The curious case of Trump invitees
THERE was a time when the British embassy was the most informed diplomatic enclave in Delhi. Then the Soviets usurped the slot, and now the Americans are unbeatable at the game.
India has been both close and aloof with major countries without compromising its principles or seldom losing diplomatic graces. Relations with Pakistan were always difficult but rarely bereft of composure. It’s been embarrassing, therefore, to watch endless discussions about the prime minister of India being keen to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration only to be passed over for the invite.
One hopes for the sake of diplomatic dignity with which one grew up in Nehru’s India that the stories about denied invitations are untrue. The fact that the foreign minister is attending the event instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi also doesn’t deserve to be played up as a great achievement.
All manner of global supremacists and right-wingers adorning the event was a good enough reason for proud nations rich or poor to shun the melee. Many did. Wide coverage is also being given to tycoon Mukesh Ambani being invited by Trump personally. We should wait for the American readout of the liaison.
The two have met before. Also, Ambani hosted Ivanka Trump at some international event in India. If memory serves, Mukesh and his brother Anil Ambani have been invitees also at the Clinton and Bush inaugurations, respectively.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has danced the bhangra at an Ambani wedding. American politicians are notorious for coveting money and Trump has already raised a few hundred million from the several events leading to Monday’s inauguration. How much useful foreign exchange India spent while being in the economic doldrums to catch Trump’s eye, is worth investigating.
What should not escape being marvelled at is how the fates of two Indian tycoons close to Modi differ in their relations with the US. Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani led the chorus that prompted business captains to back Modi over the Congress as prime minister after Manmohan Singh, and they succeeded. Both were seen as pals of Modi.
Then Adani fell afoul of the American establishment and now cannot visit the country for fear of being arrested in a corruption scandal. Ambani is buying Russian oil in rubles, and still getting invited to Trump’s second coming.
One hopes for the sake of diplomatic dignity with which one grew up in Nehru’s India that the stories about denied invitations are untrue.
When we were in school, the British queen was as dear to everyone as president Kennedy. Then the Soviets went one better and introduced Yuri Gagarin to captivate the world and become another beloved country. Kennedy was admired for saving the world from annihilation with a tricky working relationship he struck up with Nikita Khrushchev. Don’t humiliate your adversary, was Kennedy’s mantra for advancing global peace, now missing in international relations.
Reagan’s invectives on the evil Russian empire and Biden calling Putin names would have incurred Kennedy’s censure. That’s why Indians wept when he was killed. Also, India was too engaged with the newer and poorer democracies around the world to list friends by their economic or military clout.
The closest I have been to an American president was to Jimmy Carter in 1978 when his Air Force One flew yards above our heads at JNU’s open air tea shop called Kamal Complex. Fear of Delhi’s leftist campus has forever haunted the inept and biased Indian establishment.
The short-lived pro-US government of Morarji Desai was no different. Having breached the Congress’s unbroken run at the helm for the first time since independence, Desai wouldn’t take chances. He placed sharpshooters on the terrace of JNU hostels, possibly on prodding by Carter’s Secret Service.
The government had evidently forgotten that the Indian left including JNU students had campaigned for the pro-West Janata Party’s victory against a pro-Moscow Mrs Gandhi in 1977.
Anyway, after the plane roared past the university campus, which falls on the approach to the airport, an incensed student did try to throw a stone as high as he could. Faux dialectical discussion ensued wondering if it could have grazed Carter’s plane. The consensus arrived at was that a catapult occasionally used to scare away crows would have worked better.
A visitor who came close on the heels of Carter needed greater protection. The Shah of Iran had nowhere to go from Tehran for his condition was not any better than Sheikh Hasina’s on the eve of her overthrow by street power in Bangladesh.
Carter advised Desai to make the Shah feel a bit more wanted. The Shah came. Many Indians joined Iranian students in India to line the royal route with black placards. Some JNU protestors were thrashed by Kiran Bedi, then in charge of traffic police. The students were packed off to Tihar jail where for the next few days they performed street plays.
One day, the Shah visited the Mughal-built Red Fort from where the legendary peacock throne was spirited away by a previous Persian ruler. His last international reception at the Mughal monument presaged doom for those he had touched. The Shah was deposed and died disowned by his friends, including India.
Carter lost the election to Reagan. Desai was evicted by his own fractious party, paving the way for Mrs Gandhi’s return. The Soviets had emerged victorious from the turbulence in India but were not as lucky in Afghanistan and Iran where a CIA tip-off led to the mullahs decimating the pro-Moscow Tudeh Party.
The Cold War over, India promptly bartered the Non-Aligned Movement and Saarc for the West’s treasure chest. When George W. Bush was in bad odour throughout the world, including his own country, for invading Iraq, the Congress prime minister in 2006 welcomed him, telling the hugely relieved guest: “We love you in India.”
It inspired a memorable repartee when communist leader Prakash Karat offered a rare quotable quote. “Speak for yourself,” he told Manmohan Singh. Diplomatic flummery didn’t help India. It hasn’t helped Modi.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2025