TRUMP VISITS INDIA
It was a great show with over one lakh people attending and listening, the two great leaders of India and USA. Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi, both have their personal interest too. Both need each other. The visit of Trump will help him in gaining more votes in U.S.A, as he can claim that he is too popular abroad and competent enough to negotiate good deals outside the country. Contrary to this, Mr. Narendra Modi was in need of some good headlines after being under attack on CAA and Article 370. The visit of Mr. Trump to India was a great success. Unfortunately, some blacksheep politicians and misguided youths kept their ambitions above nation and played dirty tricks of spreading violence in the capital, just at the time of Trump visit. The timing of the incident, in which 38 people have already lost their lives, till writing of this letter, clearly indicates the dirty motives. But, they failed and Mr. Trump as a good politician, clearly stated that CAA is the internal matter of India.
It is to the credit of the Government of India, when, Mr. Trump, announced that he will fight with ‘Muslim Terrorism’ along with India – reflects a diplomatic win. This is so, as traditionally USA has always been inclined to Pakistan and funded them heavily.
The well organized visit which witnessed over one lakh crowd, over 50 stages which hosted the cultural performances from all over India and over 356 hoardings put up at Ahmedabad to welcome Trump, was a great show of recent time.
This was Mr. Trump’s ninth meeting with Mr. Narendra Modi. In spite of good relationship, shared by both the parties, it is a fact that both are also on trade war and the desired trade treaty by USA could not be signed. Both are looking for their respective advantageous position. India refused to bow down. It is worth mentioning here that in the last two years, India is buying more crude oil and LNG from U.S, which resulted in reduction of trade gap between U.S and India, which was $22 billion in 2016-17 and now comes down to about $17 billion in the current financial year.
Further, Indian travelers spend $16 billion in the U.S. New Delhi has asked for this expenditure to be considered as a part of tourist export. The other side of the coin is that, Trump needs India to win election for the second term as President of U.S.A. According to the Asian American Legal Defence and Education Fund, 84% of Indian Americans voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and only 14% for Donald Trump. Recently, Asian American Survey has indicated that 28% among Indian Americans preferred to vote Trump in 2018. This reflects that his popularity in India and closeness with Modi, is also to his benefit. Politics after all is a game of convenience. This month, our cover story “Violence – The Terror’s Trump” written by our Senior Correspondent Amlan Home Chowdhury gives you an insight on the issue.
Dr. K. K. Jhunjhunwala