Deadly Clashes, Protests Mar Trump Visit to India

Date: 24 February 2020 - 22:35

News ID: ۷۶۵۳۸

NEW DELHI (Dispatches) -- A policeman was killed in New Delhi Monday in violent clashes over a contentious citizenship law, hours before U.S. President Donald Trump was due in the Indian capital as part of a two-day visit.
Protests have broken out across India since the law that critics say discriminates against Muslims came into force in December, with at least 30 people killed in clashes with police.
The new law has raised worries abroad -- including in Washington -- that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remold India into a Hindu nation while marginalizing the country’s 200 million Muslims, a claim he denies.
The latest unrest erupted between several hundred supporters and opponents of the law in a Muslim-dominated area of northeast Delhi on Sunday, and continued on Monday.
A constable was killed after receiving a critical head injury, local media reported, while another senior officer was injured.
The Press Trust of India said protesters torched at least two houses and shops. Local TV channels showed plumes of black smoke billowing from buildings.
One video posted on social media showed crowds of men shouting "Jai Shree Ram” or "Hail Lord Ram”, a revered Hindu deity, as they went on a rampage.
Trump arrived in the western state of Gujarat on Monday and addressed a huge rally with Modi before he visited the Taj Mahal monument in Agra.
The U.S. president was due to arrive in Delhi late Monday before official talks in the city on Tuesday.

In the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Modi’s home state of Gujarat in western India, Trump heaped praise on the Indian right-winger as an "exceptional leader, a great champion of India” in front of a crowd of around 100,000.
"President Trump’s visit opens a new chapter in our relationship -- a chapter that will document the progress and prosperity of the people of America and India,” Modi said in response.
"The whole world knows what President Trump has done to fulfill the dreams of America,” he added.
Workers rushed to finish the stadium and erect a wall along the route that locals said was to hide a slum. Stray dogs, cows and monkeys were also kept away.
Parts of the Taj Mahal, the marble monument to love that UNESCO calls a "jewel of Muslim art”, were given a mud-pack facial to remove stains, while efforts were made to lessen the stench of the adjacent river.
Behind the platitudes and blossoming bromance between the two leaders lies a fraught relationship as Trump’s "America First” drive collides with Modi’s "Make in India” mantra.
Trump has slapped tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium and suspended duty-free access for certain goods, prompting India to raise duties on U.S. produce such as almonds.
Trump has called India the "tariff king”, and said before his visit that Asia’s third-largest economy had been "hitting us very, very hard for many, many years”.
Rather than a wide-ranging trade deal, reports said Trump and Modi may instead sign smaller agreements covering products such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles and US dairy products.
"We are in the early stages of discussions for an incredible trade agreement,” Trump told the rally, calling Modi a "very tough negotiator”.
"I am in no rush,” he told reporters later. With the U.S. and India sharing concerns about China, the two men were expected to sign a number of defense deals during the visit, and to discuss the supply of six nuclear reactors.
Russia, however, remains India’s biggest supplier in arms, with India having agreed to buy Moscow’s $5.4-billion S-400 missile defense system despite the threat of U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. has pressured India to stop buying Iranian oil, while U.S. businesses have raised concerns over New Delhi’s plans to force foreign firms to store Indian consumers’ personal data inside the country.
India has bristled at Trump’s offer to mediate in the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan which a year ago again brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors close to war.
In Washington, India has faced criticism over its clampdown in restive Kashmir, and the recently passed citizenship law that has led to ongoing protests across the nation, including in New Delhi on Monday.