President Trump expected to talk about shared tradition of democracy and religious freedom both in his public remarks and in private. He will raise ...particularly the religious freedom issue, which is extremely important...": US official in Washington
The visiting American delegation to accompany President Donald Trump during India visit will include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and National Security Advisor Robert O' Brien.
Trump's daughter Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who serve as Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President respectively, will also be visiting India.
Ambassador Ken Juster will be also travelling with the visiting delegation, reports from Washington said.Senior advisors to the President Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Telecommunication Policy and Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff Robert Blair, and White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham are the other members of the delegation.
A senior US official has said that Trump's upcoming visit to India demonstrates the strong and enduring ties between the two largest democracies.
"These are ties based on shared democratic traditions, common strategic interests, and enduring bonds between our people. And, in part, this has been exemplified by the very close relationship between the President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said the official.
Chief of Staff to the First Lady Lindsay Reynolds is also part of the delegation.
Participants in additional bilateral meetings would include Chief Executive Officer of US International Development Finance Corporation Adam Boehler, Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai, Deputy Assistant to the President for South and Central Asian Affairs Lisa Curtis, Special Assistant to President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism Kash Patel and Director for India, National Security Council, Mike Passey.
The visit will focus on several key areas. "First, we will focus on building our economic and energy ties," the US official said.
Even as a trade deal may not materialise, it has to be noted that the two-way trade in goods and services exceeded USD 142 billion in 2018.
India is the fifth-largest economy in the world with massive energy needs. Lately, the energy exports from the US to India grew by 500 per cent to nearly USD 7 billion.
During the trip, the two countries will focus on defense and security cooperation to fight terrorism and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Trump is making a 36-hour visit on Feb. 24-25 to Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi, and importantly the visit comes ahead of the US presidential elections in November.
A serious component of Trump’s visit will be Ahmedabad, the business capital of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, which witnessed rampant anti-Muslim violence in 2002. Modi was the chief minister of the state at the time.
The administration is busy building walls on sides of roads to hide the slums from Trump when his car passes through the city. After all, the "Gujarat Model" was the development model Modi used for his political campaigns.
In Ahmedabad, Trump will address the “Namaste Trump” event jointly with Modi at the newly built Motera Cricket Stadium, the world’s largest cricket stadium.
Trump's visit has a serious political component. The size of the Indian diaspora in the US is estimated at around four million. Faced with a severe electoral battle, Trump will be eyeing Indian votes.
Now comes the vital part. Trump has a strong anti-migrant image, nationally and internationally. He is also seen as a pro-industrialist or corporate honcho and taken a strong stand against Islamic radicalism when it suited his political goals.
Notably, all these three statements are true of Modi too. The two global leaders, who have almost the same vices and virtues, can expect to boost their sagging political popularity by sharing a stage in Ahmedabad on Feb. 24.
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Both Trump and Modi also play to the hilt the politics of nationalism. Modi government's campaign and welfare measures are more than often named trying to espouse a hardline patriotic tone and tenor and that also inclined towards a Hindu India. One such initiative has been ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ (meaning One India, Great India) launched in 2015 and is said to be the brainchild of the
Prime Minister. 'Shreshta Bharat' phrase is actually linked to the glorious past of medieval period when oriental civilisation values and Buddhist teachings made ways in various parts of the world.
Buddhism was cultivated and grown in India and Nepal and later spread to China, Korean Peninsula and Japan as well.
There are lot many such programmes of the Modi government which are quite similar to Trump's hyped "Make America great again" campaign line.
Both the leaders are also known for strong views on Muslims. In fact, in September 2019 at the Howdy Modi event at Houston in presence of Modi, Trump had a few pleasing words for ears of Indian Prime Minister.
Trump had said that the United States is committed to protecting innocent Indian-Americans from the "threat of radical Islamic terrorism" and it is not without good reason that Modi had given him a standing ovation and clapped.
There are, in fact, similarities in their respective individual personalities as well.
Like Trump, Modi has often displayed liking for 'gut instincts'. In 2016 November, he announced ban on high value currency notes against the
"counseling" of the then Reserve Bank of India Governor.
US watchers know it pretty well that "Trump evidently trusts his gut instincts more than the advice of the US foreign policy and security establishment, and
those instincts have drawn him towards autocrats and away from traditional democratic allies" (says 'The Guardian'')
There is also a ''constant" in the Trump's world view and policies that is to "erase" the legacy of Barack Obama and his other predecessors.
"Almost everything Obama was for, Trump has been overwhelmingly against.....," says 'The Guardian''.
In the case of Modi, there have been often blasphemous and personal attack on the legacy of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister and an educated liberal and a great champion of parliamentary democracy.
Obama's parting shot: 2015
In his address at a Delhi function on Jan 27, 2015, Obama had said: “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith, as long as it is not splintered along any lines, and it is unified as one nation".
Prime Minister Modi’s alleged divisive politics has earned him sharp criticism from the opposition parties. Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, told Lower House of Indian Parliament earlier this month - “In 1947, we had a partition of Indian soil (Muslims walked away with Pakistan), in 2020 this government is giving us a partition of the Indian soul”.
Likes of Tharoor say the Indian democracy and constitution give Muslims an ‘equal stake’ in the running of the country’s affairs and wellbeing. Democratic India has never had a religious test for citizenship, they say. In this context, Tharoor also wrote in an article: “Muslims have served as Presidents, Generals, Chief Ministers and Governors of states, ambassadors, Supreme Court chief justices, and captains of national sports teams.”
Of course during Modi’s first tenure between 2014 and 2019, there have been instances of mob lynching against Muslims and lower caste Hindus who carry cattle meat. In fact, in 2015 a mob of villagers attacked the home of 52-year old Muslim man Mohammed Akhlaq, killing him, for suspicion of slaughtering a cow in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Nevertheless, the ruling dispensation allegedly backed a movement led by Gau Raksha Dal. From time to time, Hindu groups have also targeted Muslims accused of seducing and marrying young Hindu women to convert them. Then there was Ghar Wapsi (or homecoming) aiming to reconvert Muslims and Christians to the ‘old Hindu faith’.
In terms of the pro-Hindutva agenda of the Modi government, it goes without saying that the federal government has ensured abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir and now the stage is also set for construction of a grand Ram temple (exactly where Babri Masjid was brought down) at Ayodhya. Of course, there is a big legal sanction for the same as the historic verdict on this came on Nov 9, 2019 from the Supreme Court.
But in the entire process of radical Hindu politics yielding dividends to the BJP has brought in major transition. These days in Indian politics, opposition parties such as Congress and AAP have started adopting a ‘soft Hindutva’ politics.
In just held Delhi assembly polls, the popular AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who humbled the BJP, did not mind calling him a disciple of Lord Hanuman – the famous lieutenant of Lord Ram.
One of the key AAP legislators has announced there can be special recitation programme in honour of Lord Hanuman. The principal opposition Congress leaders have time and again visited Hindu temples in full media glare.
These are instances of flirting with some of the BJP’s favorite campaign themes and it is gradually becoming the order of the day in Indian politics.
In November-December 2018 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party manifesto had promised to build cow shelters; develop the commercial production of cow urine as a medicine and cow dung, often given as good fertiliser.
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