Terming U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India a design to launch his electoral campaign for the American presidential polls, All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary M. Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday that the visit would, in no way, help India.
“The very purpose of Mr. Trump’s visit to India is launching his poll campaign for the American presidential elections; it is not for enhancing Indo-U.S. ties. [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi had visited the United States and addressed NRIs to win them over for his election. Mr. Trump is following the same idea,” Mr. Kharge told reporters in Kalaburagi.
Pointing to the topics on the agenda for the meeting of Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump, the Congress veteran said there were no issues concerning improvement of bilateral trade ties.
“Mr. Trump has not talked on H-1B visa. There is no discussion on liberalisation of the visa regime. Mr. Trump has, in fact, imposed more restrictions instead of simplifying the process. Instead of talking about such issues, Mr. Trump says it is a personal visit. If he is a personal friend of Mr. Modi’s, the latter should have taken him to his home instead of spending a large amount of public money for welcoming him. His visit will, in no way, help India,” he said.
Mr. Kharge also questioned the need for erecting a tall wall to cover slums from Mr. Trump’s vision. “I don’t know whether the wall was built for security reasons or cover the slums. Such massive and expensive security arrangements were never made for any U.S. President’s visit to the country before. No wall can conceal poverty,” he said.
