Modi must know Trump is nobody’s ‘friend’

By Ravi Shankar
There is a madness to Donald Trump’s methods. His baffling bruiting of ‘friend’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging India got $21 million funding for “voter turnout” in 2024 smells like a grudge. He said it not once, but four times. If sources are to be believed, Modi made numerous US visits, was dined and watered by Biden, but didn’t drop in on Trump even once—from “Howdy Trump” it was “Trump Who?” If our MEA brainboxes had not believed their own press about India’s vishwaguru trope, they would have advised the PM to drop in on his ‘friend’ in Mar-a-Lago. Data shows USAID money going to the Indian government had dropped to $1.5 million from about $204 million when UPA was in the driving seat. Did Biden pay millions to oust an elected government is the $21-million question.
Why would the BJP, the richest party in the world with a cool `7,113 crore in the bank, take $21 million from Biden to influence the elections? The party’s national vote share fell in 2024 from 37.3 per cent in 2019 to 36.6 per cent. It lost 63 seats, not a particularly a sterling show by a party which Trump says was blessed with greenback largesse. In the ideological cross border firing between Congress caterwaulers and saffron sappers, there was comic relief, too: Trump fuddled both parties and the rubber-band godi media by saying $29 million went to a mysterious Bangladeshi firm. When Sheikh Hasina was overthrown, the capital’s grape wineries wafted with theories that the CIA overthrew her by aligning with the radical Islamists to spite India. A possible postulation because the Central Agency of Ineptitude’s hobbyhorse is cutting its own nose, having forgotten what happened to the US after it helped the mujahideen in Afghanistan and attacked Iraq to get hold of mythical WMDs. 9/11 happened. The CIA is not a particularly intelligent outfit
Trump isn’t the smartest geo-genius on the block. Maybe he confused Indian with Indiana. Perhaps mixed up Modi with Michigan from where he won. Trump once informed Modi that India and China don’t share a border despite the fact that the Indo-China border is 2,520 miles. Trump has called Belgium a city and believes there are “countries on this planet called ‘Nipple’ and ‘Button’”. While meeting with leaders from the Baltic, Trump mistook them for people from the Balkans. He declared he would build a “beautiful border wall” (beautiful is his favourite word) between “Colorado and Mexico” though they don’t share a border; much like Imran Khan saying Japan and Germany are neighbours. He thought England was not part of the UK.
However, it would be best for South Block not to be fooled by these inanities. Trump is a dangerous man. He is also the world’s most powerful man. His tariff rhetoric and deporting Indian illegals in chains show Trump is no friend of Modi. Perhaps Modi knows by now there are no permanent friends or enemies, only temporary allies. To stay ahead of the curve