Trump’s India visit

The full force of the Trump and Modi circuses was on display as the US President began his tours of India with a massive rally in Ahmedabad. Some reports suggest that over 100,000 people were in attendance, dwarfing his hate-fuelled MAGA rallies and making it the biggest political gathering of the US President’s career. President Trump got all the spectacle of a Bollywood dream, and he returned the favour by name-dropping various Indian celebrities. Still, his speech did include some actual news, such as a $3 billion arms deal with India. “I believe the United States should be India’s premier defence partner, and that’s the way it’s working out,” Trump said.

But Trump may have miffed a few Indian hawks by pointing out the ‘very good’ US relationship with Pakistan and the importance of unity among India’s various religions. And although a trade deal could not be worked out ahead of Trump’s arrival, the US President said he was still hopeful of getting one done. Other pressing issues, such as Kashmir, are sure to secretly come up behind closed doors. We will just have to wait for President Trump to accidentally blurt them out. Critical focus, however, must remain on his comments regarding religious freedom.

The state of India can best be summarised in a comment featuring in Politico, where an Indian-American woman said she and her husband “are registered Democrats, but we have changed our views lately”. But why is that? As minorities in the US, most immigrants, including Indians and Pakistanis, seem to favour the centre-left Democratic Party over the increasingly right-wing Republican Party led by Donald Trump. Yet, in their home countries, these same people forget those liberal, pro-minority and pro-immigrant values. So to the woman’s answer. The couple said they used to watch CNN but switched to Fox News after its ‘negative’ reporting on Modi. “We thought we could never watch Fox because we are Democrats.” Or maybe they are just hypocrites, much like the millions of immigrants who praise the freedoms of the West while condemning those living in their countries of origin for demanding the same rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2020.

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