The American president did not know. As he embarked on a two-day visit to India on Monday, February 24, received with pomp and pomp by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, extremely violent inter-community clashes engulfed New Delhi. They undoubtedly mark a new stage in the protest against the citizenship law which has been going on for two months. Five people were killed.
Television cameras were pointed 800 kilometers from the capital, Gujarat, the former electoral stronghold of Narendra Modi. The chains had launched their direct long before the landing of Air Force One at the airport of Ahmedabad, little before midday. The head of the Indian government gave him a triumphant welcome. Giant photos and panels of the two heads of state, thousands of flowers, dancers, dromedaries, were posted along the route of Donald Trump and his wife Melania.
The couple first went to the Sabarmati ashram where Gandhi lived from 1917 to 1930, time to pose in front of the spinning wheel of the Mahatma, then to join the Motera stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world, where 100,000 spectators wearing masks in his effigy where hats barred with the slogan "namaste Trump", "hello Trump" had been waiting in oppressive heat for several hours. Messrs. Trump and Modi stormed hugs and praise.
Not a word about the tensions or the situation in Kashmir
The American president, in a half-hour speech, glorified India and embellished its history. "There is a difference in the world between a nation that seeks power through coercion, intimidation and aggression, he said without citing China, and a nation that rises and frees its people to pursue their dreams. This is India. "
For the billionaire, the subcontinent "Is a country that proudly embraces the freedom, individual rights, the rule of law and the dignity of every human being." "Your nation has always been admired as the place where thousands upon thousands of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Jews worship side by side in harmony", he assured, ignoring the bloody clashes between Muslims and Hindus who had followed the partition in 1947 – between one and two million dead – and the difficulties of minorities.
Muslims and Christians have been the regular target of Hindu nationalists (80% of the population) for years. Violence against Sikhs has also been deadly. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by his Sikh guards, 8,000 members of this community were killed in retaliation in the north of the country and 3,000 in New Delhi.
