Washington: US President Donald Trump said that he was looking forward to his India visit as Prime Minister Modi had promised that over 5-7 million people will attend the event planned in Ahmedabad.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, February 11, Trump said that he had spoken to PM Modi about his upcoming visit. “I am (going to India). He (PM Modi) said we will have millions and millions of people. He thinks we will have 5-7 million people just from the airport to the new stadium,” he stated.
Commenting on PM Modi’s visit to Houston last year, Trump said, “When we have 50,000 people, I’m not going to feel so good we’ll have five to seven million people just from the airport to the new stadium. And you know it is the largest stadium in the world. (They are) building it now. It’s almost complete and it’s the largest in the world.”
The Oval Office has announced that he will be traveling to Ahmedabad and New Delhi on February 24 and 25.
Trump, during his India visit, is scheduled to participate in a grand roadshow in Ahmedabad, tour the Sabarmati Ashram and inaugurate a newly-built cricket stadium with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said on Wednesday.
Trump and Modi would later inaugurate the newly- constructed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in the city’s Motera area and address a gathering, likely to be attended by over 1 lakh people, the sources said.
‘Kem Chho, Trump!’
The mega event at the stadium will be similar to the “Howdy, Modi!” event held in the US last year, they said. Modi and Trump shared the stage at the “Howdy, Modi!” gala event in Houston in September last year and addressed a record crowd of 50,000 Indian-Americans.
Citizens here have dubbed the upcoming visit of the US President at the Sardar Patel Stadium as the “Kem Chho, Trump!” (Hello Trump) event, the sources said.
The stadium at Motera has a seating capacity of 1.10 lakh, an official earlier said.
(with inputs from PTI)
