It’s hard to believe now, but US President Donald Trump was once the BJP’s pin-up boy. Long before he even won his first term, BJP leaders were throwing parties to celebrate his birthday. The BJP’s online army used social media to sing his praises and abuse Hillary Clinton (who, as Secretary of State, had actually warned Pakistan against breeding terrorists), accusing her of being hostile to India and in the grip of Muslim extremists.
When you look at the way things have turned out, with the global economy in shambles, thousands of innocent civilians dead, and India struggling to maintain its rate of growth because of Trump’s unnecessary war, it’s hard to believe that these guys were ever gullible enough to become Trump fanboys. But yes, they were.
And when Trump stood for another term, they were at it again. They adopted the idiom of the lunatic fringe of the MAGA Right and railed against ‘libtards’ while making common cause with people who actually had contempt for them, their culture and the colour of their skin.
Why would any sensible Indian—let alone political leaders—blindly identify with people like the MAGA extremists? Why would they idolise a man like Trump? Well, they had a reason. Just as Trump claimed he wanted to Make America Great Again, these guys loved him because he made bigotry respectable again.
Brotherhood of bigotry
From the moment Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States as far back as 2015, the fanboys were sold on him. Here was a man who was not scared to attack Muslims! He shared their prejudices! They loved him.
Then, Trump also appeared to get on with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As far as the Sangh faithful were concerned, this was the icing on the cake. Not just a bigot but also a pal of our leader! What could be better?
In the years that followed, pro-government TV channels acted as though Trump and Modi had decided to run the world together. It was embarrassing to watch TV anchors declare that the whole world trembled because Trump held a door open for Modi, or that other nations quaked before the power of this supposedly awesome duo, and so on. ( I suspect it may be even more embarrassing for the anchors themselves to watch old footage of their shows now.)
I am not sure that Modi himself ever bought this characterisation of his relationship with Trump. He is much too shrewd for that. Certainly, the Ministry of External Affairs was sensible enough to distance itself from this nonsense. But it suited the government to let this sycophancy go on air and on social media. So nobody bothered to restrain the fantasists who bragged about how the world now revolved around India.
In fact, every single thing that the Hindu Right-wing fringe believed in those days has now
proved to be wrong. The MAGA folks don’t love Hindus. They routinely make fun of the Hindu religion and its gods. They don’t see Indians as being just like them. The wave of Hindu
hatred on American social media is staggering and terrifying.
And Trump himself has no affection for India at all. He calls our economy dead. He imposes higher tariffs on us than on our enemies. When we retaliate against Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism, Trump takes Pakistan’s side.
As for the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the first term, Trump has toned it down. He has discovered that many of the world’s Muslims are very rich, and so his family is busy striking deals with them.
That’s the thing with bigots. They appeal to other bigots only as long as their bigotry is directed at someone else. But nobody is forever immune to the prejudices of bigots. Sooner or later, they come for you. And then you know how it feels.
Also read: US talks like a hawk, acts like a chicken under fire—history shows it
Not your friend
At present, the only thing our deeply divided world can agree on is that Trump is a menace. In India, the same social media fantasists who once sang his praises have now turned viciously against him. The same TV anchors who once marvelled at his leadership and grew emotional talking about his love for India now routinely attack him.
I would be very surprised if the American attacks on Iran resume. Trump needed a way to extricate himself from an unpopular war he could not win and the ceasefire will serve as that off-ramp. But the damage to the global economy (and to global sanity) has already been done. It will take the world a while to recover, and most of us will be at least a little poorer in the months ahead as a result of Trump’s actions.
I am less worried about India-US relations in the long run than many other commentators are. Bilateral relations depend more on mutual benefits than they do on which leader holds a door open for the other. And there is an inherent logic to the India-US relationship.
Contrary to what many are saying— “India should have rallied the global South”, “we should have spoken up for Iran”, etc—we have done the most sensible thing in the circumstances: kept our mouths shut. There are still three years of Trump left, and we will have to negotiate our way through this period carefully.
But the tragedy of the Iran war and in fact, of the whole Trump presidency, holds lessons for us all. Don’t personalise diplomacy. In the long run, hugs count for very little. Never depend on an unstable leader to be India’s friend.
And leave your bigotry at home. The more you love people because you love their prejudices, the more stupid you will look when the bigots turn on you.
Vir Sanghvi is a print and television journalist and talk show host. He tweets @virsanghvi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
Did Sanghvi take dictation again to settling scores? Lol.
This is partisan scoring of political opponents than the kind of rigorous, fair-minded journalism that would acknowledge complexity and avoid personal ridicule.