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Will building a 400-meter long wall hide the truth of poverty in India from President Trump?

On February 24-25 US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit India. He will be attending the ‘Kem Chom Trump’ (How are you, Trump) program at Ahmedabad, India. Prior to it, in terms of preparations, a 400-meter-long and seven-feet-high wall is being constructed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in order to prevent the US leader from getting a glimpse of a slum situated next to the road from Ahmedabad Airport to Indira Bridge. On the other hand, contrary to the situation the Corporation is also fixing the path from Ahmedabad Airport to the Sardar Patel Motera Stadium. The slum district houses an estimated 800 families.

  Image Source: Google

According to media sources, Speaking on the situation a senior government official said: “the wall is being built for security reasons, and not to conceal the slum district”. The government official also conceded that the wall was part of a “beautification and cleanliness” drive.

On the other hand, as told to Reuters the contractor said that he is building it as the government “did not want the slum to be seen” when Trump passes by on the ride in from Ahmedabad’s airport. On a condition of not revealing the name the contractor also said, “I’ve been ordered to build a wall as soon as possible, over 150 masons are working round-the-clock to finish the project,”.

Also, Mayor Bijal Patel said that “I don’t know about it”.

The new construction of the wall made People living there very angry. According to a resident, who lives in this slum, says that “till now green cloth was put here but now a wall is being built up. If the government is ashamed of the poor, then concrete steps should be taken to remove poverty and instead of building walls in order to hide the reality. Now our homes will be surrounded by this wall, due to which the air, water will stop coming. Even here there is no sewer system, nor electricity. We have to live in the dark.

Some slum-dwellers whose homes will be cordoned off by the wall in Ahmedabad also said that “the government was wasting tax-payer money to hide the poor”.

In the visit, Modi and Trump will come to Ahmedabad from Delhi. The two leaders will reach the Motera Stadium via helicopter from the airport. After the program, Trump will fly to the airport directly by helicopter. Probably from here, he will leave for America. Apart from ‘Chem Chom Trump’, Trump is also expected to visit Sabarmati Ashram. They can go to Gandhi Ashramashram by road. Chinese President Xi visited Ahmedabad in 2014. There were pictures of Modi-Jinping swinging on a single swing on the riverfront.

Ahead of the US presidential election in November, this visit provides Trump the opportunity to woo the support of hundreds of thousands of Indian-American voters. Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump also quoted Modi as saying “millions and millions of people” would attend the rally.

Whatever the situation may be but handling and hiding the truth like this way doesn’t seem viable. Better would have been if the houses of these people have been built from the same construction material instead of a wall or in reality the consistent poverty-ridden status of India has been demolished totally.

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