Indian officials have cleaned up and cleared out the areas of their country Donald Trump will visit in his two days here, preparing to dazzle the president amid a trade row between the two nations.
In the posh Chanakyapuri neighborhood of New Delhi where Trump and first lady Melania will spend the night, the first couple will see more monkeys than people as the area has been tidy up with giant blue tarps erected to block any unsightly views of the jungle area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is putting his nation’s best face forward, having a wall built to cover the slums of Ahmedabad and monkey police on hand to prevent any diplomatic incidents, as he prepares to negotiate with Trump over a trade war that erupted after the president levied tariffs on steel and aluminium from India.
India responded with higher tariffs on agricultural goods and restrictions on U.S. medical devices.
The visit is designed to give President Trump the grandeur and glamour he prefers.
Trumps will likely see more monkeys than people on visit to India
Rhesus monkeys are a common sight in India
A billboard shows India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump ahead of the Trumps’ visit
A monkey searches for food on the river bank near the Taj Mahal in India, where Donald Trump and his wife Melania are expected to visit next week
President Trump will be joined on the trip by daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner – who are advisers in the White House – acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and adviser Stephen Miller.
The one night the first couple will spend in the country will be in the capital city’s poshest and most inclusive neighborhood.
Modi’s official residence is in this diplomatic enclave of New Delhi, where the U.S. Embassy and its private school sits behind fenced-in compounds.
Other nations house their embassies in the neighborhood, which was established by the British during their rule and features wide open spaces, parks, and few utility disruptions.
There is also a large monkey population. The animals sit along the main streets watching cars go by.
The monkey have been a source of concern, particularly at the Taj Mahal, which the first couple will visit on Monday evening.
As many as 700 rhesus macaques live among the 17th century mausoleum’s walls and gardens in the city of Agra.
The monkeys have taken to harassing tourists to the nation’s most famous landmark so badly that guards deploying catapults are present to fend them off.
An extra division of the ‘monkey police’ will be on hand during the first couple’s visit.
‘If such a large troop of monkeys attacks Donald Trump’s entourage, it will be a disaster,’ one local resident told India Today.
Experts say the animals are becoming more aggressive as an expanding city encroaches on their natural habitats.
Brij Bhushan, head of the Taj Mahal security force, said last year that police had received locally-made slingshots to fend off the monkeys.
‘We found that monkeys get scared by just seeing us brandishing these slingshots,’ he said at the time.
Built by a Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal has 25,000 daily visitors, rising to 80,000 during the peak tourist season.
To make Trump’s trip run smoothly, Indian officials have also been pouring fresh water into the Yamuna river that runs alongside the Taj Mahal to help stifle its smell, caused by raw sewage and waste being tipped into the waterway.
TStudents paint on canvas faces of President Donald Trump, his wife Melania, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the street in Mumbai
Monkey police will be on hand at the Taj Mahal to prevent a diplomatic incident while the Trumps visit the famous monument to love
Officials have built a wall in Ahmedabad to hide the slums from Trumps’ visit
The world’s biggest cricket stadium will be formally opened on Monday by President Trump
The river is so polluted in some places that no marine life can survive in it.
Workers also have scrubbed walls and fountains at the white-marble monument so it will be spick and span for the Trumps’ visit.
It’s unusual for the president to visit a cultural site – his trips to other countries are usually focused on meetings with officials and business at hand – but Trump could have a special interest in the Taj Mahal.
During his building days in the 1980s, he built the Trump Taj Mahal hotel and casino in Atlantic City. It opened in 1990 and cost nearly $1 billion to construct.
It came to closing in 2014 as its parent company went through bankruptcy, but ultimately remained open under the new ownership. It was sold again in October 2016 to the Hard Rock Cafe and reopened under that name.
The president’s two-day visit to India will begin when he opens the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Modi’s home state of Ahmedabad but that, too, has been subject of controversy.
Trump and Melania Trump will land in Modi’s home state and go from the aiport to the under-construction Motera Stadium – which is set to become the world’s largest cricket arena upon completion.
The Taj Mahal has been cleaned up ahead of Trumps’ visit
Artist Jagjot Singh Rubal works on a 7-feet 10 inches long painting of President Trump
artist Sudarsan Pattnaik bends near his sand sculpture representing President Donald Trump and Melania Trump
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump at last year’s ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston
But a 1,640-foot brick wall has been quickly erected close to the stadium with some saying it is being built to block the view of a slum area inhabited by more than 2,000 people.
It will shield the President as he arrives at the stadium to attend an event called ‘Namaste Trump,’ which translates to ‘Greetings, Trump.’
The president has bragged that 7 million people will turn out to see him.
‘We will have 7 million people between the airport and the event. The stadium, I understand, is going semi-under construction, but it is going to be the largest stadium in the world. It’s going to be very exciting,’ Trump said last week.
The stadium, which was built for $100 million, is a perfectly round venue that promises unobstructed views from every angle. It seats 110,000.
The focus of Trump’s trip is two-fold: trade discussions and the visual of the president’s visit ahead of the November election. There are tens of thousands of Indian-American voters.
When Modi visited the United States last year, he and President Trump attended a ‘Howdy Modi’ rally in Houston that drew a crowd of 50,000 Indian Americans. Trump compared Modi to Elvis Presley at that event.
American-Indian relations have been strained by trade disputes, which the president said he hopes to have worked out by November’s election.
Trump has said he is hopeful there can be a deal worked out by Election Day but noted there are no guarantees.
‘We’re going to India and we may make a tremendous deal there. Maybe we’ll slow it down, we’ll do it after the election,’ he said last week.
And the White House is putting the pressure on India.
‘Whether or not there will be announcement on a trade package is, really, wholly dependent upon what the Indians are prepared to do,’ a senior administration official told reporters in a briefing call on the trip Friday.