With the 'Namaste Trump' event at the Motera Cricket Stadium concluding successfully on Monday, the Gujarat government appears to have have heaved a sigh of relief.
Getting US President Donald Trump to Gujarat may have been Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea, but it was left to the state government and Gujarat unit of the saffron party to put the plan into action. The entire government machinery, state unit of the BJP, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and the police worked overtime for more than a month to put up the show.
It was no wonder then that Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tweeted soon after the event saying the programme was organised successfully and congratulated the police and the AMC.
The municipal administration had hired 2,000 buses to bring people from various parts of the state to fill the stadium which has a capacity to accommodate more than one lakh people. Even ministers and 'gold pass' holding dignitaries were brought into the stadium in Volvo buses from quite a distance.
With getting food and water prohibited in the stadium, arrangements were made for water, butter milk and food packets for the crowd on return.
The only thing that played a spoilsport to some extent was the scorching heat. The crowd that had started trickling in from 8am appeared tired by the time Trump and Modi started giving their speeches. A large section started walking away. In some areas, the police did manage to stop them and asked them to return.
“It was because of heat that people started walking away,” remarked a government officer, requesting anonymity. Even from the 'gold' section, people had walked away.
While the movement of people did not have any effect on the speeches of Modi and Trump, sources said the “crowd managers” will have to answer a few queries from the organisers.
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The crowd also consisted of people, who would not follow English, and college students from outside Ahmedabad. For the benefit of those not knowing English, Hindi translation of Trump's speech was being splashed in writing on big screens.
In the the 22km road show, the agencies ensured that there was not a single stray cattle that came in the way. On 28 stages set up on the route, cultural heritage of different states were presented.
At the airport, authorities were doubly careful. Dogs were picked up from near the airport and steps were taken to avoid any bird hits. A few days ago, fire had broken out in an airplane after it was hit by a bird before take-off.
