US President Donald Trump, Melania Trump and PM Modi at Sabarmati Ashram

In a first for any incumbent American president, Donald Trump along with First Lady Melania Trump Monday visited Sabarmati Ashram. At the Ashram, the Trumps paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and also tried their hands at spinning the ‘charkha’ (spinning wheel).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached the Ashram a few minutes earlier, showed Trump and the US First Lady ‘Hriday Kunj’, a room inside the Ashram where Gandhiji and his wife Kasturba lived.

In a message in the visitors’ book at Sabarmati Ashram, Trump called PM Modi a “great friend” and thanked him for the “wonderful visit” to India. “To my great friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi, thank you for this wonderful visit,” Trump wrote in the Ashram visitors’ book.

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During his 15-minute visit, the US President was briefed about Gandhiji and the importance of charkha as a symbol of self-reliance. Modi also presented “Three Wise Monkeys,” a larger version of one belonging to Mahatma Gandhi, as a memento to the US president.

Talking to The Indian Express, Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust trustee Kartikeya Sarabhai had earlier told that a charkha model, an illustration of Mahatma Gandhi by Nandalal Bose, a special edition of Gandhi’s autobiography, a book containing his quotes and a print of his talisman may be given as mementoes to the dignitaries, provided security officials allow.