India Set To Welcome Trump, Whose First Stop Will Be In Modi's Home State Of Gujarat
When President Trump arrives on his first official visit to India on Monday, his first stop will be Ahmedabad, the largest city in the western state of Gujarat. It's the place where Indian freedom leader Mahatma Gandhi built his ashram, a place for prayer and communal living, on a riverbank lined with Indian lilac trees.
Each dawn, Gandhi preached his doctrine of nonviolence to followers on the banks of Ahmedabad's Sabarmati River. It's also where he set off, in 1930, on his 240-mile Salt March, an act of civil disobedience against British colonial rule.
These days, the ashram is surrounded by busy highways, bridges and shiny new office complexes. The man credited with much of the city's development is Narendra Modi, who served from 2001 to 2014 as chief minister of Gujarat.
Now in his second term as rally at a newly renovated cricket stadium which seats more than 100,000 — returning the favor to Trump for holding a "Howdy, Modi!"
