US President Donald Trump had plenty of reasons to feel smug after the first day of his two-day visit to India. Despite some simmering disputes between Washington and New Delhi, day one was a triumph of optics.
From the moment he touched down on Indian soil on Monday to the time he stretched out in his presidential hotel suite in the capital in the evening, Trump saw only welcoming faces around him – in their millions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted Trump and First Lady Melania at the steps of Air Force One, after its arrival in the western city of Ahmedabad. From there, Trump’s delegation – which included the president’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner – was whisked along for a tour of the Sabarmati Ashram, the place from where Mahatma Gandhi launched a few of his most memorable agitations against the British colonial rulers in the early 20th century; and then to address the largest crowd of his political career.
A visit with an eye on domestic audiences
Tens of thousands of people lined both sides of the road, as Trump’s motorcade made its way to the 100,000 capacity Motera cricket stadium for a mega-rally. For Trump, it was an optics win, with the packed-out crowd erupting into deafening cheers upon the president’s arrival. The sight of tens of thousands of Indians wearing white ‘Namaste Trump’ caps will no doubt be used by Trump to court the votes of the 4.4 million Indian-Americans watching back stateside.
Pundits in the US treated the rally – organized in return for the ‘Howdy Modi’ rally thrown for the Indian leader in Texas last year – as another one of the president’s raucous campaign stops. “Why is President Trump going halfway around the world for a 36-hour whirlwind social call in India?” asked the Washington Post’s Ashley Parker. “Hint: Huge crowds! Did we mention the crowds?”
With the pro-wrestling pump-up tune ‘Macho Man’ blaring from loudspeakers before Trump’s speech, one rally-goer told NPR that the event felt like “a concert, but for political leaders.”