US President Donald Trump (file photo) will be accompanied by his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner on his India visit
US President Donald Trump on Thursday again claimed that six to 10 million persons will line up the streets of Ahmedabad when he visits the city during his two-day maiden trip to the subcontinent.
Bringing up his trade negotiations with India at a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the US President remarked, “I hear they’re going to have 10 million people—anywhere from 6 to 10 million people lining streets on the route to the stadium,” as per an account of his remarks shared on Twitter.
In fact, this is not the first time that the US President has cited the numbers. He has been quoted as saying throwing up a figure of six million on at least one earlier occasion.
However, there seems to be a bit of confusion here.
According to the 2011 Census, the total population of Ahmedabad was just over 55 lakhs, or just under six million people.
News agency Press Trust of India (PTI), in a report yesterday, quoted a civic official from Ahmedabad as informing that only between one and two lakh persons are expected to line up the streets of Ahmedabad on the route of Trump’s roadshow, in a far contrast to what the US President has been repeatedly citing.
The huge numerical discrepancy isn’t lost on observers.
Former Congress MP Sushmita Dev quoted Trump’s Thursday’s statement as she took a potshot a Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
US President Donald Trump’s two-day visit is scheduled to begin on Feb 24, when he is slated to attend an event along with PM Modi at a refurbished Motera Stadium, now the world’s largest.
On the final day of his state visit, Trump will hold official engagements in New Delhi before flying out in the evening.
