AHMEDABAD : Ahmedabad has been transformed with massive hoardings of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stages for cultural events and heavily policed routes, but the mega ‘Namaste Trump’ event seems to have failed to generate much enthusiasm among the student community.

Students in Gujarat, home to leading educational institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Gujarat National Law University and CEPT University, are raising questions about the expenditure, scale, and expected outcome of the mega event slated for Monday in the Motera stadium.

“This event is not for India but for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Republican Party. Trump is looking to corner the three million non-resident Indian Gujarati community votes in the upcoming US presidential elections. Modi wants to project himself again as a leader with international dominance ahead of the Bihar and Bengal elections as his party has already lost multiple state elections," said Akshit Mishra, a 21-year old law student of Nirma University.

The event and the nine-kilometre roadshow seems like a public relation exercise and a payback for the ‘Howdy Modi’ event held in Houston last year, according to many students. Trump would be happy to divert attention from his impeachment, while Modi is trying to divert attention from a crumbling economy, a job crisis, and the ongoing protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, the students said. The Gujarat government has reportedly spent about ₹100 crore to make the ‘Namaste Trump’ event a grand success.

“What are we getting out of this visit?" asked a 18-year-old student from IIT Gandhinagar requesting anonymity. “The kind of money being spent can be only being justified if we at least get a trade deal out of it," he said.

The Trump administration has quashed any possibility of a trade deal though he will meet key business leaders in Delhi. Trump has also not shied away from putting pressure on India ahead of the trip. “They’ve been hitting us very hard for many, many years," he said.

On Sunday, areas around the Motera stadium and Gandhi Ashram saw scores of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation workers and labourers sprucing up the locality for the mega event. Heavy security has been deployed on the routes that Trump’s entourage will pass. This includes the road connecting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to Indira Bridge on which Saraniyavaas slum, which has been concealed behind the much talked-about concrete wall, is located.

“As students of architecture we are baffled that the presence of one man leads to loss of homes of 40 people. I know that ₹100 crore can easily be used for a housing project for at least 300 families. What are the priorities of this government?" asked 19-year-old Tushar Kanoi of CEPT University.

The Modi administration has been inviting criticism over the past few months for the country’s economic health and more recently for the CAA, which seeks to grant citizenship on the basis of religion. Among many hoardings that have been mounted for Trump’s visit, one of them states ‘world’s oldest democracy meets world’s largest democracy’.

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