唐纳德·特朗普总统星期一在艾哈迈达巴德市受到印度人的热烈欢迎，这是他首次正式访问这个世界上最大的民主国家。
总统和他的随行人员——包括第一夫人梅拉尼娅、女儿伊万卡和女婿贾里德——是在印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪的家乡古吉拉特邦的萨达尔·帕特尔体育场举行的大型“纳马斯特·特朗普”活动的中心。
这次访问是对去年总理访问德克萨斯州时安排的“你好，莫迪”活动的回应。这两个项目都旨在强调两位民粹主义领导人和他们的国家之间的密切关系和日益增长的合作。
特朗普的车队飞驰到体育场，经过巨大的标志，上面写着“牢固的关系、民主传统”、“两个强大的国家、一个伟大的友谊”和“为了更美好的未来，建立更强大的友谊”
在体育场，特朗普和莫迪交换了溢美之词。“每个人都喜欢他，但我要告诉你，他非常强硬，”总统谈到莫迪时说。
他称总理为“杰出的领袖、印度的伟大捍卫者、夜以继日为国家工作的人以及我自豪地称之为我的真正朋友的人”。去年，总理以压倒性的胜利赢得了连任
莫迪表示，特朗普的到访是“我们的莫大荣幸”总统“胸怀大志”，他说，“他为实现美国梦所做的一切是众所周知的。”
尽管特朗普很难说出多个印度名字和印地语单词，但他还是得到了莫迪支持者的热烈掌声，每当他走上讲台，他们都会高呼莫迪的名字。特朗普在称赞印度文化时还引用了板球和宝莱坞。
当总统谈到反对伊斯兰国的运动和其领导人阿布·巴克尔·巴格达迪被杀时，他受到了最大的欢呼，特朗普称其为“怪物”奥巴马总统说，印度和美国站在一起，共同“坚定不移”地致力于打击“激进的伊斯兰恐怖主义”
美国军方是特朗普最喜欢谈论的话题之一，他在艾哈迈达巴德告诉人群，他的政府已经“完全重建”了美国的武装力量，使其成为“最强大的”...地球上任何地方。”
特朗普表示，美国和印度将深化军事合作，并指出老虎凯旋两国间的联合军事演习。
总统说，美国正在“向印度提供世界上最好、最令人恐惧的军事装备”，包括数十亿美元的交易直升机和其他设备。他断言，美国“应该成为印度的首要国防伙伴，这就是它的运作方式。”
特朗普没有提到印度仍然从俄罗斯进口大量武器。根据世界银行的最新数据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所到目前为止，俄罗斯是印度最大的军事进口来源，其次是法国、以色列和韩国。美国名列第五。
特朗普和莫迪称赞印度的多样性——鉴于两位领导人的本土主义政治，这很讽刺。印度的13亿人口分布在29个邦，会说话122种主要语言。虽然印度人占多数，但这个国家也是大约2.01亿穆斯林和2800万基督教徒的家园。
特朗普表示，印度的发展已经成为一个民主、和平和宽容的国家。奥巴马总统说:“在这个世界上，一个通过胁迫、恐吓和侵略来说话的国家，和一个通过释放人民并让他们追逐梦想而崛起的国家，是完全不同的，那就是印度。”。
但是莫迪的右翼、印度教民族主义、民粹主义政府被指责允许——甚至支持—针对穆斯林的暴力激增，基督徒和其他少数民族。
莫迪的印度人民党与Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh莫迪曾是其成员的准军事民族主义组织，其成员攻击少数民族并试图压制反政府的异议。
2020年2月24日，在艾哈迈达巴德郊区莫特拉的萨达尔帕特尔体育场，唐纳德·特朗普总统与印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪握手。
莫迪本人在2005年被拒绝美国签证，原因是担心他在担任古吉拉特邦首席部长期间应对“严重侵犯宗教自由”负责。他被指控煽动反穆斯林暴乱在2002年，这导致数百人，甚至数千人死亡。
尽管特朗普称赞印度的自由和多元化民主，抗议仍在继续反对莫迪有争议的公民法案。这项立法将使来自邻国的非穆斯林更容易获得印度公民身份。批评者称该提议歧视穆斯林。
莫迪目前也因克什米尔问题受到批评处于封锁状态以防止针对政府去年取消穆斯林占多数的国家的特殊地位的抗议和暴力。互联网被封锁，所有外国记者都被禁止访问该地区。
但是体育场内的莫迪支持者没有给出骚乱的暗示，尽管视频显示有数百人离开竞技场特朗普还在说话的时候。“上帝保佑印度，上帝保佑美利坚合众国，”总统总结道。“我们爱你，我们非常爱你，印度。”
如下图所示Statista显示，自特朗普2016年上任以来，印度人对他的信心飙升。2019年，56%的受访者对总统有信心，而2016年这一比例不到20%。
这张信息图显示了2016年至2019年唐纳德·特朗普总统在印度的支持率。这篇文章已经更新为包含一个信息图表。
TRUMP PRAISES 'VERY TOUGH' MODI DURING INDIA RALLY, SAYS THEY'LL DEEPEN MILITARY TIES AMID FIGHT AGAINST 'RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM'
President Donald Trump received a raucous Indian welcome in the city of Ahmedabad Monday, as he made his first official visit to the world's largest democracy.
