A Propitious attempt to Assert Hindu Identities: Inauguration of Statue of Adi Yogi

Mahashivaratri has been one of the most auspicious occasions celebrated by devout Hindus with utmost fervor and devotion. While different legends have various interpretations about Mahashivaratri dedicated to worship of Mahadeva or Lord Siva, the occasion marks destruction of darkness and ignorance. Lord Siva, who is one among the Trimurti, in yogic convention is revered as Adi Yogi or the first yogi or the progenitor of yoga.  Lord Siva is believed to be the one who had attained “full enlightenment” around twenty thousand year ago, transmitted the knowledge of this yogic science, which enables a human being to transcend physical limitations. As Adi Guru, he imparted seven different aspects of Yoga to Saptharishis who guided the mankind to overcome limitations and compulsions in search of enlightenment. Yoga is thus the knowledge repository of the Indian Civilization which has become immensely popular in contemporary times. Yoga is a scientific way to catalyze man’s spiritual ascent towards the Creator. But over a period, the core of yoga has undergone tremendous transformation and now it has become a billion-dollar industry in Western Countries. Yoga is India’s gift to the world and with UN declaring June 21^st as World Yoga Day, India asserted its claims over the scientific knowledge. Consecration of 112-ft Adi Yogi statue on the sanctimonious Mahashivaratri day, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Coimbatore has a special symbolical and religious significance. Besides, these connotations, this occasion has augured spirits of Hindus who have for years abysmally refrained from asserting their identities.

India, a seat of oldest civilization has glorious culture and heritage. Thousands of years of plunder, loot, brutal assaults, forced conversions, rampant proselytization has drained the cultural vitality of the great land. Further, colonization, idolization of the west had virtually annihilated the Indic identities, more prominently Hindu identities. European Colonists and foreign invaders connivingly created fissures in the Indian society and subjected the santana dharma to Abrahamic tests. Foreign subjugation had in fact set new precedents and deliberately distorted essence of Hinduism. Further, with Western ideologies and systems dominating the narratives, the traditional knowledge systems were forced to undergo the logical scientific test for total acceptance. Lack of congruent understanding about the Vedic Culture and Dharmic philosophy left especially Hindus intellectually challenged. Owing to decades of minority pandering, despite being majority, Hindus lost their prominence. Hindus now no longer take pride in professing their identities.

Unveiling of Adi Yogi statue, at a time when the entire world was thoroughly convinced of potentiality of Yoga, added heft to Indian claims of being one of the prized civilizations of the World. With the head of the state inaugurating a grand celebration that essentially reflected the Hindu culture, traditions, values, and rituals this event boosted the spirits of Hindus (since Lord Siva is among the most highly worshipped deities of Hindus). Commemorating this momentous occasion, even a book, Adi Yogi penned by Sri Jaggi Vasudev was released by Modi. Jaggi Vasudev emphasized yoga’s unparalleled contribution towards pursuit of happiness. Modi extolled the importance of yoga and stressed the need for protecting nature. Reiterating that diversity is source of strength not conflict for India. In a veiled dig, he asked people to “have open mind” and added “rejecting any idea which is ancient is potentially harmful”. He said that by practicing yoga, a spirit of oneness is created. Oneness of mind, body and intellect, oneness with our families and with the society we live in, with fellow humans and with birds, animals and trees.” Truly at a time, when countries are ravaged by wars, the message of oneness, inclusivity and togetherness clearly reflects the profoundness of India. In fact, Indians should be immensely gratified having born in such a hallowed land, whose prayers are for peace, exuberance, and wellbeing. 

Modi in his speech has also underlined the need for peaceful co-existence and cited the example of Lord Siva’s family as how rat, snake, peacock (the vehicles of Lord Ganesha, Lord Siva, Lord Karthikeya) which are symptomatically hostile towards each other stay together. He aspired for women-led development and added that “divine status of woman is unconditional (nari toh narayani) while men’s divine status is conditional”. Men have to earn the divine status by good deeds. He said “if the body is a temple, yoga creates a beautiful life. That is why I call yoga a passport to health assurance”. Finally, the firm resolution of building a great nation through building great human beings had succinctly summed up the implication of the divine knowledge, YOGA.

