually like Prime Minister Modi.”
Mr. Modi appears to have enticed Mr. Trump to fly 8,000 miles and spend two days in India by his promise to stage an enormous, tightly managed present, with Mr. Trump at its heart. The president has repeatedly claimed that he has been assured a crowd of 5 million to seven million folks lining the roads to greet him, and on Thursday he upped that to 10 million.
Ahmedabad officers mentioned it might be nowhere close to that, extra like 100,000 alongside the street and one other 100,000 ready for Mr. Trump in a brand new cricket stadium, the world’s largest, the place he’ll maintain a rally.
Mr. Trump is common in India, the place he’s seen as a robust chief, powerful on terrorism, pro-business and pals with Mr. Modi. The 2 share the same model of divisive, populist politics. Nonetheless, Mr. Modi is taking no possibilities, fielding tens of 1000’s of law enforcement officials and packing the crowds with folks he can belief to cheer enthusiastically for his visitor.
Simply to face alongside the street that Mr. Trump’s motorcade will journey for a couple of minutes on Monday requires a particular go, given to rigorously vetted celebration members, their allies and particular teams handpicked by the federal government. This can be a degree of management Mr. Modi can ship in India that could be very completely different from Britain, for instance, the place Mr. Trump treaded carefully to keep away from the optics of hostile crowds.
The best way the Indian authorities has chosen to current the go to — not as a high-powered summit assembly however as “Whats up Trump,” basically “Howdy, Modi!” Half 2 — appears to sign that it could form up as extra of a public relations train, albeit a memorable one, than anything.
For each leaders, it’s a welcome distraction. Mr. Trump is keen to vary the topic after his impeachment trial, and Mr. Modi would love a reprieve from protests over a new anti-Muslim citizenship law that has ratcheted up tensions between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority.
Mr. Modi has additionally been extensively criticized for his crackdown on Kashmir, the predominantly Muslim territory caught up in a generations-long dispute between Pakistan and India. By coming such a distance to see Mr. Modi, the president might be basically giving him a stamp of approval at a time when his management is being referred to as into query.
“There are extra questions within the final six months about India’s dedication to democracy,” mentioned Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment, “than we’ve actually seen within the historical past of the U.S.-Indian relationship.”
However, he added, “The excellent news for India is that the final individual on the planet prone to elevate any of those points is Donald Trump.”
The Trump household is concerned in additional actual property initiatives right here than anyplace else exterior of North America, and as Mr. Trump confirmed on the “Howdy, Modi!” rally in September, he’s desirous to courtroom the Indian-American vote. Their numbers aren’t enormous — round three million — however they are usually rich and voted overwhelmingly towards Mr. Trump in 2016.
Touring with the primary girl, Melania Trump, Mr. Trump will tour a number of Indian cities, together with a jaunt to the Taj Mahal. The place this go to begins, Ahmedabad, is about as secure, pro-Modi and, by extension, pro-Trump as India will get.
A big, dusty metropolis, Ahmedabad is a stronghold for Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Get together, and the place a younger Mr. Modi rose from humble roots up the ranks of nationalist teams that espoused a Hindu supremacist worldview.
At celebration headquarters this week, it was all smiles. “This is sort of a dream come true,” mentioned Bharat Pandya, a B.J.P. spokesman.
American officers are attempting to…