Women from Haryana will send over 1000 rakhis to Trump

New Delhi: He may not have heard of Rakhi, but women and girls of a remote Muslim-majority village symbolically named by an NGO after US President Donald Trump will send him 1,001 rakhis on the Hindu festival that celebrates the brother-sister bond. The gesture by the residents of Marora village in the backward Mewat region represents the “wish of the people that ties are further strengthened between India and the US”, says the NGO which has adopted the village. The village had come into limelight after Sulabh International Social Service Organisation (SISSO) chief Bindeshwar Pathak had announced to name it ‘Trump’s village’. The district administration later said the move to rename the village was “illegal”, forcing the organisation to remove boards mentioning the new name. The village, with a population of 1,800 people, is in Punhana Tehshil, some 60 km from Gurgaon. “The NGO has been conducting many welfare programs for women and girls in the village,” said Monica Jain, vice president of the NGO. “These students have made 1,001 rakhis with photos of Donald Trump and 501 rakhis for Narendra Modi. Women and girls of the village consider them their elder brothers,” she said. The consignment of rakhis was sent through cargo so that it reaches the US President on Raksha Bandhan on August 7. The villagers are also sending invitations to the two leaders to visit the village. Widows of the village also expressed a desire to meet Prime Minister Modi on Raksha Bandhan at his residence in the national capital and tie rakhis. “I made 150 rakhis within three days for Trump bhaiya. I also wrote in a letter to be sent to the White House that the girls of your village want you to visit it with PM Modi,” said 15-year-old Rekha Rani, a resident of the village. Sulabh recently constructed 95 toilets in Marora to implement Prime Minister Modi’s flagship programme to make every village in the country open defecation free. The village has 140 houses and only 45 of them were equipped with toilet facility. Sulabh constructed the remaining 95 toilets, Jain said.