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Ahmedabad, Feb 24 (IANS) About one lakh people assembled to witness 'Namste Trump' mega event at Motera cricket stadium here on Monday, danced on Bollywood, Gujarati songs being performed by various artists.
Garba gained momentum at the world's largest cricket stadium which is ready to host US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania and his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who arrived at the Ahmedabad Airport on Monday noon.
Famous Gujarati singers Kinjal Dave, a 19-year-old artist, earned applause in the realm of Gujarati pop-folk music along with Geeta Rabari, Kirtidan Gadhvi and many more.
"O meri jami, mehboob meri, teri mitti me mili jawaan" song performed by Rabari excited the enthusiastic crowd from across Gujarat that include students, teachers, villagers, farmers and almost from every section of the society.
There are mixed feelings among the locals about the three-hour mega show with many raising slogans "Modi, Modi, Modi", "Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai", and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".
The mega event featuring US President Donald Trump will be held at the newly-built cricket stadium where he along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to address the large gathering.
The showpiece event, organized by the little-known Donald Trump Nagrik Abhinandan Samiti, will see Modi and Trump address the people at the stadium, which has a capacity of more than 1 lakh people.
It is the world's largest stadium with a capacity to accommodate 1.10 lakh spectators. The stadium has been rebuilt after demolishing the old one which had a seating capacity of 49,000 spectators only.
The event is organised on the lines of the one organized by the Indian Americans at Houston for Modi last year.
In his maiden India visit for 36 hours, Trump will spend three hours at the event. He will reach the stadium following a roadshow and a short visit to historical Sabarmati Ashram, a place closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi.
Thousands of people were standing along the footpath of the road from where Trump and Modi will travel along a 22 kilometres long route, starting from the international airport to the Sabarmati Ashram, and then to the Motera stadium via the Indira Bridge, to greet the leaders.
The event is being organised amid high security with more than 10,000 police personnel, including 65 assistant commissioners, 200 inspectors and 800 sub-inspectors, are deployed at strategic locations in the city during Trump's visit.
Addition to the security arrangement consisted of personnel of the United States Secret Service, the National Security Guard (NSG) and the Special Protection Group (SPG) have also been pressed into service.
Meanwhile, due to security concerns, residents of housing societies located along the roadshow route were seen standing since morning to see a glimpse of Trump.
Those wanting to stand outside their housing society during the roadshow were seen with I-cards.
The city has been spruced up with a fresh coat of paint on the walls and the scrubbed Sabarmati river front. There are cardboard cutouts of Modi and Trump and digital hoardings everywhere.
(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
--IANS
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