It is unfortunate but true that till now, Indian leadership had never openly prided in India’s traditional knowledge systems or cultural values. Modi with his phenomenal diplomatic outreach brought international recognition and acceptance for yoga. It was just a beginning. While literally nothing has changed for Hindus after Modi’s ascent, his unabashed proclamation of Indic identities in a public meeting in US had ignited a ray of hope. Indeed, a kind of revivalism and an iota of Indic renaissance is need of the hour with border states of India witnessing severely screwed religious demographics and communal clashes. Till now political parties to preserve their core vote bank have ruthlessly degraded and denigrated Indic-values, identities and systems. May this event herald a new resurgence….

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China’s dubious trade diplomacy

Sri Lanka buckles under mounting Chinese debt trap

No other country in the contemporary times has mastered the skill of intricately entwining strategic interests with trade dealings as China does. Mounting evidences and an in-depth analysis of China’s expanding footprint across the countries clearly validates the fact. The “Middle Kingdom” which is fiercely ambitious of realizing the “China dream” scrupulously adhered to a long term foreign policy which though overtly benign had paved for its formidable hegemonic rise. China began its modest journey by fostering ties with resource rich nations initially to satiate the unquenchable appetite of its burgeoning economy. At the height of financial boom, China made deeper forays and strengthened trade ties with strategically important countries by extending loans and positioning itself as a benevolent power. As the mounting debts and economic downtrend began to loom large on China around 2010, China shifted gears. To keep its manufacturing sector running and to save its economy from decline, China unveiled high-profile infrastructure initiatives- 21^st century Maritime Silk Route (MSR) or One Belt One Road (OBOR). It quickly lapped up support of several Eurasian, East African, South Asian, and South East Asian countries with a promise of increasing connectivity and prosperity. Under OBOR and MSR China undertook major infrastructure projects like construction of airports, deep-water ports, highways, railways, oil and gas pipelines. This systematic engagement reached new heights with countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Central Asian countries, Africa, Latin American and Australia.

Through OBOR, China plans to connect land-based economic corridors of Eurasian region while MSR aims at linking the ports across the South China Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean.  Through various phases China aims to reconstruct 2^nd Century BC, Han Dynasty rulers’ ancient silk route.

Phase 1: China to Mongolia and Siberia

Phase 2: Gaining access to Indian Ocean by connecting Western province of Xinjiang to Arabian Sea through CPEC (China Pacific Economic Corridor). Alternatively, a network of ports, railways, oil pipelines passing through India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, (BCIM corridor) will connect South Western provinces of China to Indian Ocean.

Phase 3: Unstinted connectivity to vital trading hub of around Malacca Straits, through China-Indo China Peninsula Economic Corridor. Through a series of ports and high speed rails China aims to stay connected with the financially robust South East Asian countries. Phase 4: two robust rail networks, one-connecting Henan province, Sichuan province and Xinjiang to economic corridors in Poland, Germany, and Netherlands via Central Asia, Iran, and Turkey. Second, a Eurasian Land Bridge reaching Europe through Russia.

Under MSR, China is also simultaneously developing a network of ports which include Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique to Red Sea passing through Greek Port of Piraeus, Central and South Eastern Europe (through a high-speed rail network to Serbia, Hungary and Germany). To implement and execute this massive infrastructure projects China had created financial institutions-AIIB and New Development Bank with lending capacity of $200 billion. It has precociously instituted a regional bloc and diligently groomed the group under the aegis of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) seeking the cooperation of all the key partners (Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and recently offered membership to India, Pakistan, and Iran) vital for implementation of its infrastructure initiatives. China which officially unveiled its plan in 2013 had prepared ground for realizing the 21^st century MSR by bringing several countries on board much earlier. To advance its geostrategic interests, China began effectively utilizing all the economic tools at its behest. It began offering huge amounts of loans for infrastructure development to developing countries which are strategically beneficial for China and not necessarily financially viable for the recipient countries. Eventually countries soon found themselves caught in a debt trap, subservient to Chinese overbearing.

