One wall to hide them all: How Gujarat is concealing slums ahead of Trump's visit

A wall erected near the Ahmedabad International Airport and the city being spruced up ahead of the visit of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Meliana Trump have raised many eyebrows.

This, however, is a normal procedure ever since Narendra Modi had taken over as the chief minister of Gujarat in 2001.

Even for the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit, organised at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, temporary structures in the form of cloth barricades were put up to hide slums. Delegates, including top businessmen from India and abroad, have been visiting the state during the summit. There have also been instances of roads polished when foreign dignitaries were being hosted in Ahmedabad.

This time around, a six to seven feet wall is being constructed by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on the road connecting the Airport and Indira Bridge. It will stretch to about half a kilometer. The wall will hide the slums on the roadside.

The US President and the First Lady are visiting Gujarat on February 24. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump will jointly inaugurate Motera Cricket Stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world.

While Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra could not be reached despite several attempts, sources in the know-how told THE WEEK that the AMC is to spend nothing less than Rs 25 crore towards beautifying the city.

The civic body is also going to plant fully grown date palms across the Sabarmati River Front.

In the USA, Trump has been speaking to reporters about how the ‘Kem Cho Trump' event is going to be and what is to be the likely turnout alongside the route and the stadium.

Sources said the opposition Congress is to come up with some programmes ahead of Trump’s visit.

Manish Doshi, Congress spokesman for Gujarat, while talking to THE WEEK, alleged that Modi and the BJP do not want to remove poverty but they want to remove the poor and show a rosy picture before Trump.