US Prez hits the right note at ‘Namaste Trump’

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 24

President Donald Trump made optimum use of the “Namaste Trump” platform today to hit the right note which would find resonance across both establishments in Washington DC and New Delhi while just about touching on concerns in an understated manner.

Clearly savouring the huge crowd at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Trump's accent on how the dynamic and altering relations between the US and India is a win-win situation for both countries was aimed at portraying the tremendous opportunity a burgeoning middle-class in India offers to the US and the world.

Lavishly praising "his friend" Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being a tough negotiator and taking measures to pull people out of poverty, President Trump set the stage ahead of the serious business both sides would get down to at the bilateral official engagement here tomorrow.

It was also unusual for a visiting dignitary to make a categorical pitch for military hardware that the US intends to offer. Of course, the context was the impending $3 billion deals for helicopters for the Indian Air Force and Navy. Yet, that President Trump chose to underscore the US strength in “missiles, rockets or ships” was an indication of an important dimension of the relation between the two countries.

The US is one of the top three military hardware suppliers to India. Russia and Israel are the other two. Over the last decade, India procured over $18 billion military platforms and defence equipment from the US and more is in the pipeline.

While reminding that the US defeated the ISIS and remains committed to combating terrorism, the President categorical asserted that it is working with Pakistan to keep Islamabad on the right side in the run-up to the peace deal with the Taliban, which is scheduled to be signed this weekend. The American President’s promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan also depends on the active role that Washington anticipates Islamabad can and would play in the region.

Unlike President Obama, who raised the issue of religious intolerance during his 2015 visit at a town hall meeting with youth, President Trump avoided any direct reference to the issue but chose to mention the Golden Temple and Jama Masjid as classic representations of pluralistic strands in India.

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