United States President Barack Obama would have loved to spend more time in India and it is due to his "short trip" that he will not be visiting Golden Temple at Amritsar and Taj Mahal at Agra, the White House said on Monday.
Ahead of the presidential visit beginning November 6 White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, said that, "Anybody that would go would love to go to (India)...to spend a lot more time there."
"We're afforded a short trip to a very important country in a very important region of the world because the trip obviously is also anchored by the important economic meetings later on in the trip," Gibbs said in response to a question.
When asked why Obama is not visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar or the Taj Mahal in Agra, Gibbs, said: "I said even before we started these briefings, we are in India for three days. There's -- you could spend a lot longer than that, and obviously anybody would. We picked our schedule based on what we wanted to get accomplished, and that focus was on New Delhi and Mumbai, and that's going to be the focus of our trip."
Obama would be arriving in Mumbai on November 6, a day after Diwali. He would stay in Mumbai on November 6 and would reach New Delhi on November 7. The official meetings are scheduled for November 8 and he is scheduled to leave for Jakarta on November 9.
