President Donald Trump joined 50,000 people to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Howdy Modi rally in Houston Sunday. Outside, thousands of protestors expressed their opposition to the Modi’s reign and called out what they see as his human rights abuses.
“We are proud to have you as Americans,” said Trump to the Indian American community, according to Voice of America. “My administration is fighting for you each and every day.” The president said India has never “had a better friend as president as President Donald Trump.”
Modi, in turn, praised Trump for making “the American economy strong again.” He added India-US relations have reached “new heights.”
Recent polls, however, show weak support among Indian Americans for Trump.
That message of unity contrasted with the tens of thousands of mostly Indian Americans outside demonstrating against the Prime Minister, reported Al Jazeera.
“As Hindus, we feel like the atrocities happening in India … is all being done by a Hindu extremist government in the name of our beloved faith, Hinduism. It is our absolute religious, moral and human obligation to stand up and be counted on the side of history that said: ‘No, not in our name,'” said Sunita Viswanath, the co-founder for Hindus for Human Rights.
“The pluralist and secular constitution of India has repeatedly come under a grave threat by the actions of Prime Minister Modi’s government for over five years,” added Syed Afzal Ali, national vice president of the Indian American Muslim Council.
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