Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Donald Trump has already promised to strengthen the great partnership with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second term, continuing the close ties he forged in his first term. Last week, in his Diwali greetings, Trump had said: “Under my administration, we will strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister Modi”.
PM Modi was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump on his election triumph. “Heartiest congratulations my friend, Donald Trump on your historic election victory. As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration to further strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership. Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability and prosperity,” PM Modi posted on X.
It must be mentioned here that Trump had hosted PM Modi at the White House within six months of being sworn-in as the 45th US President in January 2017.
The “getting-to-know-you” meeting yielded a close friendship between the two leaders who shared outlook on the conduct of politics and diplomacy, and a robust nationalism, which ran parallel in some areas.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, the two leaders showed off their friendship at a Houston rally, the ‘Howdy Modi’ programme, and at the ‘Namaste Trump’ event at Ahmedabad cricket stadium which was attended by more than 100,000 people.
Trump said he was impressed by PM Modi’s ability to draw crowds, both in India and the US. As the US president, he took the resurgent relations with New Delhi further, elevating India in US geopolitical strategy as a bulwark against China.
He revived the Quad, the four-state group that besides India and the US also includes Japan and Australia.
