Kolkata: What was supposed to be one of the highlights of the visit to India by the United Sates President and First Lady may actually not happen at all!
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were scheduled to make a whistle-stop at Sabarmati Ashram — one of the residences of Mahatma Gandhi on the banks of Sabarmati River in Gujarat — during their visit to Ahmedabad on Monday. However, less than 48 hours before Air Force One’s touchdown, the buzz emanating from Ahmedabad and New Delhi is that the Sabarmati Ashram visit will most likely be taken off the schedule.
Trump and Melania are scheduled to visit Ahmedabad and New Delhi on February 24-25.
When contacted by Gulf News on Saturday, Pawan Badhe, Officer on Special Duty (Press Relations) at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, said: “Right now our focus is on the Motera Stadium, where the US president will be accorded a public reception and as of now, we have no information about Sabarmati Ashram being taken off the itinerary.”
However, sources in Ahmedabad and New Delhi said on Saturday that White House was a bit wary of such a whirlwind itinerary in the first place, whereby Trump and Melania were scheduled to spend barely 35 hours in India, visiting Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi. Given such a scenario, the itinerary was too tight to start with.
In addition to that, the US first lady has reportedly expressed her keenness to spend some quality time at the Taj Mahal in Agra around sun down on Monday, on way to New Delhi from Ahmedabad. As a result of that, the Sabarmati Ashram visit will most probably be taken off the schedule to allow the American first couple more time at the Agra spectacle.
A Washington-based journalist who was present at a media briefing on Friday told Gulf News that though no reason was cited for omitting Sabarmati Ashram from the list of venues to be visited by Trump in India, in all probability US Secret Service has reservations about Sabarmati from the security perspective.
The US president and first lady will be flying for approximately 24-26 hours on their Washington-Ahmedabad-Agra-New Delhi-Washington round-trip for a visit that is going to last for barely 35 hours.
Sources in Washington and Ahmedabad revealed that White House and the US Secret Service were a bit worried about such a hectic schedule, though from both Washington and New Delhi’s point of view, a visit to Sabarmati Ashram, which is so closely associated with Gandhi’s legacy and India’s freedom struggle, always has its own symbolic significance.
It makes for very positive headlines all across the globe.
“That is the primary reasons why New Delhi in particular was very eager to have Sabarmati Ashram on the itinerary. Several visiting world leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe have stopped by the Sabarmati to pay their homage to Gandhi. Having Trump and Melania over at the ashram (hermitage), therefore, would have been in the right spirit.
"However, time has turned out to be a major impediment. Added to that is the US first lady’s reported keenness to be at the Taj well before sun down in order to be able to soak up to the full the charm of the timeless monument dedicated to eternal love. Because of these two factors, Sabarmati Ashram may fall off the sked,” an official in Gujarat, who didn’t want to be named, said on Saturday.
Sources at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi also had this to add: “The US president and first lady will be visiting Raj Ghat, the cremation ground of Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi on Tuesday, the day after they land in Ahmedabad. So, visiting yet another Gandhi memorial at Sabarmati just the day before was perhaps low on the ‘to-do’ list that the White House had drawn up for Trump.”
