Donald Trump claimed 7 million people will line up in Ahmedabad to receive him.
When US President Donald Trump was busted on Day One of his presidency for wildly exaggerating the number of people attending his inauguration with photoshopped images, everyone but his supporters got a sense of his relationship with numbers.
Three years later, as he heads for his first official visit to India, Twitter users have called out the conservative leader for once again taking liberties with his facts.
Speaking to journalists days before the trip in Washington, Mr Trump bragged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised him 7 million people between the airport and his reception event in Ahmedabad.
"We're not treated very well by India, but I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot. And he told me we'll have 7 million people between the airport and the event," Mr Trump said, referring to a roadshow ahead of a "Namaste Trump" rally in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat where he will begin the trip.
The bombastic claim, though not unusual for Donald Trump, quickly sparked a wave of sarcasm and scepticism on Twitter. For one, many noted that Ahmedabad's population in the last 2011 census was 55 lakh or 5.5 million and is estimated to be 86 lakh or 8.6 million in 2020. Mr Trump's claim would been 80 per cent of the city's population will line up for him.
Mr Trump will land in India on Monday for a two-day trip that has seen the Indian government pull out all the stops, including a reception in the just-completed world's largest cricket stadium that the US President will get to open.
Authorities in Ahmedabad told news agency Reuters that they expect to spend around Rs 85 crore on preparations for the visit that is likely to last around three hours, including a 400-metre wall along Mr Trump's route to block slums from his view.
In the past, the US President's promiscuous relationship with facts has been called out by no less than India's Foreign Ministry. Last year, after repeated claims by Mr Trump that PM Modi had asked him to help mediate with Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, New Delhi firmly said no such request has been made.