Ahmedabad: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram on Monday and tried their hand at the charkha, hours after touching down here for their maiden two-day visit to India.
The Trumps were accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who received the American leader at the Ahmedabad airport and joined his cavalcade on a 22-km roadshow which was dotted by thousands of spectators.
Trump received a warm welcome at the ashram and gave the iconic charkha a go along with wife Melania. He was gifted a marble replica of Gandhi ji’s ‘3 bandar’ (three monkeys).
In the visitors diary, Trump thanked Modi for the “wonderful visit”, calling the Indian PM his “great friend”.
“To my great friend, Prime Minister Modi – thank you for this wonderful visit,” the US president wrote.
In the days leading to Trump’s visit, confusion had prevailed on whether the US President would visit the ashram which is closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi and India’s freedom struggle. It was confirmed on the eve of Trump’s arrival that he would spend 10 minutes at the ashram.
Sabarmati Ashram, also known as Gandhi Ashram, was home to Mahatma Gandhi during 1917-1930. Several world leaders, including Chinese President Xi
Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have visited Sabarmati Ashram in recent years.
Hriday Kunj is a room on the ashram premises where Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi had lived for 12 years between 1918 and 1930 during the freedom struggle.
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