New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the two-day G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, starting Friday, it is hard to miss the fact that the two leaders did not have a bilateral meeting since November 2017.
Even before Trump came to power, he praised Modi during his Presidential campaign trail in 2016. Inspired by Modi’s 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign slogan, Trump had said, “Ab ki baar Trump sarkar.”
But, this changed soon. Over the last year-and-a-half, Modi has been at the receiving end of Trump’s erratic ire — from taking a jibe at Modi for India’s high import duties on Harley Davidson motorbikes to imitating him. ThePrint takes a look at how Modi-Trump relationship has evolved over the past couple of years.
Trump-Modi meetings
Describing India-America relations in 1987, former minister of external affairs in India Natwar Singh had said they were like two novels by Charles Dickens — Great Expectations and Hard Times.
Although the India-US relationship has come a long way since the 1980s, Modi and Trump’s personal relationship over the past couple of years seems similar to Natwar Singh’s description.
During his 2016 Presidential campaign, speaking at the Hindu Republican Caucus, Trump had said, “I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi, who has been very energetic in reforming the economy and bureaucracy. Great man. I applaud him.”
This generated a lot of enthusiasm about Trump among Modi’s support base in India.
Modi and Trump had their first bilateral meeting in June 2017 when the PM had visited Washington on an official state visit.
During their joint press conference, Trump had praised Modi for his reforms and said India has an ally in the White House. Referring to their Twitter and Facebook popularity, Trump had also said both Modi and he were “superpowers on social media”.
There was also a lot of talks about Modi greeting Trump with bear hugs, which were described as Modi’s diplomatic tool of choice.
In November 2017, the two leaders held another bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit at Manila, Philippines.
Last year in November, Modi and Trump met again during the India-US-Japan trilateral meeting on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Argentina. This was essentially a bilateral meeting between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which at some point, “transformed into a trilateral meeting with Modi”.
Also read: Trump admin wants Modi to create level playing field for American companies in India
No bilateral meeting since 2017
Modi and Trump have not had a bilateral meeting since November 2017.
When India invited Trump as the official guest for the 2019 Republic Day celebrations, the White House turned it down citing “scheduling issues”.
This reminded people of former US President Barack Obama and his bonhomie with Modi. Back in 2015, even though invited on a short notice, Obama came to New Delhi to be the state guest at the Republic Day celebrations.
In return, Modi broke protocol to receive Obama at the airport and even fondly referred to him as “my friend Barack” on several occasions.
Trump’s public jibes at Modi
After Trump completed a year in office, his praises for Modi began to gradually turn into public criticisms.
In February 2018, while addressing various US state Governors, Trump had called Modi a “fantastic man”, but blamed him for high tariffs on American Harley Davidson motorbikes.
“When I spoke to PM (Modi), he said we are lowering it to 50 per cent, but so far we are getting nothing. He gets 50 per cent, he thinks, he is doing us a favour, but that is not a favour. What do I say? Am I supposed to be thrilled?” said Trump.
There was also a lot of talks about Trump mimicking Modi using Indian accent. According to a 2018 report in the Washington Post, senior administration officials said Trump has been known to “affect an Indian accent” and imitate Modi.
In January, Trump irked Modi’s supporters when he took a swipe at the PM and India’s role in Afghanistan. He had questioned the value of India’s developmental projects in Afghanistan.
“I get along very well with India and Prime Minister Modi, but he is constantly telling me that he built a library in Afghanistan…okay a library…that is like five hours of what we spend in Afghanistan. We are supposed to say thank you?…I don’t know who is using it (the library),” remarked Trump.
Modi’s election victory may lead to a new beginning
Although a lot of structural irritants continue to plague the India-US relationship, Modi’s thumping Lok Sabha victory last month seems to have given a fresh impetus to the relation between the two leaders.
Trump had congratulated Modi and tweeted, “…I congratulated him on his big political victory. He is a great man and leader for the people of India – they are lucky to have him!”
Since Modi’s victory, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had made ecstatic speeches about the inherent strength of India-US relations. Pompeo even came for a two-day visit to India on June 25.
Also read: Modi should strengthen ties with the US but not allow Trump to bully India