TIL Desk/National/Ahmedabad/ After landing in Ahmedabad and being accorded a grand welcome, United States President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump made their way to Sabarmati Ashram for a brief stopover on their way to Motera Stadium. US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania on Monday tried their hands at spinning the ‘charkha’ (spinning wheel) at the Sabarmati Ashram here.
Accompanied by PM Narendra Modi, the US president and his wife went around the Ashram, before resuming the roadshow from the airport to the Motera stadium. The Trumps and Modi sat on a ledge for a few moments before Trump sat a wooden table to sign a guest book. “To my great friend Prime Minister Naredra Modi, thank you for this wonderful visit,” Trump wrote in the Ashram visitors’ book. The US President was briefed about Gandhiji and the importance of charkha as a symbol of self-reliance.
Trump reached Ahmedabad at 11.37 am for the first leg of his India visit. The devotional hymn that Gandhi loved best rang out from a children’s choir as they toured the home and placed a hand-woven cloth garland on the painting on the Indian independence leader. After, Modi unveiled three marble statuettes, about a foot tall, of monkeys making the “speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil” motions. The US President, along with his family and a ministerial delegation will be in India for around 36 hours.
