US president attends 110,000-strong rally at in Ahmedabad with Indian PM Narendra Modi



US president Donald Trump called for India to strengthen its strategic ties with America at a massive rally to kick off a two-day visit to the south Asian country, against the backdrop of growing frictions with New Delhi over trade protectionism.

India will sign a deal to buy $3 billion (€2.76 billion) worth of US-made advanced naval helicopters, Mr Trump announced, as he urged India to look to the US as its “premier defence partner”.

“The US looks forward to providing India with some of the best, most feared military equipment on the planet,” the president told India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and the estimated 110,000 Indians at the rally in the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, the heartland of Mr Modi’s political base, in the western state of Gujarat.

Washington is actively cultivating ties with India as a counterweight to an increasingly assertive China. In his speech, Mr Trump called on India to help ensure “a free and open Indo-Pacific for our children and for generations to come”.

While he did not mention China by name, the US president also lauded India as “a nation that rises by setting its people free, and unleashing them to chase their dreams” in contrast to “a nation that seeks power through coercion, intimidation and aggression”.

Source: The Irish Times