US president Donald Trump on Sunday left for India, looking forward to a “big event” with “millions and millions of people”, referring to the Namaste Trump rally in Ahmedabad, where he will reach on Monday morning to kick off a whirlwind first state visit to India that will take him next to Agra and New Delhi.
“I hear it’s going to be a big event,” the president told reporters at the White House. “Some people say the biggest event they’ve ever had in India. That’s what the prime minister told me, this will be the biggest event they’ve ever had.”
“Many millions and millions of people,” he said of the crowd size he is expecting to see.
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The president also said he committed to this trip a “very long time ago” and reiterated his close friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the two of them “get along very well”.
Hours before, the president retweeted a meme showing him as the lead character from the 2015 blockbuster Bahubali — slaying enemies, romancing the leading lady. “Look so forward to being with my great friends in INDIA!” the president wrote with the retweet of the meme that went viral.
The minute-long meme — titled “USA and India United!” — : has Trump’s face superimposed on the leading character, who is fighting enemies (which enemies does he expect to take on in India?), riding a horse, and riding a chariot with a character with first lady Melania Trump’s face superimposed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi — or his face — makes a guest appearance as well.
{{/usCountry}}Prime Minister Narendra Modi — or his face — makes a guest appearance as well.
{{/usCountry}}And for a brief moment, the character with the Trump mask, has Don Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump on its shoulder.
All of this with a song from Bahubali playing in the background, in Hindi.
Not certain if the president can read, write or speak Hindi, but he did try for a campaign video he shot in 2016 for his race for the White House. “Abki baar, Trump sarkar,” he was to say.
The ad was meant to reach out to Indian American voters, a small but prosperous and increasingly influential constituency. The punchline was modeled on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign slogan, “Abki baar Modi sarkar”.
As Hindustan Times reported at the time, getting those four words right took some effort — 12 takes, as aides and family stood around, waiting patiently.
Shortly before taking off, taking off for India, Ivanka Trump, the president eldest daughter and adviser who is travelling with the president, tweeted that she was looking forward to returning to India, two years after her 2017 visit, to “to celebrate that the grand friendship between the world’s two largest democracies has never been stronger”.
Trump is accompanied by first lady Melania Trump on this trip, and Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner and several top officials from his administration, will stop for a short break at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany and then take off for the second leg of the flight to Ahmedabad. They will be in New Delhi later in the day, via a stop in Agra.
This is Trump’s first visit to India as president, and the seventh by an American president. He was in Mumbai in 2014 on business, the launch Trump Tower with a local partner. Even back then, with the presidency nowhere in sight, he had spoken effusively of India and Prime Minister Modi, calling them both “amazing” in an interview with NDTV.
Several other memes featuring Trump’s face (it’s actually that) have been going around on internet, but none of them had the president’s endorsement, as the Bahubali meme.