Will Modi-Trump bromance come back to bite India under Biden’s presidency?

The love-in between the Indian leader and his American counterpart went deeper than diplomats advise, with the BJP backing Trump’s re-election bid

Shared concerns over China are likely to endure, say analysts, though the US may turn up the heat on human rights

Reading Time:4 minutes

US President Donald Trump with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:00am, 11 Nov 2020Updated: 10:33pm, 11 Nov 2020

As it became clear that Joe Biden was inching closer to victory over Donald Trump in the US presidential election, a 10-second clip started doing the rounds on India’s social media networks.

The clip featured neither of them – instead, it featured a beaming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkaar”, loosely translated to mean ‘This time, a Trump government,’ on the lines of his own campaign slogan.

The incomplete clip was from a political rally that Modi and Trump addressed in Houston in September 2019 when Modi showered praise on the US president, saying that Trump had achieved “so much for the world”, that he appreciated Trump’s “resolve to Make America Great again”, and that the US president was “warm, accessible and full of wit”.

Many saw Modi’s words in front of 50,000 Indian-Americans as a virtual endorsement of Trump, going into election year. In New Delhi, insiders said this was because the Modi administration was convinced Trump was set for re-election.

With Biden’s victory, some fear Modi’s backing of Trump might come back to bite the Indian establishment.

Photographs of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump beside portraits of Hindu gods at a prayer ceremony in New Delhi, India. Photo: AP

A former Indian ambassador said the Modi government might have “compromised” a cardinal rule of diplomacy.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x