Tushar Arun Gandhi is the son of journalist Arun Manilal Gandhi, grandson of Manilal Gandhi, and great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He has shown his anger at the message Donald Trump left in the visitors’ book at the Ashram set up by the Indian freedom fighter. U.S President Donald Trump is on a 2-day maiden visit to India along with First Lady Melania Trump and landed in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad at around 11:30 am. On Monday, they visited the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad as part of the first leg of their tour of India. President Trump and first lady visited the site with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Workers from the Sabarmati Ashram gave them a demonstration of the charkha wheel.
President Trump along with Modi, also hung a photo of Mahatma Gandhi. NDTV reported that Tushar Gandhi wasn’t impressed by Trump’s failure to mention Mahatma Gandhi in his visitor book message. Donald Trump wrote, “To my great friend Prime Minister Modi. Thank you for this wonderful visit”! Most believe that it would have been more appropriate to contemplate Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiring struggle for freedom, instead of promoting Modi. Tushar Gandhi said, “The message that he has written in Sabarmati Ashram (visitors’ book) doesn’t seem to reflect that he felt it was a worthwhile experience. He has basically just written a thank-you message to his friend PM Modi”.
It is noteworthy that Indian Congress leader Manish Tewari also wrote on Twitter, “No mention of the Great Mahatma. Does he even know who Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was”? The comparisons have been drawn to messages left by Barack Obama on his visits to India. Obama wrote in visitors’ book during his visit to Mani Bhavan in 2010, he wrote, “I am filled with hope and inspiration as I have the privilege to view this testament to Gandhi’s life. He is a hero not just to India but to the world”. He also visited the Raj Ghat in Delhi in 2015, and wrote, “What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said then remains true today. The spirit of Gandhi is very much alive in India today and it remains a great gift to the world. May we always live in the spirit of love and peace among all people and nations”.