Trump and Modi show

 When the two leaders of the world’s largest democracies met for the second time on Monday at Ahmedabad, both visiting US President Donald Trump and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, will seek to reinforce the growing friendship between the two countries and also their personal rapport. Modi rolled out the red carpet for Trump, beginning with a road show from the airport to a visit to the Mahatma Gandhi ashram near Sabarmati then on for the public reception of 1,25,000 at the new cricket stadium-Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium- the world’s largest cricket stadium. It may be recalled that in 2019 Modi was in Texas where NRIs organised a huge reception ‘Howdy Modi’ attended by 50,000 NRIs. Trump attended the event as a ‘guest’ of Modi. That itself indicates the personal rapport between the two leaders. Donald Trump is on his first trip to India since assuming office and will look at the visit as an opportune moment to take stock of the bilateral relationship. The relationship reached a high point during the Indo-US nuclear accord of 2008. It was passed and remarkably by a lame duck session of the US Congress in the last days of the George W. Bush presidency.President Bush made that historic decision in his second term to cut through this most difficult knot in Indo-US relations. The Indian government also under Dr. Manmohan Singh had to face severe test as its main ally, the Left withdrew support and voted with the BJP against the Indo-US nuclear deal during UPA-I. The US worked hard to win approval of western nations for the deal on the premise that New Delhi agreed to abide by key nuclear safeguards and commitments. Earlier during President Obama the relationship was marked by some theatrical flourishes, including reciprocal visits by Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi but these did not move forward as there was no major agreement on the economic nor on the defence and security fronts. Both Trump and Modi are skilled in the business of political showmanship, with a keen eye for the vulnerabilities of established elites, and stoking nativist fires. Ideologically both are on the same plane -Trump has far-right instincts, rather than a developed ideology, whereas Modi belongs to a Hindu sub-culture identified as Hindutva of the RSS. With the ascent of Trump, India received greater importance in actions such as the renaming of the US Pacific Command as the US Indo-Pacific Command in 2018, along with an explicit nod to treat India as a greater focus of strategic interest for the US. Unlike Obama, current President Trump has not been afraid to challenge the rise of an authoritarian China, embarked on a full-fledged tariff war with it in an effort to pry concessions on market access and intellectual property, among other areas. Both Trump and Modi will be striking hard bargains on trade, an issue that is as vital for both countries as their shared resolve against Islamic terrorism and challenging China’s military expansionism. However, the biggest challenge in fostering closer Indo-US ties is on atrocities to religious minorities in India. This was eloquently raised by former US president Barack Obama during his second visit after Modi took over power in 2015.Unless Modi takes serious note of the red-herring of anti-minority rhetoric, all his efforts to assuage the USA would fall apart.