S President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted a clip from the popular movie Baahubali showing himself as the character Baahubali, rampaging in a war. A day before his India visit, Trump said in the tweet he is looking forward to being “with my great friends in India”.
Donald Trump said he was looking forward to being in India on Monday on a two-day visit while retweeting the short video in which his face was superimposed on the hit character Baahubali. The video shows the US president as a great saviour bringing peace to his kingdom.
President Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 and will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump. Trump will also be accompanied by a high-level delegation including the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top American officials.
“Look so forward to being with my great friends in INDIA!” Trump said in his tweet on Saturday.
India and US will, however, not be signing a trade deal during the much-awaited Trump visit. Sources told India Today the deal was called off by the US at the last moment.
Ahead of his visit Trump had said a bigger and more ambitious deal between US and India will be announced later but not during this visit.
On Sunday, Trump applauded the Baahubali tweet in which the user said, “To celebrate Trump’s visit to India I wanted to make a video to show how in my warped mind it will go… USA and India united!”
Trump appears as a great saviour, in the short animated clip, riding on a chariot with First Lady Melania. A few stills later, Trump is seen riding a horse carrying on his soldiers his son Donald Junior and daughter Ivanka.
Later, he is welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a village setting. Hundreds and thousands of people are seen welcoming Trump in the video.
While over 1 lakh people are expected to greet Trump and PM Modi in Ahmedabad for their joint road show to the Motera stadium, Trump has claimed that PM Modi promised him over “7 million people” on the roads of India.
The Trump- Baahubali video, which ends with “USA and India United”, went viral after Trump retweeted it. In a few hours, it was seen by nearly 6 lakh people.
Trump is seen being greeted by an elephant, who bears the logo of the Republican Party.
Towards the end of the video, Trump is seen riding the elephant, and putting on fire the effigy of “Raavan” marked as “D” in a big circle representing the opposition Democratic Party.
An arrow is given by warrior Narendra Modi to the First Lady, who then passes it on to Trump, before he lights the effigy.
Trump’s visit to India provides an opportunity for the two countries to improve their bilateral relationship and strengthen strategic interests, say senior officials.
After Barack Obama, Trump is the only other US President to visit India in his first term.
Issues expected to be discussed during the visit include an open Indo-Pacific, reduced trade barriers, boost to counter-terror cooperation and mitigating Indian concerns over H-1B visas.