Personality politics will not make up for the Global South’s mistrust of India’s purely self-serving strategic autonomy.
United States President Donald Trump’s near-daily targeting of India in his second term has left Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government stunned. His description of the Indian economy as ‘dead’ and accusations that it funds the Russian ‘war machine’ in Ukraine by importing Indian oil reached a high point with the declaration that he upped the tariffs by another 25% to a punitive 50%.
This is among the highest rates imposed by the US on any country, including China. India has accused the US of double standards on trading with Russia, claiming ‘India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests’. It remains to be seen how this is achieved.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has claimed that the ‘friendship’ between Modi and Trump has ‘proved to be very expensive’ for India. It is not the misreading of the relationship with Trump that has led to India’s current denouement. The malaise lies in the mistaken belief that the personal charisma of a leader is sufficient to shape India’s relationship with the world.
Personal chemistry cannot be a substitute for building alignments based on shared perspectives. India’s strategic goals of trade, defence, energy security, and regional stability must form the scaffolding of India’s foreign policy. Failure to understand this and focusing exclusively on showcasing Modi as a global statesman has resulted in repeated shocks to India.
For the better part of the Modi regime — at least up to the Galwan military incursions by China in 2020 — he lived under the delusion that his personality was crucial in shaping India’s place in the world. How else can one explain the raw informality with which he interacted with world leaders: hugging them, taking selfies with them, and bypassing protocol to turn up at the tarmac to receive those he wished to cultivate? He boasted that he referred to them by their first names. Visiting world leaders were subject to such moments of closeness before TV cameras, such as Modi having tea with Barack Obama, sharing a swing with Xi Jinping in Gujarat, and promoting Trump on public platforms…. Read more at:
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