Trump Has Been India's Best Friend Among Other US Presidents: Campaign Official

US President Donald Trump has been India’s best friend among all his predecessors, an official of the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign said on Saturday, on the eve of the president leaving for his first state visit to India. Donald Trump will visit India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including First Lady Melania Trump, the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top American official.   

“President Trump has been the best friend of India amongst all US Presidents. He loves Indians and Indian-Americans. Indian Americans nationwide love him as much,” Al Mason, advisor to Global Real Estate Investments, Education Institutions and Hospitals, told PTI.

“How else do you explain 60,000 Indian-Americans attending his ‘Howdy, Modi!’ rally with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston, not to overlook the fact that billion-plus Indians in India love President Trump too,” he said referring to Trump and Modi sharing the stage in September in Houston at a massive rally of Indian-Americans called “Howdy, Modi!”.

“Why else would 1,20,000 Indians sign up to attend Trump’s rally in the world largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, with over 5 million Indians greeting, and following President Trump from the Airport to the cricket stadium,” he said.

Modi and Trump are set to share the stage on Monday for “Namaste Trump,” event which roughly translates as ?Hello Trump.”

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to greet Trump in Ahmedabad for a road show leading to the rally at the huge stadium which has a capacity to accommodate 110,000 spectators.

After his mega rally and road show in Ahmedabad and a stopover in Agra to see the Taj Mahal on February 24, Trump will hold official meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi the next day.

After Barack Obama, Trump is the only other US President to visit India in his first term.

Obama visited India twice -- 2010 and 2015. Dwight D Eisenhower was the first US President to visit India in 1959.

Richard Nixon travelled to India in 1969 and Jimmy Carter in 1978. Bill Clinton visited India in 2000 and George W Bush in 2006.

Al Mason, a supporter of India-US relations, said many Indian-Americans are aware that Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is presently the National Chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committee, has been instrumental for the success of the “Howdy, Modi!” event.

“Indian-Americans love her (Guilfoyle). With her dynamism and sincerity, she has taken the Trump campaign to a higher level, reaching out to all minority communities,” he said.

In his capacity as co-chair of Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee, Mason said he is reaching out to scores of his Indian-American friends from the technology and IT sector, investors, hoteliers, builders, doctors, to participate in Trump’s re-election campaign.