Washington: President Donald Trump has described the US’ relationship with India now as “extraordinary” and said a lot of progress was made in bilateral ties during his maiden official visit to the “incredible country” where America is going to do a lot of business. His remarks came even as his likely Democratic Party rival in the November presidential polls, Bernie Sanders, criticised the US President for what he claimed was a “failure of leadership” on the issue of human rights in the light of the Delhi riots.
Trump told reporters, “He (Prime Minister Modi) is a great gentleman, a great leader. It’s an incredible country. We were treated very, very well and we really enjoyed it. A lot of tremendous progress was made in terms of relationship - our relationship with India is extraordinary right now,” Trump said. “We are going to be doing a lot of business with India, they are sending billions and billions of dollars now to the United States.”
Trump’s daughter Ivanka noted that the President announced that the US International Development Finance Corporation will open an office in India. She thanked Modi for “your warm hospitality as we visited your beautiful country and celebrated the strength, spirit and unity of the US and India!” She added: “Throughout our visit we saw monumental achievements of human creativity & proof of the infinite capacity of the human heart!”
First Lady Melania Trump tweeted two pictures of her with Trump facing the Taj Mahal. “One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the breathtaking Taj Mahal!” she said.
I may never again be excited over a crowd
Addressing a rally in South Carolina, Trump said that he would “never be excited about a crowd again” after his visit to India where he addressed a rally of over 1,00,000 people. During his maiden visit to India on February 24-25, Trump and first lady Melania Trump were given a rousing welcome in the presence of the massive crowd at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad.
Trump recalled the ‘Namaste Trump’ event at the stadium and said, “In India, I hate to say this to you, they actually have a 1,29,000-seat stadium. Did you see it? The place was packed, and they did better than most.” Trump went on to say: “They gave me credit for 1,00,000. That was not bad. It’s 129 (thousand)... The stadium holds 100 (thousand).” Then he spoke about the venue: “They had a field that’s about three times...it’s cricket. It’s the biggest stadium. And they had 129.”
Trump said he shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is a “great guy” and is “loved by the people of India.” Trump said: “We had an amazing thing. And I went in, and here’s the problem. This is a big crowd and normally, I like talking about my crowd because I get the crowds like nobody.”
