By the time this write-up is published, Donald Trump will be the 47th President of the United States. India and Indians in general are more than hopeful that India-US relations will hit the high note during his presidency. This belief was reflected in an interesting opinion poll carried out by a British newspaper recently, which showed that of all the major countries, India was the one most optimistic about a Trump presidency. 82% of Indians saw Trump as a force of good for world peace; 84% saw Trump as good for India; and 85% as good for Americans. There is reason to believe that this is because India’s experience with Trump 1.0 has been rather good.
Many Indians have not forgotten Trump’s visit to India in February 2020, especially what he said, when asked by a foreign journalist about the so-called oppression of the minorities in India. He replied that he had raised the topic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the latter had said that the rising percentage of the minority population in the country was proof that oppression was not happening.
President Trump said he was impressed with that logic, and that the matter was settled. Contrast this with the constant needling of India in the last four years on this issue by officials of the Biden administration, to the extent of Secretary State Antony Blinken holding closed door meetings in India with faith representatives to gauge if there was any truth in the claims being made about minority oppression by India.
Think of how Biden’s so-called values-based foreign policy was weaponised to needle India through various agencies, how the controversy surrounding Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was allowed to escalate, how India’s refusal to take sides in the Ukraine war resulted in prolonged delays in the issuing of visas to Indians. It’s a reasonably long list of Indian grievances.
This is not to say that President Joe Biden was anti India—in fact anything but. It was Biden who said that the India-US relationship was the most consequential of the 21st century. It was under Biden that the US signed with India the iCET (Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology), which allows the US to share critical technology with this country. It was again Biden who was fully supportive of the role India played as G-20 president.
All this too is a long list. It is just that Biden’s health seemed to have become a hindrance, allowing some people—what is sometimes called the Deep State—to make decisions that may not have been favourable towards India always. This also has to be seen in the context of the far left woke policies that had come to determine US domestic policy, and have had some impact on US foreign policy as well.
In spite of this, lest we forget, India has bipartisan support in Washington, DC, and the glitches in the relationship are temporary at best, with differences likely to be ironed out in Trump 2.0. What is important is that the US has come to realise the value of India as a strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific region, including the value of Quad. And this will continue in Trump 2.0 and may get taken to even greater heights, given President Trump’s seriousness about Quad.
Of course there is the question of the so-called Deep State and the unnecessary influence on the Biden administration of people like George Soros. Both are believed to have worked against Indian interests. While there is continuity when it comes to foreign policy, the Trump administration is expected to crack down hard on such elements.
After all, Trump himself has been victimised by such people, and has vowed to dismantle the Deep State. It has to be seen whether he is able to do it or not. Indians are also expecting President Trump to put an end to the conflicts that are derailing the world because he understands the value of prosperity, which cannot come without peace.
So it is with hope that India watches Donald Trump take oath of office as President of the United States.
