Modi – Trump Triumphed Together

With Modi by his side in the Rose Garden of the White House after they met for the first time, Trump said that Modi is his true friend and the relationship has never been stronger, has never been better. Trump had tweeted earlier  thus: “It is a great honour to have PM Modi here who has been such a great PM.” 

Trump further said: “ I am proud to announce to the media, to the American people and to the Indian People, that Prime Minister Modi and I are world leaders in social media – we are believers – giving the citizens of our countries the opportunity to hear directly from their elected officials, and for us to hear directly from them. I guess it has worked very in both cases.

I am thrilled to salute you, Prime Minister Modi, and the Indian People, for all that you are accomplishing together. Your accomplishments have been vast. India has the fastest growing economy in the world. We hope we are going to be catching you very soon in terms of percentage increase, I have to tell you that. We are working on it. “

Modi had also extolled  Trump’s leadership qualities by saying that Trump’s vast and successful experience in the business world would lend an aggressive and forward looking agenda to our relations.

Hence one could see and feel visible chemistry between the two great leaders to make their respective countries Great – with mutual trust, understanding and cooperation in the fields of economy, defense, job creations and cultural relationships.

A working white house dinner to Modi by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump giving the PM a tour of the residential quarters had given ample scope for one to one interactions.

In containing terrorism, Trump was more forthright than Modi. Speaking in the Rose Garden after their talks, Trump said: “Both our nations have been struck by the evils of terrorism, and we are both determined to destroy terrorist organizations and the radical ideology that drives them. We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism.”

But Modi, being aware of the fact India with 175 million Muslims, did not use the same, charged terminology – Radical Islamic Terrorism –but he preferred a more softened diplomatic phrase – Stressing the importance of doing away with terrorist sanctuaries and safe havens – and had agreed to enhance intelligence sharing with USA.

Anyhow, the language used in the joint statement about Terrorism is clear and sharp naming Pakistan and its blatant permission to use its territories for terrorists and to book the terrorists of past attacks – “The leaders called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries. They further called on Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, Pathankot and other cross border terrorist attacks perpetrated by Pakistan based groups.”

Trump needed to be praised for having  imposed sanctions on Syed Salahuddin, the Pakistan-based leader of Hizbul Mujahideen, the main rebel group that fights against Indian control in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir and more so for having made this announcement just a few hours before Modi’s arrival in US and this action of US when Modi was visiting, had sent clear signals to Pakistan about their involvements in accommodating and encouraging terrorism and its soil being used by Pakistan-based militants for  launching attacks.

Modi had said: “There was a meeting of minds between the two, as the top priority for both President Trump and myself is to protect our society from global challenges like terrorism; and because our aim is the strengthening of India and the USA – two great democracies in the World. You are the world’s oldest democracy, while we are the world’s largest democracy.”

The whole world was made to know the visible chemistry between Modi and Trump by their three hugs in the four hours that Modi spent at the White House and they were truly comfortable talking to each other.

In the Trump administration’s move to provide India with improved defense technology to India,  Trump Government approved the $365 million sale of a C-17 military transport aircraft to India. The administration is also set to offer a $2 billion sale of U.S.-made unarmed drones to help in surveillance of the Indian Ocean. This is the first time ever that the US signed such a huge defense deal with a Non-Nato ally country – this marks a huge paradigm shift in Indo-US ties, and gives an indication that both the nation have jointly started a crackdown on terrorist organisations spread across various parts. Modi had remarked on this deal thus: No one makes military equipment like the US.

It is a fact that India is among the nations singled out by the Trump administration for their trade surpluses with the U.S., and it is also reviewing a visa program used heavily by skilled Indian workers. The U.S. deficit in goods and services with India last year was about $30 billion.

“It is important that barriers be removed to the export of U.S. goods into your markets, and that we reduce our trade deficit with your country” Trump said. Trump’s policy of “Make America Great  Again”, “Buy American, Hire American” – is the idea behind “American First” , but, Modi has his own policy of “Make in India” – still both leaders had understood their priorities well and they were cautious enough not to make these affect their individual pursuit of economic policies and thereby they had risen above politics and proved themselves as True Visionaries in their respective status.

Perhaps because of this, the Hindu Newspaper, in one of the articles, had this to reveal: By all indications, the meeting between PM Modi and US President Donald Trump exceeded expectations of both sides, on the optics and on the language of their joint statement. One of the most productive visits to Washington.

Some also had remarked: After a long time, it is the meeting of Equals – not the earlier scenario of Big Bossism of America, when dealing with India.

These welcome changes are purely due to Modi and his support base in Indian Voters – not to speak of Modi’s Individual Abilities in Foreign Policies.

Jai Bharath! Jai Modi!