Namaste Trump: Gujarat government renames welcome ceremony of US President

As per the request by the Centre to give a name with more national appeal, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Sunday announced that the ceremony has been renamed as "Namaste Trump".

"Hello, Ahmedabad. Get ready for Namaste Trump. Ahmedabad has had the opportunity to present Indian culture and diversity to a global audience. Jon the biggest roadshow ever," AMC said in a tweet.

The "Namaste Trump" event, which will be held at Ahmedabad's yet-to-be inaugurated Sardar Patel Stadium, will be more like "Howdy Modi" that was hosted in the US to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.

Trump on his maiden visit to India being the US President will be received by Prime Minister Modi himself at the Ahmedabad airport.

The two leaders will be in a roadshow which is expected to be attended by thousands of people.

Earlier this month, Trump had expressed his excitement over his tour to India and also called the Indian Prime Minister a "gentleman". "Modi is a friend of mine. I am looking forward to India visit," the US President had said.

"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," he had added.

First Lady of the US, Melania Trump, took to Twitter to state that he along with the President are excited over the upcoming visit to India.

"Thank you Narendra Modi for the kind invitation. Looking forward to visiting Ahmedabad and New Dehli later this month. @POTUS and I are excited for the trip & to celebrate the close ties between the USA and India," Melania Trump tweeted on last Tuesday, responding to Modi's tweet in which he said their visit is a "very special one".

Meanwhile, a row was stirred after The Indian Express, an Indian daily, had reported that the AMC was building a six-feet high wall in the route of Trump's roadshow to mask a slum area.

Following the report, the AMC made it clear that the wall will not be more than four feet. Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra told the daily, "We are clear that the wall’s height will be four feet. Inadvertently, the height in the first part had been kept at six feet in the design by zonal engineers.

When this was brought to our notice by the Express report, we instructed that the height should be kept at four feet so that the view is not obstructed from the road to the slum. Some six-feet-high columns have already been built, which will be cut down to four feet.”

Trump is visiting the country at a time the US is set to go to the Presidential polls later this year.

(Image Credit: AMC Twitter)