By Sushil Kutty
Watch out for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swag when he returns from the United States after his meeting with President Donald Trump. That is, if Prime Minister Modi doesn’t do a mid-air transfer to an F-35, which President Donald Trump agreed to give to India in appreciation of Modi’s tough deal-making skills, which Trump says are far, far superior than his — “there is no contest!”
Everybody knows Trump is the original dealmaker par excellence! Modi and Trump inked deals in defence, trade and nuclear energy. More than likely, these were already struck-deals and were waiting for Modi to arrive from the Ai summit in Paris, where Vice President JD Vance met the Indian Prime Minister.
Talking of ‘swag’, the only two people who can take the swag off Modi’s stride are Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But with President Trump recognizing Prime Minister Modi as a more accomplished and adept ‘Goodfella’ than him, there’s no way the two crutches will even make a pretense of pulling away.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s status home and abroad stands bolstered by “nuclear energy” after the warm hug he received from the 47th President of the United States who has been Modi’s “dear friend” from the time he used to be the 45th. Prime Minister Modi scored a diplomatic win on February 13 and if anybody spotted External affairs Minister S Jaishankar near the White House, he/she gets a consolation prize.
EAM Jaishankar wasn’t nowhere in the WH frame after Modi landed in the United States following the “pit-stop in France”, where Ai and Modi’s left-handed compliment to Ai was the talk of the Eiffel Tower. At the White House, President Trump said India and the United States will together take Ai to places where Ai has never been. China’s deep strikes in Ai appear to have triggered reciprocal noises!
President Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have been “thinking”! Three of Musk’s sons with Ai nameplates met Modi at the guest-section of the White House and Papa Musk spoke business with Prime Minister Modi trying to read the lisps of the Musk children.
Earlier, Trump and Modi spent four hours talking turkey, both of them swearing undying friendship and the unrelenting pursuit of peace and prosperity. All that Modi has to do is survive the crutches. And Trump’s “reciprocal tariff policy”, which Trump has unloaded on all trading partners, not only on Modi’s India.
“Modi is a tough negotiator, even a better negotiator…India’s tariffs are also tough and unreasonable, perhaps the highest among all countries. The United States will charge that which India charges,” Trump spelled out his “reciprocal tariff policy” leaving no doubts in the minds of anybody who took for granted Trump’s lie that Modi beat Trump in reciprocity.
Like they say it in Malayalam, you can take that to the “Palli”, meaning church, also translating to “Bollocks”. The US President was having his fun, perhaps even taking a dig at all things Indian including people. There came a moment when Trump refused to answer a question from an Indian journalist because the “accent” stumped him — so much for Modi beating Trump!
Then, again, Prime Minister Modi talked turkey mostly in acronyms; from Trump’s MAGA to Modi’s MIGA (Make India Great Again) and both of them giving meaning to ‘Mega’, which is no acronym! Prime Minister Modi and President Trump also spelled out the COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology for the 21st Century), which was un-put-down-able because of its compact length!
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed several deals including one on nuclear energy and another that spoke of a 10-year defence partnership with the F-35 the piece-de-resistance. Other weapon systems Modi got hold of include javelins, anti-tank missiles, Stryker armoured fighting vehicles and more P8I maritime surveillance aircraft.
The fifth-generation fighter jet and the undersea warfare systems are bound to give arms race in the region a big boost. For Donald there is nothing more alluring than ‘Dollars’. Modi and Trump have also come to a settlement on an economic target — “Mission 500” — a promise to hike bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 and a BTA (bilateral trade agreement) by the autumn 2025.
President Trump also made a big thing about terrorism in India’s neighbourhood and announced that he was releasing into India’s custody the “very dangerous and evil man” Tahawwur Rana, a 26/11 perpetrator. All in all a very fruitful trip to the land of Trump for Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose swag and stride will now know no bounds! (IPA Service)
It Was A Mutual Admiration Show At White House During Donald Trump-Narendra Modi Meet 