A moving experience for Trump & Co at Gandhi Ashram

Tuesday 25th February 2020 14:16 EST
 
 

President Trump visited Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram where he thanked PM Modi for the ‘wonderful visit’ and called him a ‘great friend’ in the guest book. The president and the first lady were accompanied by their daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump and the first lady were welcomed with a khadi dupatta by Kartikeya Sarabhai on behalf of the Ashram trustees.

Trump and Melania had a brief stopover at the ashram and Bapu’s cottage ‘Hriday Kunj’ which was home to Mahatma Gandhi from 1917 to 1930. Sarabhai said that before Trump and the US first lady headed towards the charkha, President Trump told him, “Coming to the ashram was a moving experience.” Jared and Ivanka took keen interest in Bapu’s life at the Ashram and made sure they visited every room of Hriday Kunj.

Before entering Hriday Kunj the US president and first lady took off their shoes, according to the Ashram’s custom. Melania put on ankle socks to enter. After Hriday Kunj, PM Modi took them for a demonstration of the ‘charkha’ or spinning wheel, where they were helped by an Ashram employee Lata Parmar.

Before the the US president and first lady left the Ashram, the trustees presented them ‘Gandhi’s talisman’ printed on khadi cloth, a pencil sketch of Mahatma Gandhi by city-based artist Vijay Shrimali. Then there was a collection of 150 quotes of the Mahatma, a copy of Bapu’s autobiography ‘The story of my experiments with truth’, a small replica of the charkha or spinning wheel and a 9-inch tall marble statue of Bapu’s proverbial ‘three-monkeys’.


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