PM Narendra Modi, Donald Trump to re-enact 'Howdy! Modi' bromance on Sabarmati bank

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump are likely to put on display their bonhomie once again – on the bank of Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad in the last week of this month.

Modi and Trump had appeared together at the “Howdy! Modi” event at Houston in the United States on September 22 last year. They had held up each other's hand, with nearly 50000 Indian-Americans, who had assembled at the NRG Stadium in Houston, cheering for them.

With Prime Minister now set to host the President and the First Lady of the United States in Ahmedabad in the last week of February, the two leaders are expected to recreate their “Howdy! Modi” bromance once again. Modi will take Trump and Melania out for a stroll on the river-front of Sabarmati. He and his guests are also likely to visit Mahatma Gandhi's 'ashram' and meet local people in Ahmedabad.

Modi had earlier walked with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan on the bank of Sabarmati during the visit of the first couple of the communist country to India in September 2014. He had also joined Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe during their September 2017 visit to Sabarmati Ashram to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi.

New Delhi and Washington D.C. on Tuesday confirmed that US President and his wife would visit to India on February 24 and 25 next

Trump will visit both Ahmedabad and New Delhi during what will be his maiden state visit to India after taking over as US President in January 2017.

“The President and The First Lady will travel to New Delhi and Ahmedabad, which is in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat and played such an important role in Mahatma Gandhi’s life and leadership of the Indian independence movement,” Stephanie Grisham, press secretary of the White House, said in a statement in Washington D.C. early on Tuesday.

She said that Modi and Trump had spoken to each other over the phone during the weekend and agreed that the visit of the US President to India this month would “further strengthen” the strategic partnership between the two nations and “highlight the strong and enduring bonds between the American and Indian people”.

Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama was the first US President to visit India in his first term. Obama first visited India in 2010 and then again in 2015.

A press statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi confirmed that Trump and his wife would interact with “a wide cross-section” of the society during their visit to India.