By Sushil Kutty
President Donald Trump needs no introduction. Trump was the guy who came to India and attended a Modi jamboree at the ‘Modi Stadium’, where cricket is played and the ball of whichever colour, red or white, never sails out of the stadium’s perimeter, it’s that big!
The Prime Minister of India the other week gave a piece of his mind to the Pakistan leadership but asked the youth of the enemy country to get wise to the evil designs of the Pakistan Army which has only one agenda, to spoil their young lives.
Modi’s advice to the young ‘uns of Pakistan spread like wildfire in Pakistan as people there linked Modi’s dialogue “Chyain se roti khao, nahi to hamari goli toh hai hi” to the legendary ‘Gabbar Singh’, lead villain in the cult-classic Sholay, in which Gabbar asks henchman Kalia, “Ab tera kya hoga Kalia?’
And in which Hema Malini played ‘Basanti’ to which the Amitabh Bachchan character asked, “Basanti tumhara naam kya hai?” But the ‘Sholay’ characters were not crazy.
For ‘crazy’ fly to Russia. President Donald Trump said President Vladimir Putin is “absolutely crazy” after Putin launched Russia’s biggest drone and missile attack on Ukraine — 355 drones and nine missiles in a single night, a barrage which left 12 Ukrainians dead!
Either most of the Russian drones were routed out of the sky or the nine missiles took a great fall! Ukraine later said most of the drone and missile attacks were intercepted and very little damage was done to infrastructure though the rising civilian toll continues to be a concern.
Now, President Trump has called President Putin “absolutely crazy” and Putin returned the favour by diagnosing Trump with “emotional overload”, which in Russia must be a serious affliction, requiring a shrink to check the pulse!
The Kremlin’s response is being termed as “classic Russian”. Russia even thanked President Trump for “kickstarting peace talks” even if Trump couldn’t make much progress on the peace front.
President Donald Trump is like that, he talks too much, and he does very little, unless it’s on the Golf Course!
So, has the Trump balloon gone bust? The ‘Art of the Deal’ has. The Russia-Ukraine War will not come to a quick end. The “Western Allies” of Ukraine have promised to stand with Ukraine and “allow it” to strike deep inside Russia.
Buoyed beyond belief, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has reiterated his call for tougher sanctions against Russia. “Moscow should feel the real consequences,” the Ukrainian President told the media.
Was President Trump listening? Easy question but the answer wasn’t forthcoming that easily. President Trump has moved away from the Russia-Ukraine war to the morass of the India-Pakistan imbroglio.
And, for some unspecified reason, President Trump is sticking his neck out. People say his sons and “son-in-law” have a role. Point is, President Trump and the subcontinent are complete strangers and for all his friendship with Prime Minister Modi, Trump knows very little about India.
Trump’s understanding of the ‘Kashmir problem’ is even less. Whoever told Trump the Kashmir problem was 1500 years old must have gone home laughing his guts out.
Does Trump have an agenda? One thing is for sure: Trump has left everybody confused. At this stage in life, Trump will not trust his own shadow. The question then should be: Doesn’t Trump remember that which he doesn’t want to remember for tactical and strategic reasons?
For example, what’s it between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, why’s there the feeling they haven’t let out more than what they wanted? The United States’ President seems to have no recollection of his closeness to Modi as he gets closer to Pakistan.
To reiterate, at the cost of repetition, President Trump’s words and actions betray his growing proximity with Pakistan and Trump cozying up to Pakistan is a new phenomenon that in the context of India-Pakistan relations is startling to say the least.
President Trump appears to be targeting Indians, especially young Indians studying in the United States and who want to study in the United States. There is a warning a day from the Trump administration to Indian students studying in the United States.
Foreign students, with a big majority of them ‘Indian’, have been warned not to step out of the boundaries of the United States if they wanted to keep their visas. They have been told not to stray from their chosen field of study. They’ve been strictly advised to ignore the “Gaza children deaths” and there’s a 5% charge on remittances “sent home” to India.
How many of us get the feeling there’s a dictator in the White House? Trump’s diktats are Trump’s interventions. President Trump should have stuck to the “southern border” and his mission to send home El Salvadoran and Argentinian gangsters, the sort who infiltrate and kill.
Instead, President Trump is petrified by studious international students, a big lot of them from India, young men and young women keen to pick up the best the United States can offer. President Donald Trump is a pest, at least he behaves like one, what do you say?
There was for the longest time the impression that Indians as a whole liked this “big man” and his MAGA plan for the United States. Indians didn’t flinch at “USA First, USA First” at every rally he addressed while talking about the “failed New York Times” and the “Russian hoax”.
Those days have gone and Donald Trump has transformed into an ogre, strengthening the growing belief that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a poor judge of human beings. Or else how would he explain President Donald Trump, the man is not what Modi thought him to be?
There is evidence of Trump engaging diplomatically with both India and Pakistan, what are his possible motives amidst the complex geopolitical dynamics? Trump’s actions betray something more than just a show of neutrality.
Is Trump Getting Closer to Pakistan at India’s Expense? Trump is actively interfering in the affairs of the subcontinent, not like China does, but like the USA always used to: its own selfish interests to the fore and at the core of the US policy for policing the subcontinent.
The India-Pakistan tensions post ‘Pahalgam’ and the success of ‘Operation Sindoor’ pushed President Trump to go to the extent of talking of third-party intervention to resolve the Kashmir problem. He kept selling the lie that the “US brokered a ceasefire” between India and Pakistan with “beautiful trade and tariffs”.
It is time Prime Minister Narendra Modi got wise to Trump’s designs. Neither the US nor Pakistan can be trusted. But there is one thing Prime Minister Modi can do, right now and unilaterally, stop hugging this President of the United States, who is no friend of India and will never be. The least Trump could have done is not hyphenate India-Pakistan. (IPA Service)
