French President Emmanuel Macron, on the first day of his two-day visit to India, visited Jaipur. He had tea with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the street of Jaipur. Macron liked the tea in earthen kulhad. Modi then explained Macron about Unified Payment Interface (UPI) payment system and made the payment through UPI. He also shared Macron about the speciality of kulhad and how much ecofriendly it is.
Macron has come to Indian to participate in the Republic Day parade as the chief guest. He is the sixth French President to be the chief guest at Republic Day parade.
Prime Minister Modi met Macron at Jaipur's Jantar Mantar, the solar observatory built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in the 18thcentury. Jantar Mantar of Jaipur is on the world heritage list of UNESCO which is headquartered in Paris.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Macron later did a road show in the walled city. The two leaders passed through Hawa Mahal on the 1.5 km road show. During the roadshow Macron asked as to how many windows are there in the Hawa Mahal and why is the colour of windows blue?
The guide told Macron that there are 953 windows in the Hawa Mahal and the colour is blue so that no one could see from outside into the Mahal.
The two leaders were greeted by thousands of people standing on either sides of the road cheering them up. Macron appreciated the hospitality of Jaipur and also admired the rich heritage and architecture. He went to see Amer Fort also.
Later after completing their roadshow the two leaders went for street shopping in the narrow traditional bylanes of Pink City.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought a model of Ram mandir at a price of ₹500 and immediately presented it to the President Macron.
Earlier Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Diya Kumari tweeted,
“Our illustrious Prime Minister, Honorable Shri Narendra Modi ji along with was today welcomed by the people of the state with great cheer & enthusiasm. They showed a great interest in the rich culture, heritage, and various art forms of Jaipur while visiting the Amer Fort today. Comprehensive information about the same was shared with them during the visit. External Affairs Minister Shri S. Jaishankar was also present on the occasion.”
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