TOI Correspondent from Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a high-wire 36-hour visit to Washington on Thursday aiming to preserve India’s economic equities and strategic autonomy against a rampant US intent on maintaining its primacy.
Among the many balancing acts Modi has to pull off is advancing his “Make in India” initiative in a country supercharged with his host Donald Trump’s “America First” drive that unexpectedly includes torpedoing well-established alliances and partnerships and making a grab to add vast resource-rich territories like Greenland and Canada to the US.
While Modi’s first White House meeting with Trump in the summer of 2017 was suffused with warmth, this one comes on a cold February evening with sparks flying over tariff and territorial issues with some of Washington’s most cherished allies. India has tried to defuse the tariff issue with unspecified concessions ahead of the Modi visit while downplaying the scrimmage over immigration and H1B visa issues, preferring to draw attention to the big picture the two countries have often talked about.
But the Trump White House is now driven by MAGA fervor that has little bandwidth for larger strategic engagement, with nativist supporters of Trump viewing India seen as a predator taking away American jobs by sending students and guest workers to the US in large numbers.
Still, the personal equation between Trump and Modi is expected to overcome the wrinkles between the two countries, supplemented by Modi’s engagement with Elon Musk, considered the second most important person in US if not the most important. One measure of the balancing act Modi is having to pull off: He has engaged both Musk and his bete-nore Sam Altman, the two Artificial Intelligence titans and former comrades-in-arms who are now at loggerheads. In the larger picture, Modi will also have to balance allegiances to the Quad and BRICS, the latter now viewed suspiciously by Trump.
Despite the pitfalls on tariff and immigration issues he will have to navigate in a moment of US insularity, Modi comes to an America where there is an unexpected uptick of interest in Hinduism because of its ties to some MAGA principals. Around the time Modi arrives in the capital, the US Senate is expected to confirm a self-professed Hindu-American Tulsi Gabbard as the country’s intelligence Czar, heading the Directorate of National Intelligence. Gabbard has long been close to Modi, having presented him with her personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita when she met him during his first term and receiving his envoys and gifts at her wedding. Also in line to be confirmed this week as the FBI director is Kash Patel.
Notwithstanding the Christian nationalism espoused by sections of MAGA, the “Hindu” connection surfaced overtly on Tuesday when US vice-president JD Vance, who wife Usha Chilukuri Vance, is Indian, greeting Modi with a traditional “Namaste” during an AI meeting in France, where Modi stopped over on his way to the US.
“Had a wonderful meeting with US @VP @JDVance and his family. We had a great conversation on various subjects. Delighted to join them in celebrating the joyous birthday of their son, Vivek!” Modi posted on X, revealing a personal touch. Vance responded: “Prime Minister Modi was gracious and kind, and our kids really enjoyed the gifts. I’m grateful to him for the wonderful conversation.”