In a case of classical neo-colonization by China, Sri Lanka is bearing the brunt. China, keen on establishing a foot hold in Indian Ocean region befriended Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka facing a worst domestic insurgency. It helped Rajapaksa government to crush Tamil Tigers and later cemented the ties by offering Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to a tune of $14billion between 2005- 2015. China extended ODA of $12 billion in infrastructure, energy, and services sector at an interest rate of 2-5%. The two flagship projects of China in Sri Lanka are the Hambantota Port Development and Colombo Port Project, both located along the strategically important trade routes. In 2005, China’s FDI investment was $16.4 million or just 1% but now it is $338 million making it 35% of FDI overtaking traditional aid providers Netherlands, Japan, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. Hambantota port built from $1.7 billion Chinese loans in 2008 hardly generates any revenue and even the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport near Hambantota opened in 2013 soon became world’s emptiest airport. The huge infrastructure embellishments have now become white elephants. Sri Lanka in a bid to decongest the only international airport at Colombo and to reduce social and economic disparities between different regions of the country aspired to transform Hambantota into the second most important city of Sri Lanka. China capitalized on the aspirations of Rajapaksa who wanted to develop this city since it was his native region. While the interest rates on the loans is now reaching whopping $17 million a year, this immense infrastructure has hardly stimulated local economies. Needless to say, this colossal project failed to generate employment to locals since China would always bring its own manpower for management of their projects. While Sri Lanka is grappling mounting debt trap China is hardly worried as things are working the way it wanted. China wooed Sri Lanka to make the island a hub for MSR in Indian Ocean and it served another purpose of containing India.

Hambantota is 1300km away from India’s two strategically important ports at Visakhapatnam and Andaman &Nicobar Islands. It is 500 km away from India’s most prized scientific station, Sriharikota. With China in India’s backyard, New Delhi’s traditional contention of Indian Ocean its “sphere of influence” has ended. Though China, repeatedly asserted that Hambantota port will not be used for military purposes, things on ground are rather the opposite. In 2014, two nuclear submarines of China docked at Chinese operated Colombo port twice. New Delhi raised alarm and reminded President Rajapaksa that under the bilateral maritime deal Sri Lanka is mandated to inform India about port calls. But apparently, Sri Lanka neck in debt trap laid by China was helpless. As per a report, it is estimated that, the debt to GDP ratio of Sri Lanka is currently 75% and over 95% of government’s revenue goes towards debt repayment. Now with the euphoria of China collaborated infrastructure development dying down; the real intent of Dragon has become imminent. With expensive ports and airport registering losses, public outrage stoked by political opponents led to overthrowing of the pro-China, Rajapaksa government which turned the island into a Chinese colony in 2015. The new President, Maitripala Sirisena rode to power on the promise of scrapping all China-based projects. Upon assuming charge, he suspended major Chinese projects including the Colombo Port City citing the need for proper environmental clearance. Colombo part project is supervised by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), a subsidiary of China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) which was blacklisted by World Bank. Accordingly, the company was barred from participating in any constructions funded by World Bank implying that projects undertaken by CCCC will be entirely financed by China (which offers loans at high interests). With pressure of debts increasing, Sirisena needed fresh credit. He ordered for restarting the suspended projects, awarded new projects, and agreed to sell 80% stake in Hambantota port to China. But China stalled $1.1 billion investment for Colombo port development linking it to finalization of acquisition of 15,000 acres near Hambantota airport, 99-year lease of the 110 hectares reclaimed land and sale of 20-hectare land near the Colombo International Financial City. India uses Colombo port for more than 70% of its shipping and hence raised concerns over sale of 20-hectare land to CHEC. Sri Lanka’s bid to sell 15,000 acres near Hambantota is now facing stiff domestic and political opposition backed by Rajapaksa. Now the deal is challenged in court.

In past one decade, China successfully reduced the island nation into its conclave by replacing all its donors. It steadily emerged as its largest donor, investor, and biggest trade partner. Fearing the wrath of Western nations for human rights violations perpetrated in culling the Tamil Tigers, Rajapaksa embraced China. China shielded Sri Lanka against international condemnation by vetoing discussions at Security Council. Now by desperately reducing the island into its colony and deftly coercing Colombo to sell 15,000 acres near Hambantota port, China accomplished its goal of positioning at a strategically important location along the MSR. China has by now excelled the use of economic tools to coerce nations to fall in line. With its deep pockets, it slowly turned small nations into neighbor by capitalizing on their pitfalls.

