By Anand Singh
Agra, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will receive US President and his family at the Agra airport on their arrival from Ahmedabad, officials said on Sunday.
“The Uttar Pradesh Governor and the Chief Minister will welcome Trump at the Kheria airport,” Agra District Magistrate Prabhu N. Singh told IANS.
However, the two leader will not accompany the US President and his wife Melania Trump to the Taj Mahal.
Singh said, “Governor and Chief Minister shall stay at the airport and when the US President along with his family and several other officials return to the airport, they will send them off to Delhi.”
On the arrangements on Trump’s route from Kheria airport to the Taj Mahal, Singh said, “On the 13 km-long route we have planned performance by over 3,000 artists at 21 different locations.”
Singh said at the airport over 250 artists will give special performance highlighting the culture of Uttar Pradesh like Brij, Awadh, special performance on Lord Krishna, dance themed on Radha and many others.
Huge billboards and cut-outs of Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi dotted the historic city on Sunday, including the airport and other public places.
According to authorities, hundreds of hoardings and cut-outs of Trump and Modi had been put across across the city, especially the 13-km route from the airport to the Taj Mahal.
The US President and his entourage will take the route on February 24 evening to visit the Taj Mahal, where they will spend about an hour.
The work of putting up hoardings — with welcome messages for the visiting dignitary and his entourage — as well as cut-outs, was still on and expected to be completed by early Monday morning.
The District Magistrate further said that entire route from airport to the Taj Mahal has been spruced up aesthetically and the US and Indian flags have been put up at roundabouts to give the area a festive look. We have done our best to welcome the US President to Agra.
Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25 along with wife Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner and top US officials.
The couple will spend the first day of the visit in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh’s Agra before moving to Delhi for the official reception and bilateral talks.
This is Donald Trump’s first State Visit to India and also the first standalone visit by a US President to India.
Before Trump, US President Bill Clinton visited Agra in March 2000 and Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at [email protected])
