Trump in India: A brief history of US presidents' trips

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Trump in India: A brief history of US presidents' trips

US President Donald Trump is expecting a raucous welcome on his first official state visit to India on Monday and Tuesday.

He follows a long line of leaders who have made the journey. Some of his predecessors were greeted enthusiastically; others stumbled through diplomatic gaffes; one even had a village named after him.

Can history be a guide to how this diplomatic tryst might go? Here's a brief look at past visits, ranked in order of how they went.

Dwight D Eisenhower, the first US president to visit India, was greeted with a 21-gun salute when he landed in the national capital, Delhi, in December 1959. Huge crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the World War Two hero in his open-top car - Mr. Trump is expecting a similar reception in Ahmedabad city, where he will be doing a roadshow.

The warmth between him and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru helped during what was a rocky phase in US-India ties. This was early in the Cold war, when the US and Pakistan had become close allies, and India insisted on staying neutral or "non-aligned". Like today, relations with China were at the core of the India-US equation, with Washington pressuring Delhi to take an aggressive stance with Beijing on the issue of Tibet.

But, on the whole, Eisenhower's four-day trip was billed a success. And nearly every US president on a state visit to India has emulated his itinerary: he laid flowers at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial, took in the splendor of the Taj Mahal, addressed parliament and spoke at Delhi's iconic Ramlila grounds, which, according to one news report, attracted one million people.

If there was a game-changing visit, it would be Bill Clinton's in March 2000 with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr. Clinton's arrival came after a two-decade lull - neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush Snr made the journey East. It came at a tricky time as Washington had imposed sanctions on Delhi following its 1999 test of a nuclear bomb.

But, according to Navtej Sarna, a former Indian Ambassador to the US, the five-day trip was "a joyous visit". It included stops in Hyderabad, a southern city that was emerging as a tech hub, and Mumbai, India's financial capital. "He came and saw the economic and cyber potential of India, and democracy in action," says Mr. Sarna.

Mr. Clinton also danced with villagers, took a tiger safari and sampled Delhi's famously creamy black dal (lentils) at a luxury hotel that has since been associated with the president.

The country's reaction is perhaps best expressed in this New York Times headline: "Clinton fever - a delighted India has all the symptoms."

George W Bush, as Forbes magazine once put it, was the "best US president India's ever had". His three-day visit in March 2006 was a highlight in the two countries' strategic relationship - especially in matters of trade and nuclear technology, subjects they have long wrangled over. His strong personal dynamic with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was hard to miss - after he left office, Mr. Bush, a keen artist, even painted a portrait of Mr. Singh.

The two leaders are credited for a historic but controversial nuclear deal, which was signed during Mr. Bush's visit. It brought India, which had for decades refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), out of isolation. Energy-hungry India got access to US civil nuclear technology in exchange for opening its nuclear facilities to inspection.

However, while the visit was substantive, it was not as spectacular as others - there was no trip to the Taj, nor an address to parliament. But the timing was important. Anti-US sentiment over the invasion of Iraq was running high - left-wing MPs had staged a protest against Mr. Bush's visit, and there were demonstrations in other parts of India.

Barack Obama was the only president to make two official visits. First, in 2010 with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and then in 2015 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On his first visit - in a break from the past - he landed in Mumbai, instead of Delhi, with a large trade delegation. This was not just about economic ties but a show of solidarity following the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, which killed 166 people. Mr. and Mrs. Obama even stayed at the Taj Mahal hotel, one of the main targets.

It was significant that the US president declared support for India to join a reformed and expanded UN Security Council, says Alyssa Ayres, a former US deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia. "That all these years later nothing has changed in the UN system is another matter, but that was a major policy shift for the United States."

Mr. Obama returned in 2015 as chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations, at PM Modi's invitation. Trade, defense, and climate change were at the heart of the talks. The trip also emphasized an Indo-Pacific strategy, where both leaders expressed unease over Beijing's provocations in the South China Sea.