The president and his retinue—including first lady Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared—were the center of the huge "Namaste Trump" event at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit was a reciprocation of the "Howdy Modi" event arranged for the prime minister's visit to Texas last year. Both programs were designed to emphasize the close relationship and growing cooperation between the two populist leaders and their nations.
Trump's motorcade sped to the stadium past large signs declaring, "Robust relations, democratic traditions," "Two strong nations, one great friendship," and "Stronger friendship for a brighter future."
In the stadium, Trump and Modi swapped effusive praise. "Everybody loves him but I will tell you this, he is very tough," the president said of Modi.
He called the prime minister—who won a landslide election victory last year to secure a second term in office—an "exceptional leader, a great champion of India, a man who works night and day for his country and a man I am proud to call my true friend."
Modi said Trump's visit was "a great honor for us." The president "thinks big," he said, "and what he has done for realizing the American dream is well-known."
Though Trump struggled to pronounce multiple Indian names and Hindi words, he received rapturous applause from the Modi-loyalist crowd, who chanted Modi's name every time he stepped to the podium. Trump also invoked cricket and Bollywood in his praise of Indian culture.
Some of the largest cheers for the president came when he spoke about the campaign against the Islamic State and the killing of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who Trump branded a "monster." The president said India and the U.S. stood together and shared an "iron-clad" commitment to fighting "radical Islamic terrorism."
The U.S. military is one of Trump's favorite talking points, and he told the crowd in Ahmedabad that his administration has "completely rebuilt" America's armed forces, making it "the most powerful...anywhere on the earth by far."
Trump said the U.S. and India will deepen their military cooperation, noting the Tiger Triumphcombined arms exercises between the two countries.
The president said the U.S. is "providing India with some of the best and most feared military equipment on the planet" including a multi-billion deal for helicopters and other equipment. The U.S., he asserted, "should be India's premiere defense partner, and that's the way it's working out."
Trump did not mention that India still imports huge numbers of weapons from Russia. According to the latest figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is by far the largest source of military imports for India, followed by France, Israel and South Korea. The U.S. came in fifth.
Trump and Modi lauded Indian diversity—ironic given both leaders' nativist politics. India's 1.3 billion people are spread across 29 states and speak 122 major languages. Though majority Hindu, the country is also home to around 201 million Muslims and 28 million Christians.
Trump said India's development has been achieved as a democratic, peaceful and tolerant country. "There is all the difference in the world between a nation that speaks power through coercion, intimidation and aggression, and a nation that rises by setting its people free and unleashing them to chase their dreams, and that is India," the president said.
But Modi's right-wing, Hindu nationalist, populist government has been accused of allowing—and even encouraging—a spike in violence against Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is tied to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh paramilitary nationalist organization, of which Modi was once a member, whose members attack minorities and seek to silence anti-government dissent.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the "Namaste Trump" rally at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, on February 24, 2020.
Modi himself was denied a U.S. visa in 2005 over concerns he was responsible for "severe violations of religious freedom" while serving as chief minister of Gujarat. He was accused of inciting anti-Muslim rioting in 2002 that killed hundreds, possibly even thousands of people.
Even as Trump lauded India's free and diverse democracy, protests continued against Modi's controversial citizenship bill. The legislation will make it easier for non-Muslims from neighboring nations to gain Indian citizenship. Critics say the proposal discriminates against Muslims.
Modi has also been criticized over Kashmir, currently under lockdown to prevent protests and violence against the government's revocation of the Muslim-majority state's special status last year. The internet has been throttled and all foreign journalists barred from visiting the area.
But the Modi supporters inside the stadium gave no hint of the unrest, though video showed hundreds leaving the arena while Trump was still talking. "God bless India, God bless the United States of America," the president concluded. "We love you, we love you India very much."
As the infographic below from Statista shows, Indian confidence in Trump has soared since he came to office in 2016. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed in 2019 had confidence in the president, versus less than 20 percent in 2016.
This infographic shows President Donald Trump's approval rating among Indians from 2016 to 2019.
This article has been updated to include an infographic.
