U.S. President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, look at a Charkha, or a spinning wheel, during a tour of Gandhi Ashram, Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in Ahmedabad, India. After Air Force One touched down in Ahmedabad in western India, Trump's motorcade slowly drove down streets lined with hundreds of thousands of onlookers. He began that day's high-wattage trio of presidential photo-ops: a visit to a former home of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, a rally at a huge cricket stadium and a trip to the famed Taj Mahal. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

AHMEDABAD, INDIA (AP) — Basking in adulation from a massive, colorful crowd, President Donald Trump and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi lavished each other with praise today in a reaffirmation of U.S.-India ties as the subcontinent poured on the pageantry in a joyful welcome for the U.S. president.

More than 100,000 people packed into the world’s largest cricket stadium in Modi’s home state to give Trump the biggest rally crowd of his political career. The event was the pinnacle of the day’s enviable trio of presidential photo-ops, sandwiched between Trump visits to a former home of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi and a planned tour of the famed Taj Mahal.

Nearly everyone in the newly constructed stadium in Ahmedabad in western India sported a white cap with the name of the event, “Namaste, Trump” or “Welcome, Trump,” and roared for the introductions of both leaders.

Embarking on a whirlwind 36-hour visit, Trump opened his speech by declaring that he had traveled 8,000 miles to deliver the message that “America loves India, America respects India and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.”

The boisterous scene featured musicians on camels and a musical medley of Bollywood hits and Trump’s campaign rally playlist, including numerous Elton John songs that seemed to puzzle most of the crowd. Trump basked in the raucous reception that has eluded him on many foreign trips, some of which have featured massive protests and icy handshakes from world leaders. In India, he instead received a warm embrace — literally — from the ideologically aligned and noted hugger Modi.

The sun-baked city of Ahmedabad bustled as Trump arrived, its streets teeming with people eager to catch a glimpse of the American president. Newly cleaned roads and planted flowers dotted the roads amid hundreds of billboards featuring the president and first lady Melania Trump. Thousands lined his motorcade route, shy of the up to 10 million that Trump speculated would be on hand.

His first stop was Gandhi’s home, where Trump donned a prayer shawl and removed his shoes to create the incongruous image of a grandiose president quietly walking through the humble ashram. He inspected the spinning wheel used by the famed pacifist and looked at a statue of monkeys representing Gandhi’s mantra of “See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil” before departing for a far more boisterous setting: the mega-rally at the world’s largest cricket stadium.

Trump’s motorcade traveled amid cheers from a battery of carefully picked and vetted Modi loyalists and workers from his Bharatiya Janata Party who will stand for hours alongside the neatly manicured 22-kilometer (14-mile) stretch of road to accord the president a grand welcome on his way to the newly constructed stadium.