Understandably so, hawkish strategic experts aren’t shying away from pronouncing China as the 21^st century East India Company. Undeniably, Chinese foreign policy reminisces the vicious strategies of the 19^th Century European Colonial powers. In the ensuing articles, which will run as a series, the intricate nuances of China’s foreign policy formidably rooted in trade diplomacy with various countries will be discussed.

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Modi’s Parliamentary Speech defends timing of Demonetization

In one of his best speeches of recent times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his parliamentary address reduced the opposition to smithereens. The speech which was high both on rhetoric and facts have decimated the ridiculous outbursts of opposition. Parliament which emerged as platform for meaningless rattle today witnessed a discussion which was grounded in commitment towards nation. Besides, highlighting the urgent need for all political parties to work together for the upliftment of poor, Modi has come down heavily on sycophancy afflicted workers of oldest political party. At a time when political analysts are categorically alleviating the declining prospects of BJP in the recently concluded assembly elections in Punjab and Goa, Modi has reenergized the party cadres with a resounding rebuttal. In this election season, political parties of various hues have colluded to take head-on their principal opponent BJP. Invigorated by political windfall of the Mahaghatbandhan in Bihar, Congress and Samajwadi party have formed an alliance to capitalize on the minority vote bank. BJP on the other hand is riding on two main issues- surgical strikes and demonetization.

Modi’s speech couldn’t have come any better time. In a befitting reply to Rahul Gandhi’s taunt who in December threatened that “there would be an earthquake if they allow me speak”. Modi in his reply to the discussion on motion of thanks to President’s address, deftly bulldozed the earthquake jibe and quipped “How can someone see seva or any other positive virtue in a SCAM?” Earlier Modi used the acronym SCAM (Samajwadi Party, Congress, Akhilesh Singh and Mayawati) appealing the voters to root out SCAM and give a chance to Lotus in an election rally at Meerut. Irked Rahul Gandhi redefined the SCAM as Seva, Courage, Ability and Modesty. Twitterati gaga over Rahul’s definition delivered a troll treatment of epic proportions. Modi had equally retorted to opposition leader Mallikarjuna Kharge’s statements extolling the sacrifices of Indira Gandhi and other leaders of Congress for the country “while not even a dog” from BJP could match those contributions. Modi scathingly remarked that “we are not brought up with sycophancy” (Hum Kutton Wali pampara se pale bade nahin hai). He added that “there are many people like me who are born after independence and we weren’t lucky enough to take part in the freedom struggle but we have been living and working for India. I have said it in the past- every prime minister has contributed to nation. But there is a party here that wants to attribute everything to single family”.

Despite all the ground work BJP is clearly aware that demonetization as a core issue can change its political fate. Hence in anticipation of massive political surprises, Modi for the first time defended the timing of demonetization. He argued that post-Diwali businesses usually experience sudden dip in sales for a month or so and recovers in 50 days. Government timed the well-thought out process of demonetization to match that period to reduce inconvenience. In response to decommissioning of high value currency when economy is robust and healthy, Modi drew an analogy to a doctor who prefers to conduct a surgery when a person is in pink of health. He remarked as why no one questioned the secrecy of surgical strikes but were taken aback by the sudden announcement of demonetization? Modi reiterated that demonetization is pro-poor and likened it to Swacch Bharat mission (to clean up of black money and corruption). In response to the poor implementation of demonetization and change of rules and regulations for almost 150 times, Modi reminded the Congress that MNREGA was amended 1035 times.

While crediting Congress party for initiating various welfare schemes, absence of commitment and zeal to reach out to the poor appalled him. In this connection, he questioned the grand old political party of India for failing to notify the bill on benami property for 26 years. “In 1988 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, he had more majority in both houses than Pandit Nehru. The Congress was everywhere from Panchayat to Parliament. A bill was made to tackle benami property but was never notified?” He also commended previous state and central governments for initiating social welfare measures for the poor. But sadly, most of them failed to yield desired results because of poor planning and existence of leakages. On the contrary, Modi pronounced that in the past two years’ government managed to stop leakages worth Rs 7633 crores and constructed about 22,27,000 houses.  He then enunciated that procedural changes in the existing schemes under the NDA government began to make desired impact. Modi then elaborated about the new changes in crop insurance schemes, popularization of LED bulbs, supplying of neem coated urea to farmers etc.

