Hawzah News Agency - (New Delhi - India) - Donald Trump has praised India as “a democratic, peaceful country” and reaffirmed his close ties to “true friend” Narendra Modi at a huge stadium rally, even as his host faced a fierce public backlash over what critics call attempts to undermine the country’s secular constitution and marginalize its Muslim minority.

The brand new 110,000-capacity Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad had barely emptied when the news emerged that a police head constable was killed in clashes in the capital Delhi, as protests against Modi's government threatened to overshadow Donald and Melania Trump's maiden two-day visit to the country.In his speech on Monday, the US president emphasized the difference between India and China, its rival giant in Asia, saying the former's economic growth was all the more remarkable because it was achieved “as a democratic country, a peaceful country, a tolerant country, as a great, free country”. This success, he said, made it “an example to every nation in the world”.

Mr Modi, hosting Mr Trump in his home state, led the crowd in chants of “Namaste Trump” and “Long live India-US friendship”, and hailed the event as a sign of a “far greater and closer relationship” between their two countries. He had earlier tweeted, as Mr Trump was about to land in India, a phrase in Hindi that translates to “the guest is God”.