In the middle of all of Donald Trump’s rhetoric about India, here is something worth remembering: he is not the first US president to seem to favour Pakistan over India. We forget now that because Pakistan openly allied itself with America during the Cold War years, US foreign policy was often seen by New Delhi as pro-Pakistan and anti-India.
Even when it mattered, the US did not take India’s side. In 1965, Pakistan used American tanks (remember Patton tanks?) and aircraft (the mighty Sabre jet) against us in a multi-sector invasion, while the White House beamed.
In 1971, the US openly backed Pakistan despite a global outcry over the Pakistan Army’s genocide in what would become Bangladesh. At one stage, President Richard Nixon moved the Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal to intimidate India. The bias originated from Pakistan’s role in facilitating a deal between the US and China, and partly from Nixon’s dislike for Indians or Indira Gandhi, whom he privately abused.
Much later, during Bill Clinton’s first term, Pakistan was preferred to India because Robin Raphel, the Assistant Secretary of State in charge of South Asia, was blatantly pro-Pakistan. In fact, after she stepped down, the Americans themselves launched an investigation to see if she was a Pakistani asset.
So while Trump may be more outspoken than his predecessors, and he may make foreign policy pronouncements on Truth Social and not through diplomatic channels, we have been here before. Yes, he has decided that he loves Pakistan, home to vast and mostly imaginary oil reserves, while India apparently runs a dead economy. But if you listen to the White House tapes of recorded conversations between Nixon and Henry Kissinger, you will realise that not only did India not fit into the US foreign policy objectives in 1971, Nixon actually hated India and Indians. For all of Trump’s invective, nothing he has said has plumbed those depths of hatred.
So why is India in a state of shock over Trump’s attitude? Why are we so surprised? Surely, we have coped with an Islamabad-Washington romance before and can do it again for three more years, while Trump remains in office?
Trump’s hurt fanboys
There is only one reason why we are so upset: there is bitter disappointment, so strong that it borders on a sense of betrayal, on the part of India’s current rulers and their supporters.
And why should we have expected more from Trump? Well, because the Sangh and its supporters clasped him to their bosom and acted as though Trump was one of them. They threw absentee birthday parties for him, gave him a rapturous response when he visited India, and prayed for him to be re-elected.
The love for Trump was based on a single factor. When he was campaigning to be president the first time around, Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US. For the Sangh Parivar and its supporters, this was wonderful news: at last, America had a top politician who spoke in a language they loved. If he’s so anti-Muslim, then he must be a good guy, right?
From this one statement flowed a river of love from India to America. The world needed Trump, the Sangh supporters believed, because he knew what Muslims were really like and had acted against them. During his first campaign, Trump said on video, “I love the Hindus.” This took the place of a wedding ring, sealing the marriage between India’s Right and Trump.
Except that Trump has never been the most faithful of lovers. After taking office, he rediscovered the Muslim world and went off to Saudi Arabia to do the sword dance with its leaders. The anti-Muslim rhetoric faded.
Still, the Sangh faithful waited like loyal brides for his return to power. They were clearly not bright enough to see that Trump was never a one-issue president. Anti-Muslim rhetoric had its place a decade ago. Now, it was less relevant, as new targets emerged. In truth, Trump and his Indian fan club had nothing in common.
Unfortunately, his Indian Right-wing fans never realised this. Instead, they constructed in their imagination an alternative model of American politics where Hindus would run the show and India would benefit.
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Lesson for India’s Right
Vivek Ramaswamy was a great Hindu hope. When Trump did not give him any major responsibilities, his Indian fans shifted focus to JD Vance, on the grounds that his wife is a Hindu. FBI Director Kash Patel is a Gujarati, so that was another source of hope. So was Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who is not Indian but has Hindu beliefs.
All of these people are Americans and owe their current prominence directly to Trump. Obviously, they will act in what they see as America’s interests (not India’s) and will proudly back Trump. But the Hindu nationalist fantasy had imagined them as pillars of Hinduism in key positions who would act to create a mental ‘Akhand Bharat’ in Washington, DC.
It is this constituency of Sangh Parivar supporters who now sound the most betrayed by Trump. They post angry messages on X and call him names. They cannot believe that none of the influential American Hindus they venerated have spoken up for India.
Worse still, there is an even greater sense of betrayal over the inability of the Narendra Modi-Donald Trump relationship to help India. For years now, the BJP-supporting television media have been declaring that Modi and Trump are the two greatest leaders in the world, a Superman-Batman combination that will defeat India’s enemies. Clearly, that hasn’t worked out, so the same anchors are calling Trump names and attacking the US.
I don’t believe that the US-India relationship has deteriorated beyond repair. The two countries agree on much more than they disagree on. There are ways of handling Trump, who is notoriously fickle, even if our foreign ministry has been outplayed by the Pakistanis this year. There are still many ways out of this impasse, and I imagine we will find them.
But the lesson for Trump’s Right-wing Indian fans remains. Never find common cause with a foreign leader just because you imagine he shares your bigoted hatreds. Do not expect Hindus abroad to put your version of Hindu interests first. They will always put their own country first. (As they should.)
And finally, stop acting like fanboys for foreign leaders. Not only is it embarrassing, but you are also setting yourself up for disappointment.
Vir Sanghvi is a print and television journalist, and talk show host. He tweets @virsanghvi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)