It was foolish to think Trump would be great for India. It is equally foolish to now berate him when it turns out he is not rallying that good for India
Sutanu Guru
Lot of self styled “nationalists” in India were aggressively rooting for Donald Trump when he has a presidential candidate in 2024. Some even went to ridiculous lengths by organising “havans” invoking the Gods. When Trump did win, the same nationalists celebrated lustily and pronounced how the Donald Trump-Narendra Modi friendship and personal chemistry will work wonders for India. Now they have egg on their faces. Trump has hardly made even a single friendly gesture towards India in 2025.
In fact, one could argue that he has been hostile towards India. Those who rooted for Trump were shocked when he kept insisting that it is he who brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. To make matters, he keeps threatening companies like Apple with punitive tariffs if they manufacture i phones in India. To rub salt into nationalist wounds, Trump even invited Pakistan Army chief Asif Munir to the White House for lunch and praised him. Now, those same nationalists are busy abusing Trump n various social media platforms.
Frankly, that kind of emotional response is silly and childish. It was foolish to think Trump would be great for India. It is equally foolish to now berate him when it turns out he is not rallying that good for India. Foreign policy, diplomacy and geopolitics isnot about morals or even emotions. Quite simply, smart nations pursue their own strategic interests to the fullest extent possible. Relationships, both short term and long term, are forged purely based on one premise: Will this enhance my country’s national interests? The United States is simply pursuing its strategic national interests. As simple as that.
It is not as if Trump has suddenly started disliking India and fallen in love with a state sponsor of terrorism like Pakistan. President Trump is many things, but he is not naive. Nor is his core foreign policy and strategic team. It just so happens that the United States might need the “services” of Pakistan at the moment and is not very concerned about hurt sentiments in India.
Most of you would be aware that Israel and Iran have been virtually at war with each other for a week or so. Iran has already fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israeli cities. For its part, the Israel Airf Force has been systematically destroying the nuclear facilities of Iran and killing its top military leadership.
The ostensible reason? Israel claims that Iran was just weeks away from acquiring a nuclear bomb which would have posed an existential threat to Israel and the entire west Asian region. So it had no choice but to target the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republib. But behind all this looms the long shadow of Uncle Sam. Just like Israel, the United States will not accept a nuclear weapon armed Iran and will do all it can to stop Iran. Even a limited war cannot be ruled out.
There are chances that the Iran-Israel conflict can end without America entering the fray. But Iran is a large country and Israel might fail to achieve its objectives. That might mean America joins Israel and starts pummeling Iran. There is already talk in Washington of regime change; of using the opportunity to overthrow the Ayatollah led Islamic regime in Iran. That would inevitably lead to a full fledged war.
Enter Pakistan with its services. Pakistan shares a 800 kilometres border with Iran. More importantly, all rhetoric about Islamic brotherhood is tossed out of the window when the generals in Pakistan it would be immensely beneficially militarily, diplomatically and financially to offer its air bases and other facilities to the United States armed forces. One must see the lunch meeting between Asif Munir and Donald Trump in that context. There is an “elected” prime minister in Pakistan called Shahbaz Sharif.
But Trump knows the real power with Munir. Not just that. If Pakistan offers its “services”, not only would the US shower it with goodies, but also look the other way even as Pakistan trained and sponsored terrorists target civilians in India. That does not mean Trump or the policy establishment in Washington dislikes India. It is just that Pakistan would be more useful now.
History backs this. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. At that time, Pakistan was in the doghouse with America. But suddenly, it became a favourite as a frontline state helping train, arm and send Mujahideen to fight the Soviet army. It is in this era that the US winked and looked the other way as Pakistan acquired a nuclear bomb. When the Soviets were defeated, the US once again ignored Pakistan.
But after 9/11, Pakistan once again became a frontline state in the “war against terror”. Once again, the US ignored Indian protests and outrage as Pakistan spaonsored terrorists unleashed a hell fire of terrorism in Indian cities between 2001 and 2011; including the 25/11 terror attack in Mumbai. As the possibility of a war with Iran looms, Pakistan is poised once again to offer its unique “services”.
That should not just a mature democracy like India. And mercifully, the Indian government has behaved more maturely than social media nationalists. There are many areas in which interests of India and America converge. Focus on them. And don’t be emotional and trust America. It has its own interests. India has its own.
(Author has been a media professional for over 3 decades. He is now Executive Director, C Voter Foundation. Views are Personal)