People are talking about the visit of Narendra Modi. The Indian PM will be in the USA on 25,26 June and will have 5 hours of discussion with Donald Trump. He is going at a time when Trump has ranted against India after he withdrew from the Paris accord on climate. Modi will have a tough time as he does not share the same equation with Trump as he had with Obama.
Looking back the first Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru visited the USA in 1949. He had grandiose dreams of being a great statesman and leader of the third world.He was admired
by many but some in the government didn't like him. He met HattyTruman the then president of USA. It was a frosty meeting as Nehru talked big. Nehru again visited the USA in 1955 and 1961. His last visit was painful as China was growing in power and his policy of peace without military power had become redundant.Modi is also going at a difficult time. The old bonhomie with Obama is over and one will have to see how he sizes Trump. Perhaps he will fare better than Nehru as Modi is a realist and understands the game of strategic power. All the same, Nehru was an aristocrat and many in the USA were charmed by him. He was a class apart. Modi and he are two different horses from different stables.Who is better? can't say. We will have to leave that judgment to history.
.jpg)
