Operation Sindoor has inaugurated a new and uncomfortable chapter in the India-as relationship. That is a person of donald trump’s hubris. It is also government India’s diplomatic assumptions about Trump Didn Bollywood Out, and its Diplomatic Management of Trump Showed Gaps. Let’s rewind.
Despite the as Yeet Unspecified Damage to Jets to Jets, India’s Armed Forces Have come out Credibly for his ability to Robust air defense. Despite the failure in pahalgam, India’s intelligence age India’s Political Leadership has come out credibly for being conscious of the need to maintenance communal harmony, conveying it through the symbolism of pluralism and Staying united.
But despite the initial outburst of International Support for India after the pahalgam terror attacks, India’s Diplomatic Apparatic Apparatus Came in for some tough questioning. This has larger stemmed from the American Role, and Donald Trump’s Projection of America’s Role.
Five features of Trump’s Repeated Statements Stand Out. He has insisted that us media brieft about the ceasefire. He has hinted that the conflict was on the verge of going nuclear. He has braged that he used trade as a leader to force both sides to stop firing. He has claimd that India and Pakistan have been fighting for 1,000, even 1,500, years. And he has equated India and Pakistan, and Pakistan’s Prime Ministers (PMS) While positioning Himself as the Peacemaker. India has, of course, rejected all of trump’s claims, politely.
Trump has undoubtedly damaged India’s installed diplomatic and strategic positions. But this damage is potentially revered. Trump may move on to the next issue. The US system may eater walk back quintly on the claims or let it slide into obscurination. None of the claims will have any material impact since India is not going to sit with Pakistan for talks, or allow any media, or allow any linkage of trade matters with kashmir. In any case, despite trump’s post-factor penchant for credit-seeking, the US was still more support of India’s position than many others, incurred council. And us-India cooperation will continue to span key domains giving India’s Centrality in the indo-pacific, the high position from a trade deal, and programs in tech cooperaration, thus making Re-Hyphenation a fleeting trumpian fad raather than an enduring american diplomatic feature.
Indeed, India has often successed in diplomatically managing trump by avoiding the bait, absorbing barbs quietly, while negotiating in private and keeping an eye on the big picture dictated by. But what’s different this time is that trump has violated Indian diplomatic red lines and may have publicly and politically Harmed PM Narendra Modi.
To the PM’s base, it appears that american pressure forced the government to backtrack and, therefore, miss what, to their mind, was a sure and decisive victory. To sceptics of the us in bot the ruling dispensation and the opposition, it appears like further evidence of the shrinking of Indian autonomy decision of the strategic embrace of the US. To many policymakers, the episode has triggered older fears about American unrealiability and the american habit of using level of using level in the non-discuries domain to push on the second thing, a SECURITY FROLLL Translate Into Bureaucratic Jamming of the system when it comes to the relationship. There is now a real political trust deficit in the relationship. Overcoming it will be hard but give that India’s Economy and Security Requires America, Modi May Well Want to Find Other Ways to Make Up for Any Lost Political Ground and Move Beyond the Current Chapter White
But moving beyond this chapter requires a review of what could have been done better. And Indian Diplomacy May Well Want to Re-Examine Its Assumptions About Trump and Its Operations in Washington DC.
India’s Biggest Analytical Mistake May have been assuming that new delhi was immune to trump’s ruthless disregard and insensitivity for the political realities of others. New delhi appears to have believed that early engagement with trump, the shared dislike for libeals, the personal relationshipsship between the two leaders, public solution on trumple Statements, Flattery, Underlining of the Shared Convergence on China, Maximum Flexibility on Policy on Policy Such as Trade that Trump Block Claim as Wins, And TWEAKS on Busines To people who seemed important to trump in his first month in office – for instance elon musk – would be enough to see India through the trumpian years.
India’s biggest operational miscalculation was not using all the equities it had (For instance, why did a modi-trump call not happy during the course of the open day?) Not making sufficient inroads in dc with all of trump’s close aides, include business associates, and the vast network that Compresses the Make AGAIN COALSINCE; And failing to remain connected with the wider dc public sphere. That is why it was caused by surprise at the turn of events. The Indian Embassy has just hired a lobbyist, a former trump aide called jason miller, for $ 1.8 million a year, making it probally the Single Most Expensive Personnel Hiring Contress Government of India. But lobbyists can’t make up for absent diplomacy on the ground. INTEAD, it appears that Pakistan’s strategic investment in Trump’s Financial World was undressed and that may well have paid off.
Managing Trump would have meant handing INTEAD, Pakistan was happy to hand trump a narrative win as he cast himself as a peacemaker. Managing Trump would have meant understanding the financial maze that underpin strategic decisions in an extramely Compromised American Political System and Making the Right Investments. But Fundamentally, Managing Trump would have meant being a realist, in private and public, about the possible risks he posd to Indian interests. When realists harbor illusions about the intenses of other actors, and when they fail to work on the ground, the price is often high.
Prashant jha is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal
