Who'll want to miss selfies with God?

Since the United States is paradise for most Indians, President Donald Trump has to be God. Trump is to oblige us by visiting India tomorrow and the day after. Apart from his wife Melania, Trump will be accompanied by his advisers, including daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Every US president has visited India since Bill Clinton but before that many did not consider India important enough. After all, India had to beg the US for wheat supplies under PL 480 to stave off a disastrous famine. Indira Gandhi was kept waiting for 45 minutes at the White House by Richard Nixon who described her as a "bitch" and a "witch", advised by his Secretary of State, the genocidal monster Henry Kissinger. Since then India has maintained large stocks of food grains by protecting farmers from low prices through the Minimum Support Price scheme on 22 different crops. Ironically, the US has complained to the WTO about, what it sees as, farm subsidies in India. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India was the fifth largest economy in the world in 2019, with nominal GDP of $2.9 trillion, behind the US, China, Japan and Germany but above the UK, France and Italy. Sadly, that is the good news. India's per capita GDP is at 139 in the world at $2,171 per year and "78% of India's adult population has wealth below $10,000". Only 1.8% of the population, about 20 million people, has wealth more than $100,000. Not a large market at all. According to World Bank classification, countries with per capita income from $1,026 to $3,995 are lower middle income countries. "India's per capita income in 2018 was $2,020, at the halfway point for lower middle income category," which means that "For now India is in the Nigeria zone," wrote Salman A Soz. Trump "will raise the issue of religious freedom in his public remarks" and also "in his private meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US officials have said", wrote Seema Sirohi. On what grounds? "The grounds on which the government has invoked the draconian Public Safety Act against former chief ministers (of Kashmir) Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti read like a fake WhatsApp forward," said an editorial in The Indian Express. Mufti was accused of being "daddy's girl" and the medieval queen Kota Rani. Police in Mumbai are stopping people from carrying musical instruments, especially the dafli, used by street musicians. US officials also "criticised the recent budget for raising tariffs that affect US products". Customs duties were increased in the 2018 budget and a further 37 items saw increased tariffs in this year's budget. Apart from glad handing and rented crowds nothing much will come form this visit, wrote Mihir Sharma for Bloomberg. At least there will be selfies with God.