“At its core, the story of Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi is about two brash, populist leaders with big egos and authoritarian tendencies, and the web of loyalties that help keep both men in power. And it is also the tale of an American president with his eye on a Nobel Prize, running smack into the immovable third rail of Indian politics: the conflict with Pakistan,” reads a page 1 story in The Sunday New York Times.

The US-based Indian diaspora appears divided on the policies and programs of Donald Trump. Many support Trump for taking steps to “restore” order in a country that had gone “haywire” under a “shut-eye” administration, leading to amplification of problems, including the uncontrolled inflow of both illegal immigrants and drugs that have been wreaking havoc in the undisputed superpower of the world. Others opposed to the actions of Donald Trump 2.0 feel agitated, holding that human values have been sidelined and those refusing to fall in line are being punished.

Headlined “The Striking Split Between Trump and Modi,” the page 1 story not only talks about US President Donald Trump setting his eyes on the Nobel Peace Prize and crushing tariffs that infuriated India but also his repeated, public, exuberant claims that he had “solved” the military conflict between India and Pakistan—a dispute that dates back more than 75 years and is far deeper and more complicated than Trump was making it out to be.

The front-page article by Mujib Mashal, Tyler Pager, and Anupreeta Das, which continues on an inside page, reads: “The Indian leader bristled. He told Trump that US involvement had nothing to do with the recent ceasefire. It had been settled directly between India and Pakistan.

Trump largely brushed off Modi’s comments. Modi’s refusal to engage on the Nobel has played an outsize role in the souring relationship between the two leaders, whose once close ties go back to Trump’s first term.

The dispute has played out against the backdrop of trade talks of immense importance to India and the United States, and the fallout risks pushing India closer to American adversaries in Beijing and Moscow, referring to Modi’s visit to China, where he was scheduled to meet with President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

The article says that just weeks after the June phone call, and with trade talks dragging on, Trump startled India by announcing that imports from the country would be subjected to a tariff of 25 percent. And on Wednesday, he slapped India with an additional 25 percent tariff for buying Russian oil, adding up to a crushing 50 percent.

Modi, who once called Trump “a true friend,” was officially on the outs. After telling Modi that he would travel to India later this year for the Quad summit, Trump no longer has plans to visit India in the fall.

In India, reads the article, Trump is now seen in some quarters as a source of national humiliation. A couple of weeks ago, a giant Trump effigy was paraded around a festival in Maharashtra with signs declaring him a backstabber. The blows from the United States have been so intense that one Indian official described them as “gundagardi” – straight-up bullying.

The two men have not spoken since the June 17 phone call.

Though the story did not talk about ignoring PM Modi for the official swearing-in of President Trump, indications of relations going sour had started long before. Among his first few “tariff” salvos, Donald Trump indicated that he would levy 100 percent tariffs on BRICS nations in case they contemplated their own currency along the lines of the Euro.

Another point of tension has been the power of anti-immigrant sentiments within Trump’s base. Indian officials believed early on that they could find common ground with the American right-wing movement, but they were caught off guard by the rift among Trump’s supporters over H-1B visas, with much of the attention directed at Indians, who make up the largest group of such visa holders.

Indian students also make up one out of every four foreign students in the United States, so Trump’s crackdown on student visas took India by surprise.

It did not end there. The first planeloads of deportees, mostly shackled, arrived in India in general and Amritsar, the historic Punjab city, in particular, to the great dismay of the Indian political leadership. It caused an uproar against Modi, whose claims of close friendship with Trump were shattered. Incidentally, the timing of the American Air Force planes carrying Indian deportees coincided with Modi’s visit to Washington.

India, says the New York Times article, is now alone with Brazil, led by a president who has antagonized Trump directly, in being subject to 50 percent tariffs—higher than any other country. (Pakistan came away with 19 percent.)

Have gifts and compliments played any role in taking the “friendship” to rock bottom?

The story says that during Trump’s first term, he attended the large “Howdy Modi” rally of the Indian diaspora in Texas. Months later, the American president visited Modi’s home state of Gujarat for an event branded “Namaste Trump.”

Modi greeted him with a hug at the airport and then celebrated Trump with music, dancers, and more than 100,000 cheering attendees.

In Trump’s second term, foreign leaders have found success by tending to his ego with compliments and gifts. The British prime minister arrived at the White House with a letter from Prince Charles. The Finnish president bonded with Trump on the golf course. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, whom Trump once berated in public, showed up at the White House and thanked him in front of the cameras.

Did Modi decline an invitation from Trump to Washington on his way back from Alberta, Canada, after the G7 summit?

The report says that by the time Trump and Modi got on the phone in June (probably the last time), there might have been an opportunity to mend ties and refocus on the ongoing trade negotiations.

But that did not happen.

It says that the June call, which lasted 35 minutes, took place as Trump flew back to Washington on Air Force One after he left early from the Group of 7 industrialized countries meeting in Canada, which Modi also attended. Incidentally, Canada – greatly “tarrified” – is another long-time US ally now wondering how to move ahead with its big brother and neighbor.

Modi declined an invitation from Trump to stop by Washington before he flew home. His officials were scandalized that Trump might try to force their leader into a handshake with the Pakistan army chief, who had also been invited to the White House for lunch around the same time. It was another clear sign, the NYT report quoting an Indian official says, that Trump cared little for the complexity of the issue or the sensitivities and history around it.

Is PM Modi turning “cosy” with China an attempt to revive “Hindu-Chini Bhai Bhai,” or to tell Trump, “We do not care”? The inference is all yours to draw.

NAM Scan, a column by Probing Eye (authored by experienced journalist Prabhjot Singh), regularly analyses mainstream North American media on issues concerning global Indians.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article/column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of South Asian Herald.

Related posts:

President Trump Hosts Pakistan Army Chief Amid South Asia Tensions; PM Modi Rejects Mediation, Clarifies India’s Position Global Developments in Eye Care Promise a New Vision at International Scientific Convention  South Asia’s Recovery Uneven as India Holds Firm, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Struggle Trump Announces Sweeping Tariffs on Imports, Citing Trade Disparities with South Asia and Beyond