In response to presentation of budget just days before the state elections, Modi replied that “we don’t see everything from the prism of elections. The interest of nation is supreme for us. It doesn’t matter how big you are, you will have to give what belong to poor. My fight is for the poor” MNREGA project which was once highly criticized by BJP while there were in opposition, received the highest allocation. But unlike the UPA, all the beneficiaries of MNREGA are now registered through Aadhar card and the cash benefits are directly transferred to their accounts. Modi even highlighted advantages of digitization and elucidated how government is making use of technology to check leakages and for direct cash transfers.

While Modi’s oratorical skills are nonpareil, his agility to change the tone and tenor of speech to suit various audience is impeccable. He questioned the democratic credentials of Congress party and reminded them of media censorship and jailing of political rivals during 1975-77. Breaking the suit-boot the Sarkar myth created by Congress, Modi steadily focused on the welfare schemes and potentially stressed BJP’s objectives of empowering the poor. Throughout the speech, he critically attacked the opposition for looting the coffers and reiterated efforts of NDA governments in steadily building national resources. Modi also reminded Parliament, the power of janshakti which made it possible for a person hailing from poor family to become prime minister of India. The speech which symbolically highlighted the achievements of NDA government also faintly exudes trepidation of party’s electoral gains. Psephologists are highly skeptical of repeat of BJP’s 2014 magical performance in UP and believe that demonetization would cripple BJP’s chances of reclaiming UP’s throne. By and large while Modi seized this opportunity to make an indelible impression, its impact can be construed after March 11^th.

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Welcome to the days of blunt diplomacy in Trump Era

Although it’s just little over 10 days that Donald J Trump occupied the most powerful office, he is rattling the World. As the 45^th President of United States, Donald Trump in his inaugural address made an uncharacteristic reference to an “America Carnage” and expounded a dystopian view of the country. His belligerent, mocking and triumphalist message devoid of finesse and niceties had taken Americans by surprise. Remarking it as a protracted election rhetoric, analysts failed to read Trump’s next moves. To begin with, Trump’s obnoxious loose talks failed to rekindle interest in intelligentsia. The media miffed by his outrageous comments conflagrated his controversies. They had completely written off the possibility of a Trump’s victory and never bothered to analyze his perspectives. Labeling him as an “outsider” and political novice, liberal media, and experts surmised that Trump’s Presidency will be unpredictable. On the contrary, the series of the executive orders signed by Trump from the time he assumed charge, demolished so called veiled unpredictability. He signed more number of executive orders than any President in contemporary times.

An analysis of series of executive orders, Presidential Proclamations and memoranda signed by Trump clearly testimonies his American dream. Incidentally, all the executive orders rolled out by Trump were his core electoral promises. Moments into office he repealed Obama care, expedited environmental clearance for infrastructure development and declared his inauguration day to be a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion”. By stroke of pen, Trump had annihilated legacy of his predecessor- Obama Care and environmental concerns, the two top most deliverables of Obama. Media came down heavily on Trump when he pledged to erect a wall to curb entry of illegal migrants into US. They were even skeptical of Trump’s idea of pulling out the trade deals like TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and even NAFTA. But he unapologetically pulled rug under the TPP. Further, he had no qualms in asking Mexican President not come for a meeting if he is not keen on Mexican wall. Instead Trump spoke with his Mexican counterpart over phone and issued an executive order reiterating his commitment for erecting a strong boundary between the North American countries and directed hiring of 5000 patrol officers. He fast tracked construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and Dakota Access pipeline. Earlier, Obama scuttled both these plans following objections from environmentalists. Trump who was keen on generating American jobs, had no second thoughts, clearly over rode the criticisms from various agencies.

In the past Seven Decades, America mastered traditional style of iron fist in velvet gloves kind of diplomacy. Post-World War II America prevailed over the World with an enticing sweet talk while unceremoniously arm twisting irritants. Trump literally changed the stakes of game by setting a template of what can be expected in his presidency. He obliterated the niceties and subtleties of the international diplomacy and is challenging the World for a new method of bare-knuckle diplomacy. Disparaging comments or bipartisan vilification seem to barely detest Trump from carrying out blunt force diplomacy.

