WASHINGTON, Feb 23: President Donald Trump has said that he was looking forward to being with his “great friends” in India as he retweeted a video in which his face was superimposed on the hit movie-character Bahubali, showing him as a great saviour.
Trump will arrive in India on Monday on a two-day visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including First Lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top American officials.
“Look so forward to being with my great friends in INDIA!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Along with the tweet, Trump shared an 81-second video by a Twitter account identified as “Sol” with the handle Solmemes1.
“To celebrate Trump’s visit to India I wanted to make a video to show how in my warped mind it will go… USA and India united!” the handle Solmemes1 tweeted in the original post with the video.
Trump appears as a great saviour, in the short animated clip, riding on a chariot with First Lady Melania. A few stills later, Trump is seen riding a horse carrying on his soldiers his son Donald Junior and daughter Ivanka.
Later, he is welcomed by Prime Minister Modi in a village setting. Hundreds and thousands of people are seen welcoming Trump in the video.
“This week Trump will visit India and in celebration I have created a new meme for the occasion… You few, who are my patrons, get to see it first!” Sol told viewers on subscription content service Patreon on Saturday.
A few hours later, Trump retweeted the video.
In the Twitter description, Sol describes herself as “award winning master memetician, professor of memology at University of GFY, my views are my own and not associated with real life.”
The video, which ends with “USA and India United”, went viral after Trump retweeted it. In a few hours, it was seen by more than ten lakh people.
Sol in one of her previous posts, dated January 23, writes she was inspired by a video of Bahubali sent to her by a friend, which is the story of ‘good defeating evil.’
This inspired Sol to create her first Bahubali-theme meme. The video is titled “Jiyo Re Baahu Trump”, in which the First Lady is seen wearing a saree. “Jiyo Re Bahubali,” is the theme song of the video.
Sol’s posts show she is an admirer of the President and the First Lady.
Her January 23 video was released at the peak of Trump’s impeachment proceedings. In the video, Trump is seen being greeted by an elephant, who bears the logo of the Republican Party.
Towards the end of the video, Trump is seen riding the elephant, and putting on fire the effigy of “Raavan” marked as “D” in a big circle representing the opposition Democratic Party.
An arrow is given by warrior Modi to the First Lady, who then passes it on to Trump, before he lights the effigy.
Trump’s visit to India provides an opportunity for the two countries to improve their bilateral relationship and strengthen strategic interests, say senior officials.
After Barack Obama, Trump is the only other US President to visit India in his first term.
Issues expected to be discussed during the visit include an open Indo-Pacific, reduced trade barriers, boost to counter-terror cooperation and mitigating Indian concerns over H-1B visas.
“President Trump has been the best friend of India amongst all US Presidents. He loves Indians and Indian-Americans. Indian Americans nationwide love him as much,” Al Mason, advisor to Global Real Estate Investments, Education Institutions and Hospitals, told PTI.
“How else do you explain 60,000 Indian-Americans attending his ‘Howdy, Modi!’ rally with Prime Minister Modi in Houston, not to overlook the fact that billion-plus Indians in India love President Trump too,” he said, referring to Trump and Modi sharing the stage in September in Houston at a massive rally of Indian-Americans called “Howdy, Modi!”.
Modi and Trump are set to share the stage on Monday for “Namaste Trump,” event which roughly translates as “Hello Trump” in Ahmedabad.
The president, who arrived at the White House following four days of hectic political campaigning in the western parts of the country, had no public engagements on Saturday.
Trump did not go for a round of golf, which is normally the case for him on a bright sunny weekend day in Washington. (PTI)
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