Election Trumpet From Sabarmati

Gujarati support can lift US President’s mood; a happy Trump is vital for India’s bid to expand its geo-strategic space

- Pranay Sharma

Donald Trump may well begin his forthcoming India journey with a visit to Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram and pay homage to the Mahatma. But humility is unlikely to be the dominant vein of his maiden sojourn to the country. Instead, his visit on February 24 and 25 will be triumphal, providing the US President an opportunity to strut and crow over his recent success in defeating the Democrat-initiated impeachment motion in the Senate.

The fact that the US economy is doing better—it has the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years—is good enough reason for Trump to feel buoyant in an election year. He will certainly try to push for a trade deal—at least a limited one— despite the differences over data privacy and e-commerce as well as pave the way for sale of more American military hardware to India during his meetings. If that happens and affluent Indian-Americans of Gujarati origin assure him of support, which many of them are likely to do, it will certainly put him in a positive mood as he throws himself into his re-election campaign in the coming days.

Trump expects to be feted by millions of cheering people as he arrives at the Ahmedabad airport and drives down to the newly constructed Sardar Patel stadium—the largest cricketing sports complex in the world with a capacity of more than 1 lakh. The sprawling riverbank abutting Sabarmati Ashram, which had been Gandhi’s residence since 1917 for several years, also provides the ideal setting for a walk-through or an informal ‘chai pe charcha’ between the visiting President and his host, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.