A tale of two visits, 60 years apart

Agra: While the historic town of Agra in Uttar Pradesh is all set to welcome US President Donald Trump on Monday, people here recalled the visit of 34th American President Dwight D Eisenhower 60 years ago in 1959 along with first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25 along with his wife Melania Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner and a galaxy of top officials.

The news agency IANS has got hold of a rare picture of Eisenhower along with Nehru to the Taj Mahal in an open car. The picture was clicked by Fine Arts studio, founded in 1937 in the city. Speaking to IANS Correspondent, Surendra Sharma, owner of the Fine Arts Studio said, "The picture of the US President with our first Prime Minister was clicked by my uncle, who founded the studio before independence."

Recalling the visit of the then US President, Sharma said, "I was a small kid then and my uncle who had a course in photography from the US clicked that picture, when Nehruji accompanied Eisenhower in the open car." At that time children with flags in their hand stood on the sides of the MG road to welcome the dignitaries, he said.

Sharma further said that Eisenhower during his 1959 India trip also visited the Agriculture college then. He said the things changed completely after that. "Earlier the guests used to come at the circuit house of Agra and the Taj Mahal was just in front of that."

"So many times guests walked to have a view of Taj Mahal. But Nehruji brought Eisenhower to the historic monument in the open car," Sharma recalled.

Sharing some pictures of other dignitaries in Agra, Sharma showed the photographs of England Queen Elizabeth, Mahendra Singh Maharaja of Nepal and many others. He also said that the studio is still carrying its legacy in the city.

Sharma also hailed first Indian Prime Minister Nehru for working in interest of India to promote tourism. He said that the Shahjahan garden in the city was earlier known as Victoria garden which is still famous for its flowers. He said the statue of Queen Victoria was earlier removed from the park but was re-installed due to the efforts by the people.

The Trumps will spend the first day of the trip in Gujarat''s Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh''s Agra before moving to Delhi for the official reception and bilateral talks. Before Trump, US President Bill Clinton visited Agra in March 2000.