India – beware the charms of Donald Trump's Big Apple!

As Trump pads up for his second innings, it's instructive for New Delhi to recall his bullying and arm-twisting approach for four long years

- S N M ABDI

It is difficult to understand the need for the Indian prime minister to tell the whole world in a post on X that he had a "great conversation" with his "friend", United States President-elect Donald Trump, or for the Ministry of External Affairs to issue a statement through the official spokesperson that "as a fellow democracy, India celebrates the expression of people's mandate in the US".

The State Department doesn't make such gratuitous statements after the general elections in India; nor does the White House publicize a telephone call, if any, to an incoming PM in New Delhi's South Block.

I think even more unbecoming is External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar shouting from the rooftop on Sunday that PM Narendra Modi's was "among the first three calls that Trump took after winning the elections", that "there is something natural about how Modi has built rapport and forged relationships across multiple US Presidents" — and that "a lot of countries are nervous about the US but we are not one of them".

Sadly, all this whiny, uncalled-for advertising of Modi's call to Trump serves no purpose except jogging our collective memory about Trump imitating Modi's accent during his first term. In January 2018, The Washington Post had quoted senior US Administration officials saying that Trump mimicked Modi's accent while discussing Afghanistan policy with them in the Oval Office.