PM Modi gifts hand-woven shawls, Lincoln stamp to Trumps

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted President Donald Trump a folio containing an original commemorative postal stamp issued by India to mark the death centenary of Abraham Lincoln and presented hand-woven shawls from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to the First Lady. In a "great gesture", the Trumps took the Prime Minister for a tour of the White House, including the residential quarters.

Trump also showed Modi a copy of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address and the desk on which he wrote it.

The First Lady, who was present for large parts of the day during the Modi visit, also hosted a pre-dinner reception in honour of the visiting Indian Prime Minister.

The reception was the first major social event Melania Trump hosted for a visiting dignitary since permanently moving to the White House from New York this summer with her young son Barron.

"It was obvious that they (the President and First Lady) went out of their way to enable a right atmosphere for the discussions," India's Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna said.
Modi presented Trump a folio containing an original commemorative postal stamp that had been issued by India 52 years ago in 1965 to mark the death centenary of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America.

Apart from honouring the memory of the former American President, the issue of this stamp also symbolised the closeness of the ideals for which Lincoln stood and those which drove Mahatma Gandhi, sources said.

"Both leaders believed in the basic goodness of the common man, and in emancipation of the downtrodden. And both leaders led from the front, with indomitable courage against the forces of reaction and outmoded beliefs," they said.

The Prime Minister also presented to the President a wooden chest with intricate inlay pattern that is a specialty of Hoshiarpur in Punjab.

For the First Lady, the Prime Minister presented a hamper containing a traditional, handcrafted Himachali silver bracelet, tea and honey from Kangra valley, and hand-woven shawls from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.