INDIA GREENS PARTY
Registration Number: 56/476/2018-19/PPS-I
Registered Office: 104, 1st Floor Vardhman Complex, LSC, Savita Vihar, Delhi-110092
Email: indiagreensparty@gmail.com
Website: https://indiagreensparty.org
PRESS STATEMENT
IGP terms Trump’s India visit as sheer wastage of poor people’s money
New Delhi, 26 February 2020: The India Greens Party (IGP) said here today that the just concluded jam-packed 36-hour state visit of the US President Donald Trump to India was a sheer wastage of poor Indian people’s money and as described by an American newspaper — long on symbolism and short on substance.
President Trump arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, shortly before noon on Monday, 24 February 2020, and soon found himself in front of a cheering crowd at the world’s largest Motera Cricket Stadium. He described his India visit as a tremendous learning experience. The central government as well as the state governments of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh spent several hundred crore rupees on the extravagant and exhibitionist arrangements.
In a press statement, the IGP President Suresh Nautiyal said that Mr Trump praising Mr Modi for his “democratic” and “tolerant” leadership of India was just a big lie. “The Indian Prime Minister has developed a political partnership with Mr Trump only with the glue of flattery and there was no real substance in it,” Mr Nautiyal added.
“It is regrettable that the US President did not comment at length on the CAA while in Delhi,” stated Mr Nautiyal, adding that India undoubtedly has “worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom” but the present ruling dispensation has done little to carry forward the hard work.
President Trump had merely said that he raised the issue of religious freedom with Modi, who was “incredible” on the subject. Trump said that India has worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom, adding that Mr Modi wanted people to have religious freedom.
The IGP President said the visits of the US Presidents are always a big deal in India but the current visit was rightly dismissed as long on symbolism and short on substance by The Washington Post.
Mr Trump is the seventh US President and fourth in a row to visit India.
The IGP President said the US military sales to India worth $3 billion will only lead to cuts in the allocations of the core sectors like health, education, agriculture and environment. “It will also escalate militarism in the region,” Mr Nautiyal pointed out.
The IGP President also regretted the delay in a fair trade deal between the two countries and said the “tremendous progress on a comprehensive trade agreement” was yet to be seen.
He said it is sad that Trump’s visit to Delhi was overshadowed by deadly protests that continue to engulf India’s capital, as Muslim and Hindu groups are clashing. Several lives have already been lost in the riots and more than 100 others have been injured in the clashes.
Speaking at a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday 25 February 2020 evening before he left India, Trump said he had not brought up the violence with Prime Minister Modi, saying he would not comment on “individual cases”. However, the president said they had discussed the rising attacks on the Muslim community and he was satisfied that Modi worked “really hard” on religious freedom.
The deadly violence in Delhi has, however, received international attention. Also in focus is what some foreign media see as Trump’s lack of public criticism for the Modi Government actions, such as the passing of the CAA that provides fast-track naturalisation for some foreign-born religious minorities but not Muslims.
– Press Statement issued by the IGP Spokesperson Michael Rajchandra.