More recently the executive orders calling for “instituting deportation proceedings, to include any non-citizen not yet charged a crime but who, in the judgement of an immigration order poses a risk to public safety or national security” and the most controversial order 13769 “Protecting the nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into United States” elicited worst public outrage and earned utter condemnation of dissenters. But Trump administration refused to give-in. The original order called for suspending the entry, regardless of valid non-diplomatic visa, of alien nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (for at least next 90 days until the procedure for extreme vetting is in place). Later Department of Homeland Security offered a small concession by exempting lawful green card holders. This outlandish halt on the movement of people was immediately branded as Muslim ban and Trump was severely criticized. Ironically President Obama chose the list of seven countries included in the list with its roots in visa-waiver program. Indeed, the complicit Obama government imposed a ban on refugees from Iraq for six months. Democrat President Bill Clinton in 1997 first pledged to come down heavily on illegal aliens. He said: “Our nation is rightly disturbed by the large numbers if illegal aliens entering our country. Illegal immigrants take jobs from the citizens or legal immigrants, they impose burden on our taxpayers. That is why we are doubling the number of border guards, deporting more illegal immigrants than ever before, cracking down on illegal hiring, barring benefits to illegal aliens, and we will do more to speed the deportation of illegal immigrants’ arrest for crime”.  While earlier Presidents sowed the seeds, no one belled the cat fearing international censure. Media by precariously labelling executive order as “Muslim ban” flared up the situation.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump is not a kind of President who would give-in. His audacious adventurism and alacrity in acting on the promises made to his electorate were top most in his mind. Clearly, unruffled by dread and dubiety of International community Trump is bent on acting on the proclamations that catapulted him to the highest position. Unflustered by public rebuke for delivering on controversial issues, Trump has emerged as a great disrupter. Things which were once unthinkable like questioning the relevance of NATO, telling Mexican president that he is not welcome to Washington if he doesn’t pay for the wall, pulling out of TPP, imposing bans on immigrant Muslims are now a reality. Trump with his tremendous pace of action he is effectively incapacitating pillars of American establishment. While the media threatened dire consequences just before his inauguration, Trump trounced the relevance of media by communicating directly through twitter handle. He confused Deep state which was highly hostile towards him by introducing a panoply of executive orders at rapid pace. Trump rendered the lobbies, institutions and multilateral bodies supporting globalism ineffective. With his unyielding protectionist approach and shaping narratives that points all bad economics of globalization, he is creating fractures in the EU. With far reaching populist ideas, Trump is steadily winning perception war by categorically pitching for nationalism i.e., essentially defending nation’s interests. Clearly put, Trump is threatening to recalibrate the nation’s narrative by taking refuge in America First doctrine. Alternatively, he is changing the perceptions of the modern world by driving the most powerful country to embrace anti-globalization and xenophobia. Fortunately, the executive orders will be thoroughly vetted by Congress, judiciary before fructifying into policies. But the precedents set by Trump might undoubtedly have a serious toll on the US’s role in World order.

With President Trump, all set to sign a new executive order on overhauling work visas like H1 B and L1, India is precariously poised. H1 B visas, life line of Indian software industry have been under political scanner for some time as it was widely believed that outsourcing generated lot of jobs and prosperity in India at the expense of American jobs. Though the details of the order aren’t public, it is likely that job prospects for Indians are going to be hit. Even the duration of extension of optional training work visas might be cut which may not be a good news for Indian students traveling to US for higher education. Unlike in previous regimes, lobbying by multinational companies will not stand a chance. Shares of Indian IT companies fell by 10% yesterday when media leaked Trump administration’s order on work visas. Till now, Indian leadership cozied to US administration by asserting strategic partnership and shared interests and managed to retain strategic autonomy without committing itself strongly. But negotiating with a highly transactional Trump administration isn’t going to be a cake walk for Modi. Any amount of diplomacy may fail to yield results until India reciprocates US substantially. Earlier India enjoyed little leverage, dillydallied before signing two foundational agreements, things are going to be rough now. Trump’s outreach to Russia, altercation with China for allegedly contesting the One China Policy, belligerence towards Iran, unambiguous position on Afpak are going to have drastic implications on India.

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